Glasgow Council wrongly issues 700 bus lane charges

COUNCIL chiefs were yesterday forced to apologise to almost 700 drivers who were wrongly fined for using a bus lane during the Commonwealth Games.

Picture: JP

Glasgow City Council has now admitted that temporary road signs put in place on the final day of the Games were confusing for drivers.

CCTV enforcement cameras had taken images of hundreds of drivers using a bus lane on the city’s Victoria Bridge.

Now the council has admitted there was an error on one of the temporary road signs put out on nearby Stockwell Street, which meant drivers thought they had no choice but to use the bus lane.

Drivers will now get their money back after diversions were put in place while tens of thousands of spectators gathered to watch a cycle race on Sunday, 3 August.

The council said drivers had used the bus lane because they felt there was no alternative when passing over the bridge.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “There was a really complicated traffic management plan in place for the race and it mostly worked very well.

“However, we unfortunately made a mistake on one of the signs that was used on the day on Stockwell Street which appears to have caused drivers to drive into the bus lane on Victoria Bridge.

“We apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced by this and will be cancelling all of these penalty charge notices.

“We’ll be writing to everyone affected to tell them we’re cancelling the notices.”

The spokesman added that a total of 698 infringements were captured in the bus lane on Victoria Bridge on the day.

The council was forced earlier this month to improve signs for the bus lane at Nelson Mandela Place in the city centre after a flood of complaints from drivers.

It was revealed 28,000 drivers had been caught on CCTV and fined in just nine weeks, but many claimed they had not been made aware of signs before it was too late.

Since the end of June, cars have been banned from going through the city’s Nelson Mandela Place, near Queen Street Station, for much of the day.

Drivers who break the restriction are given a minimum £30 penalty charge, rising to £60 if unpaid within 14 days.

Fines have so far led to the council generating £800,000 of income.

A number of city businessmen have called for the measure to be scrapped and insisted it deters people from travelling into the city centre and dining.

But the council has insisted the restrictions will stay, and says it was introduced to ease the flow of public transport around George Square.

Last year, Edinburgh City Council took in £718,000 from bus-lane fines while Aberdeen City Council netted £896,000.

Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, received a total of £3,283,776.