Bus lane cameras make Wolverhampton Council £600k in seven months

Wolverhampton Council has 12 cameras across the city that capture vehicles illegally using the routes – including those parking at bus stops.

The new figure, which covers the first seven months of the year from January 1 to July 31, is expected to reach well over the £1 million mark by the end of December.

The total cash so far – £671, 520 – has been generated from 22,384 penalty charge notices.

It means that the authority has managed more than £5.5 million worth of fines in the past three years to date, a significant drop on previous years.

In 2016, Wolverhampton council raked in £2.7 million from fines issued to motorists driving in bus lanes, while in 2017, the figure was just under £2.2m.

The first of the city’s cameras was introduced in June 2015.

Among the dozen now in operation are sites in Pipers Row, Victoria Square and Lichfield Street.

The council also released figures for the number of drivers caught parking at bus stops last year – a total of 41 offenders at 11 sites across the city.

Some bus stops attracted more offenders than others, with Bilston Street top of the league of shame with 12 drivers caught out at the location.

Next worst was Broad Street which generated seven penalty charge notices, followed by Stafford Street with six, Wulruna Street with five, Victoria Street with four and Wednesfield Road with two.

Bus stops at Compton Road, Lea Road, Lichfield Street, Lower Villiers Street and Newhampton Road West all produced just one fine each.

Across Britain, £41 million in fines were issued last year from motorists abusing bus lanes.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 888,760 drivers were caught in bus lanes in 2017 paying a total of £41,807,647 in fines.

According to Confused.com, which carried out the research, many motorists do not fully understand bus lane signs and are making calls for them to be made clearer.

Motorists in Glasgow accounted for the majority of the fines with 108,735 finding a fine on their doorstep, amounting to £6.5m, with Cardiff coming second in the list, netting £5.6m from bus lane fines.

One particular bus lane in Oxford high street cost drivers £1,488,120 in 2017.

Wolverhampton, accounting for almost all of the bus lane penalties in the West Midlands, was named among other our high-fining cities, along with Leicester.

A Wolverhampton Council spokesman said: “The costs associated with operating and managing this process is met from this income and any surplus can be reinvested into highway improvement projects that will benefit road users, residents and visitors.”