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Council issued £1.1m of bus lane fines in last twelve months

17,451 fines were issued in the last year across just four bus lanes, reports Cosmic Thapa

Waltham Forest Council has issued at least £1.1million worth of bus lane fines in the past twelve months.

According to a freedom of information request sent by Personal Injury Claims UK to the council, a total of 17,451 fines were issued in the last year across just four bus lanes. 

Meanwhile, a total of 8,922 drivers failed to pay within the allocated time between 6th April 2023 and 5th April 2024, therefore becoming eligible to pay the full £130 fine. 

The council told the Echo that a total of £808,403 of bus lane fines in the past twelve months have been paid.

The injury claims advisor gathered all the bus lanes in the Waltham Forest borough to look out for, as well as the number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued during that period and found that the bus lane on Whipps Cross Road had the most fines at 8,789.

High Road Leyton came second at 3,669, while Forest Road came a close third with 3,194 fines issued. A total of 1,799 fines were issued for the bus lane on Lea Bridge Road.


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Across London, the council with the greatest number of bus lane fines issued was Lambeth, with 38,491. Greenwich came second with 24,887, while Barking and Dagenham pipped Waltham Forest to third place with 20,324. By comparison, tenth-ranked Islington Council issued 4,092 bus lane fines in the past twelve months.

A council spokesperson said: “The enforcement of bus lanes is a vital part of keeping the traffic flowing and traffic cameras are used to ensure that happens.

 “Fewer than one percent of vehicles stray into bus lanes, which means the vast majority of drivers do pay attention to signage and adhere to the rules of the road.

“It’s worth noting that by law, any income made through these charges can only be used to fund specific services.

“After paying for the costs of providing parking, any surplus will then fund maintaining roads and pavements across the borough, environmental improvements, and subsidising the London-wide and hugely popular concessionary fare scheme for over-60s Freedom Pass.”


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