Camera enforcement to start at busy Leicester junctions

The council wants to ease congestion near the St Margaret's Bus Station

Cameras installed to catch drivers who block two busy junctions in Leicester are soon to be activated.

The devices will enforce the restricted yellow box areas at the junctions of Abbey Street and Gravel Street, and Vaughan Way and Causeway Lane.

Leicester City Council said motorists stopping in the boxes would get first offence warning letters for a six-month period before £70 fines are issued.

The enforcement cameras will be in use from Monday.

The council hopes the use of the devices will help to reduce traffic congestion in the area.

It said it had applied for permission from the Department for Transport to use camera enforcement to deal with so-called "moving traffic" offences.

All drivers caught blocking the Vaughan Way junction will be fined from November.

Both junctions regularly become blocked by motorists who break the law by entering the boxes without being able to exit, the council said.

It said congestion often disrupted bus services using the nearby St Margaret's bus station and blocked emergency vehicles.

All offences recorded at the two junctions from late November will result in a fine, the council added.

The enforcement cameras will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "These new London-style camera-enforced yellow box junctions will be among the first outside the capital, where they have been used for many years to the benefit of all road users.

"The clearly marked yellow box junctions are there to stop motorists from entering the junction unless their exit is clear, as set out in the Highway Code."