More than £1m paid in fines for bus gate misuse

The bus gate on Silver Street in Cambridge was the most misused by motorists last year

More than £1m has been added to a council's coffers in fines paid by drivers flouting bus gate rules in a city.

There are six bus gates in the centre of Cambridge, with the one on Silver Street being the most ignored or misunderstood by motorists. It brought in more than £370,000 in fines last year.

The gates restrict access to private cars while allowing buses, emergency vehicles, cyclists and taxis to use the routes.

They are operated by the county council, which said the money it collected would fund road maintenance.

There are bus gates on Regent Street, Emmanuel Road, Bridge Street, Station Road, Silver Street and Worts Causeway.

A Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that last year most fines were issued to drivers breaching the restrictions on Silver Street, with £370,570.57 being collected in total – £173,838 from the inbound bus gate and £196,732.57 from the outbound gate.

The lowest amount of fines were collected from the Worts Causeway bus gate, with £23,883.13 in paid penalties.

This gate is the only one in the city that currently does not restrict access 24 hours a day. Restrictions are only in place between 07:30 and 09:30 on Monday to Friday, to give priority to buses in the morning.

The total collected in fines last year was less than the previous two years, when the authority collected more than £1.5m each year.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said: "Bus lanes are enforced to help keep bus journeys reliable, encourage more sustainable ways of travelling and keep traffic moving on the roads.

"We would like to remind drivers to observe all road signs while travelling and take note of the restrictions.

"Any money collected from bus gate fines is reserved for spending on highways projects and road maintenance schemes."