Busy bus lanes

[The Leningrad Cowboy 0]

Gits. The first decent length drive I've had recently (although not particularly fun roads, and with a bit of a hangover) took me up to Harrow from Bristol last Sunday. I needed there at about 10.30am, so left early and made good time, no rushing.

 

Tonight, pick up my post, and there's 'Don't ignore this notice' letter from Ealing Council. Bugger me, I didn't think I'd ever been in Ealing, but there you go, there's a piccie of the C inside with me at the wheel. Bloody gits did me for being in a bus lane - £100 or £50 paid early. The quoted time is 10:12am in Northolt, on a Sunday morning. Firstly, as it was on an entry lane to a roundabout, I thought everyone else was going right or straight and therefore I could just scoot up the inside to turn left. And secondly, it was 10:12am on a Sunday morning - do they really need bus lanes then? I really didn't realise (until I was halfway down) that it was a bus lane - maybe if there had been some bloody buses about, I might have had a Scooby.

 

So, has anyone had any experience of trying to fight these sorts of things? I'm half tempted to ring up and say 'I didn't realise, it was 10:12am on a Sunday morning, what are you doing penalising me then?', and half tempted just to pay the £50 because otherwise it's a ton.

 

I suppose it is the first professionally taken photo of my C, though.

 

Sorry, rant over. It probably cost me more to get there and back in petrol anyway.

[Rado16v 0]

Sh1t dude, i live round the corner from there, was it the A312 near the tube station?

 

Been done not far from there (but different borough) and fine was £50.

 

Could check it out for ya?

 

Cheers

 

Amit

[veeDuB_Rado 0]

Damn unlucky dude, scan the picture lol we want to see :D

 

I see peeps drive in bus lanes sometimes, chances are you were unlucky

[joebloggsVR69 0]

I had the same thing happen to me about a month ago :x

Was turning left into a road, but must have moved into the buslane slightly early..

They took a nice pic of me too :snipersmile:

 

I got my letter about 4 weeks after the incident, so was hoping the '2 week' rule that applies to speeding tickets might be valid here, but I'm pretty sure it isnt. There's a website somewhere saying what grounds for appeal you have, and they're pretty much nowt.

 

I just paid the fine in the end. B4stard Nazis :2gunfire:

[dinkus 10]

The problem is, it's illegal to drive in a bus lane, so you get a fine.

 

Unfortunately, the fact that they're a big flipping waste of road space and hugely under-used by the big lumbering (and usually empty) pollution boxes is besides the point :roll:

 

The only get-out clause I can think of is if the bus lane is only 'active' (hah, yeah right) between certain hours/days.

[crdo16v 0]

Did'nt they have a"system" like this in Moscow when it was Communist- all the top geezers (ie party officials) had road lanes only they could use, ie some were more equal than others comrade.

If only only some of our politicians could actually do something useful instead of being completely useless self opinionated totally self-serving pr*cks. :salute:

[bristolbaron 10]

fraid you've got no chance mate! I thought you could actually get points for it too?

Still £50 for a nice piccy, can't go wrong!

[Musicman 0]

There's been a bit of a hoo-ha in Sutton about a bus lane on the one way system.

 

One stretch is about 15 feet long and ends at the turn off to the big B&Q. Quite naturally, people often clip the edge of it as they're turning left off the main road. The cameras are nicely trained on the broad white line and TfL have been issuing tickets to people whose tyres have strayed as little as two inches into (not over) it, to the tune of 200 per month, IIRC.

 

TBH, I don't have a problem with bus lanes. Buses are a very efficient way to move lots of people round cities relatively quickly. I mourn the imminent demise of the Routemaster and its hop-on, hop-off convenience, but given the volume of traffic on the roads, bus lanes are one of the few things that can help keep the service on schedule and encourage people to use them and not drive when they don't need to. I don't even have a problem with monitoring lanes and issuing fines for people who drive in them when they're not supposed to be there.

 

However, sending people a £50 fine for drifting two inches into a lane when performing a routine road manoeuvre betrays a very warped sense of humour, or sadistic tendencies. FFS!

 

Local paper have been running a campaign for several months, but TfL refuse to back down. :snipersmile:

[dinkus 10]

I have to say that if I did actually live in London and/or a city that had a frequent and reliable bus service, then I might feel differently about bus lanes.

 

As it is, there's an hourly (at best) bus that runs from my town to Cambridge. If I'm driving, it takes 25mins to get to the centre of Cambridge. If I go on the bus, it takes the best part of an hour because it goes via every single minute village in the middle of nowhere and hence, nobody uses the thing.

 

So instead, I drive and quite often get stuck behind a big lumbering box that's belching out black smog and has 3 people on it.

 

What I don't get is why they don't use a flippin diesel MPV instead?! 7 people in far mor comfort!

[TomB 0]

There used to be an excellent service around Kimbolton that ran a Postbus (a minibus that took the mail and people) but I think they cancelled it. In York, First have the city by the balls and it cost more to cross York than it does London FFS. That and the fact that the drivers for the most part seem to be inconsiderate numpties as far as not hitting cyclists is concerned... (2 times and counting).

[The Leningrad Cowboy 0]

I don't have a problem with bus lanes.

I don't even have a problem with monitoring lanes and issuing fines for people who drive in them when they're not supposed to be there.

 

I don't have a problem with bus lanes, if they are there to move people about efficiency. My problem is that it was 10:12am on Sunday morning - hardly rush hour with congestion everywhere, and certainly not a bus in sight, otherwise I might have had a clue that what seemed like a left filter was actually a bus lane. It feels ironic that I stick almost pedantically to the highway code (OK, I sometimes struggle to prevent my speedo drifting above the limit, but I'm sure actual is less than the limit!) and then I get done for something like this.

 

Anyway, none of the four reasons to protest apply, so I may as well pay.

 

Oh, and I attach the first two piccies in my professional VR6 portfolio!

[bristolbaron 10]

The buggers didnt even get whole car in! i'd ask for discount!