Bury News
Bus lane offenders pay £134,505 fines
11:20am Monday 13th February 2012
A TOTAL of 3,761 motorists who breached bus lane restrictions in Bury forked out a total of £134,505 in fines in just six months, council bosses have disclosed.
And 1,788 of the drivers who fell foul of the Smart car “spy” cameras were caught and fined at the bottom of the town’s Bolton Road.
The figures released by Bury Council cover the period from the end of June to December 31 last year.
Conservative councillor Roy Walker has also expressed concern that the timing of the bus lane restrictions on Bolton Road, between St Stephen’s Church and The Wellington pub, has been extended from 6.30pm until 7pm to conform to Greater Manchester requirements.
In a written question to last Wednesday’s full council meeting, Cllr Walker claimed there were only two buses during this half-hour.
He added: “It is extremely dangerous in wet, dark winter evenings to drive in the middle of the road alongside an empty bus lane, facing oncoming, overtaking traffic and no drivers appear to be monitored on this stretch of the road.”
Cllr Tony Isherwood, executive member for environment and economy, replied: “All bus lanes in Bury conform to one of the three Greater Manchester standards. If each bus lane had different timings, it would lead to confusion. Regardless of the lane classification of the inside lane, there is no certainty of vehicles travelling on it.
“The council has bus lanes across the authority and monitoring is carried out at various locations on a rotating basis.”
Cllr Isherwood concluded: “We are looking at other ways of carrying out enforcement, including the potential for installing fixed cameras at certain locations and, therefore, removing the restrictions now and reintroducing them at a later date would add to the confusion for drivers.”