Appealing at a late date ?

Jul 07, 2012 25 Replies

It seems more and more that councils put making a profit from the motorist ahead of any guilt about inconveniencing masses of people. The latest around here is a quiet 'out of the way' road now has double yellow at the post office parcel collection, with no immediately handy car park available.



Part of my own annoyance with them comes from about six months ago when going down a road in north west London which was in the wrong direction for me and which had a traffic jam, I did a U-turn; only to run straight into a 'bus-lane' camera on the other side of the road which took my photo.



Having a lot of other things on my mind at the time, I just paid up.



But as someone has pointed out to me, i didn't travel up the lane, merely clipped it at a tangent. But in straightening up, from that particular camera's view point I was well in the lane. but if the other cameras had been checked they could have seen that i didn't travel along the lane. Also doing the manouevre that i did, i had no way of seening any signs that would let me know it was a bus lane.



Would it make any sense to try and make an appeal at this late date ?


You need to check the nearby signs. Double yellow lines may just mean no parking - it could still be legal to collect or deliver. That's the case at my local sorting office. Luckily, you can see your car from the collection point so can argue with the 'wardens'.

Councils making a profit, so we'll all get dividends in place of Council Tax?

On what grounds? You not only drove in the bus lane, but you admitted it by paying the fine. A plea of guilty with mitigation at the time might have worked (but I doubt it)

Of course not. The senior employees of the council will all get bigger bonuses.

A wannabe politician.

It would have made no sense to appeal at any time, never mind at this late date.

You would have had no chance at all, regardless of what any other cameras may have shown, because the offence isn't traveling along the bus lane, but is entering it.

Time to turn my killfile back on.

From the Highway Code:

141 Bus lanes. These are shown by road markings and signs that indicate which (if any) other vehicles are permitted to use the bus lane. Unless otherwise indicated, you should not drive in a bus lane during its period of operation. You may enter a bus lane to stop, to load or unload where this is not prohibited.

Did you drive in the bus lane during its period of operation?

That is not so, there are allowable grounds for entering a bus lane. The normal criterion is no more than 15m when doing allowable manoeuvres such as undertaking a car turning right, or avoiding debris etc.

Jeff

Round here there are plenty of roads with bus lanes where if say a vehicle is turning right you either wait for that or use the bus lane just to pass that vehicle. Which is what most seem to do. If I were fined for doing this I'd likely fight it. Different matter actually driving along an active lane. But then in London, most drive down the middle of the road anyway - regardless of bus lanes active or not. Even buses and taxis.

[...]

Do you have a reference for that please?

Chris

Try this one, they quote 20m

Jeff

[...]

Sorry, the link doesn't work for me.

Chris

works for me, the relevant bit is: What is a contravention? A bus lane contravention begins where a vehicle breaks and crosses the solid white dividing line between the bus lane and the remainder of the carriageway without good reason during its time of operation. When observing and capturing bus lane contraventions, camera operators bear the following in mind when deciding if a bus lane contravention has taken place: ? The bus lane is clearly marked and operational, ? The incident was not exempt under the TRO, ? The incident occurred more than 5 minutes after the restrictions started and more than

5 minutes before they ended, ? There is no evidence of action by a police officer or an on-street Civil Enforcement Officer, ? There is no evidence that the vehicle has stopped to pick up or set down a passenger, ? The vehicle's actions in the bus lane were not merely clipping the start or end of the bus lane, ? If the vehicle entered the bus lane, it travels an unreasonable distance i.e. it proceeds for more than 20 metres (approx. 4 car lengths) after so entering, ? At least a significant part of the vehicle infringed the bus lane restriction i.e. more than 50% of the vehicle, ? The vehicle entered the lane with buses or cyclists in view, and hampered their progress, ? The vehicle used the bus lane to gain advantage over traffic using the correct lane.

"Although this is not a valid legal reason to drive in the bus lane, any= =

such cases detected will be treated on their own merits; =EF=82=A7 to undertake a vehicle turning right (in this case ensure that= the route =

back out of the bus lane is clear before undertaking);"

Which in this case wouldn't have happened - ie making a U turn? Unless the driver made no attempt to leave the lane as soon as possible.

The link provided is just one local authority?s guideline; it would have no meaning in any other part of the country.

Chris

True, but you would need some evidence in the photo that one of those things applied.

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