Thousands More Fined For Breaching Brighton Bus Gates

A driver is fined every three minutes despite work to raise awareness about “bus gates” in Brighton over the past two years.

And thousands of drivers are fined every month for driving through the bus gates in Valley Gardens a year after more signs were put in place to highlight the new road layout.

The latest figures were released by Brighton and Hove City Council in response to a request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It followed publication of the council’s parking annual report which said that 213,549 penalty charge notices were issued to drivers entering bus lanes – or bus gates – or other “traffic management areas”.

Extra signs were introduced early last year after councillors were shocked to hear that in 2021 a driver was fined every two minutes during the average working day.

The drivers were fined after passing through at least one of the bus gates – a form of short bus lane that can be used by “local traffic”.

Conservative cllr Robert Nemeth calculated that a driver was fined every two minutes in 2021, based on a 10-hour working day, given how much quieter the roads are at night.

Councillor Nemeth spoke out again after hearing that thousands were still going through the bus gates more than a year after he had asked why the numbers are so high.

He said: “Deliberately trapping motorists to collect what are essentially highway tolls is crooked to the extreme and further damages our reputation as a welcoming city.

“So many people have been in touch with me after I initially exposed the scam, saying that they would never be returning.

“Getting these junctions so wrong is ultimately a resignation issue. Whoever is responsible is not fit for office.”

Last year Councillor Nemeth unsuccessfully urged the council to redesign the junctions and refund £2 million in fines. But the council said that there was “nothing wrong” with the signage.

Labour councillor Gary Wilkinson has renewed calls for “physical change” on the roads to make drivers more aware of the bus gates.

He said that Labour wanted to encourage “sustainable travel” and keep bus lanes clear of cars but the high fines indicated that there was still a problem.

Councillor Wilkinson said:

“It would be a very good use of bus lane enforcement money to then go back in and reinforce the message and improve and enhance the signage.

“Although the signs and road markings have always conformed to legal guidance, I now believe we need to consider additional physical changes to help emphasise the layout such as upgrading to larger and better placement of signs, additional painted road markings and red road surfacing in the bus lanes.

“I would also like to see more than average bus lane contraventions flagged up much earlier in order to review any signage issues sooner.”

The council issued 97,169 fines to drivers using just three bus gates in 2021 – in Marlborough Place and Gloucester Place, in St George’s Place and York Place and in St Peter’s Place.

The peak month was August 2021 when more than 12,600 drivers received fines for passing through the three bus gates.

In January last year, the council introduced more “new road layout ahead” and repeated signs, after councillors called for more details about how drivers were alerted to the new road layouts.

The council’s assistant director for transport Mark Prior told councillors that the road would be surfaced red where the bus gates start to alert drivers who had missed signs which went “above and beyond” the legal requirement. The red surfacing has yet to appear.

Last year the number of penalty charge notices fell to 63,622 which still equates to a driver passing through the gates every three minutes over a 10-hour working day.

August was again still the busiest month, with 6,689 drivers fined for passing through the bus gates.

Most drivers were caught at the St George’s Place and York Place bus gate as they headed north towards London Road rather than turning into Trafalgar Street.

An average of 4,575 drivers a month missed the turn in 2021. The figure was down to an average of 3,362 last year.

The council said:

“Additional lining and signage has already been introduced near the Valley Gardens bus gates since the issue was discussed at the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee in January 2022.

“This was in addition to existing signage which already met the requirements of the Department for Transport.

“To ensure consistency across the city’s bus gates, council officers decided that red surfacing was not appropriate.

“Bus gates play a vital role in keeping public transport moving in busy parts of the city, improving the reliability and journey times of more sustainable travel options.”