Manchester bus lane fines make £10m from one city street

The bus lane data was revealed following a Freedom of Information request

A council has made more than £10m from bus lane fines on just one street in 17 months, data has revealed.

A Freedom of Information request showed thousands of drivers have been fined for driving along the Oxford Road bus gate in Manchester.

The bus gate means parts of the road are only open to buses, black cabs and pedal cycles from 06:00 to 21:00.

Manchester City Council said it was content that the signs in place were adequate.

Drivers in cars going through this section face a £60 fine that reduces to £30 if paid within 21 days.

Since the beginning of 2020, a total of 182,707 fines have been handed out for cars driving in the bus lane along Oxford Road, data obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed.

For the period April 2022 to September 2023, the council collected £10,241,545.13 in revenue.

The most lucrative section of the road for the council is between Charles Street and Brancaster Road, where a total of 119,272 fines have been handed out between the start of 2020 and 30 September.

In 2018, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal found some signs on some sections of Oxford Road "failed to meet the required standard".

'Prominent signs'

A statement from the council said: "There are no current plans to change or add to the number of signs already in place to alert motorists to the bus lane.

"The council is content that the signs that are in place are adequate, that they meet the legal requirements and are prominent enough to make the bus lane restrictions clear to motorists.

"The income generated through penalties supports the costs of operating the camera enforcement and processing penalty charge notices.

"The use of any surplus income that is generated beyond those costs is set out in the legislation which governs bus lane enforcement.

"This essentially ringfences that income for use on environmental improvements, public transport services or highway improvements in Manchester."