Council nets ?60k in Lordship Lane fines - Cash Cow

[eddie]

In the last year Southwark Council have issues 1,176 tickets to motorists using bus lanes. Of that 978 were issued in East Dulwich, the remaining 198 was the total for the rest of the Borough.

The bus lane on Lordship Lane has netted over ?60,000 for Southwark Council in fines to motorists in the last year. Who knows how must extra they have got for other parking tickets. CCTV vehicles are only used for bus lane infringements in East Dulwich, not the rest of the borough.

Southwark Council are treating East Dulwich as a cash cow. 83% of tickets issued!!!

Remember that next time you go to the local ballot box.

[Lowlander]

Clearly the financial penalty isn't enough of a deterrance! Who do we vote for to crack down even more on the motorist?

[Jeremy]

Cash cow? You need to deduct the money it takes to:

- create bus lanes

- install, operate, and maintain cameras/vehicles

- issue tickets

- collect fines

[BJL]

eddie Wrote:

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> Remember that next time you go to the local ballot

> box.

Or..."remember that next time you decide to drive in the bus lane."?

[Strawbs]

Hardly a cash cow! If drivers didnt drive in the bus lane then ?0 revenue would be raised!

[DulwichFox]

When people stop driving in the Bus Lane , They will just create another rule for people to fall foul to.

Motorists are an easy target...

Foxy

[Cyclemonkey]

Rules exist for a reason - we have to share limited space in London and fines are there to deter motorists from taking actions that are dangerous or cause inconvenience the majority. If you don't want a fine i suggest you don't drive in the bus lane. It is usally made pretty clear what motorists can do to avoid such fines.

I have never known a group like motorists for special pleading and whinging.

You live in a city with some of the cheapest and most extensive public transport in the country perhaps if motoring is so expensive and difficult try walking or getting the bus once in a while. Those of us without cars have to do this everyday - including carrying children, buggies, five bags of shopping etc.. it's cheaper and has the side bonus of keeping you fit.

[LadyDeliah]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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> When people stop driving in the Bus Lane , They

> will just create another rule for people to fall

> foul to.

>

> Motorists are an easy target...

>

> Foxy

I disagree. Many motorists are in denial over how dangerous and inconvenient their behaviour is to other road users and pedestrians.

I also think it's totally hypocritical for the people clamouring for a zero tolerance approach to cyclists on pavements, to moan about being caught breaking rules when they drive their cars and I look forward to motorists being fined for breaching the rules re: cycle lanes and cyclists advanced stop boxes.

[eddie]

The point was that 83% of tickets issued in Southwark occur in East Dulwich. So is the area being targeted or do people generally not enter bus lanes in the rest of the borough?

[JohnL]

Is there a line marking issue ?

The issue at the bottom of Rye Lane was sorted after a lot of people complained on here.

Very obvious dotted lines showing the progression of the road and clear markings where not to go. Easy.

[NickT]

eddie Wrote:

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> The point was that 83% of tickets issued in

> Southwark occur in East Dulwich. So is the area

> being targeted or do people generally not enter

> bus lanes in the rest of the borough?

Thanks Eddie, I'm a cyclist but not so knee jerk fanatical about it that I couldn't appreciate your valid point.

[Jeremy]

eddie Wrote:

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> The point was that 83% of tickets issued in

> Southwark occur in East Dulwich. So is the area

> being targeted or do people generally not enter

> bus lanes in the rest of the borough?

Maybe because Lordship Lane is a major bus route, but the road has a lower capacity than say, Walworth Rd or Old Kent Rd - therefore more thorough policing is required.

[Cyclemonkey]

That is an oddity but is the data on a postcode or ward level? Is there more bus lanes under council control in Ed than other areas of Southwark? (red routes are under TfL control)

[janicemuir]

Sorry, was not aware that it was difficult to recognise a bus lane and that there was any doubt what a bus lane was. Break the law, you know the risks.

Bus lanes would be a waste of time if they were not policed properly and if you only got a slap on the wrist for being where you should not be.

[James Barber]

It seems clearly something is wrong.

The data is for all bus lane infringements on borough roads - so excludes TfL controlled roads such as Old Kent Road, Borough High street, etc.

But 978 out of 1,176 for Lordship Lane with four other locations outside our patch only having 198 tickets.

Either they're singling out our area for enforcement - which either means we have far more law breakers in the area (a rather unlikely situation as we have the lowest crime rates in Southwark) or that the bus lanes cause confusion and it's easy to issue tickets.

The reporter spoke to me in confidence earlier in the week. It's a good bit of journalism that apparently took months to extract from the council. Southwark FOI now also have the habit of foreworking the press team so they can prepare lines of defence. That seems debious to me.

The next step is to ask when these tickets are issued - do they happen close to the start of bus lane operation.How many are contested, etc. implying they werent clear.

I've already started asking these questions.

[Cyclemonkey]

James one of the issues i should think is that Lordship lane is very busy and tight for space - not helped by people parkign on both sides of the roads. You also witness some very bad driving and lane positioning = perhaps people unknowing enter the bus lane more than some of the large red routes where things are clearer or smaller roads that are elss busy.

A clear long term objective would be to reduce the traffic on lordship lane and do something about all the cars parked there - often very badly.

[olly]

Whilst I'm in favour of bus lanes, I've always wondered what purpose the one on Lordship Lane serves (not being a nimby). I've never seen 2 lanes of traffic on LL during the hours when it's in operation, except right at the end before Goose Green roundabout.

I've always suspected it's there for raising revenue from parking tickets.

[Otta]

James Barber Wrote:

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> Either they're singling out our area for

> enforcement - which either means we have far more

> law breakers in the area (a rather unlikely

> situation as we have the lowest crime rates in

> Southwark)

I'm not sure having low crime rates really means that someone won't drive in a bus lane. People don't think of stuff like that as crime, whereas they'd probably pause to think before mugging someone.

[StraferJack]

"

Whilst I'm in favour of bus lanes, I've always wondered what purpose the one on Lordship Lane serves (not being a nimby). I've never seen 2 lanes of traffic on LL during the hours when it's in operation, except right at the end before Goose Green roundabout.

I've always suspected it's there for raising revenue from parking tickets.

"

I have been on the 40 bus many a time when the bus lane wasn't in operation and it makes a huge difference to journey times - so I'm pretty sure it's to aid flow of public transport rather than raising revenue

[ed_pete]

Southwark's budget is ?323m so ?60k (0.02%) is hardly going to make a dent.

[Zak]

I was told, last year, by a Southwark officer that income from parking charge/fines for the borough is between ?11-12m per year. Of that, c?5m is accounted for by parking fines.

True, not that much out of a ?323m budget - but worth having and only likley ever to increase!

[unlurked]

The stats have been skewed by two things: The companies that own the delivery vehicles that park in the bus lane and get fined on a daily basis for this. Fines are paid and costs pushed onto their customers. Secondly affluent ED middle class that think the law doesn't apply to them and who can afford to pay the fines.

The answer is to increase the fines to a deterrant level where individuals will feel it,and customers of companies will use 'cheaper' companies.

[sandyman]

How are cars spotted in the bus lanes - if its by those little white cars with cameras on poles often parked around Cheese Block then surely Lordship Lane is being specifically targeted.

I think one of the problems might be that because you can park on Lordship Lane at some times of the day ? pretty rare for a major London artery - cars pull into the bus lane to park, realise they can't at that time, pull out but have already been caught on camera.

Incidentally, i'm not that hot on stats, but 978 tickets a year is less than three a day, so hardly that draconian considering how many cars drive in the lordship lane bus lanes each day.

[uncleglen]

The back streets are being hit too. I was going to work at 7.15 am and a car I passed had about 1 inch of one back tyre on the kerb and a ticket on the windscreen!

[unlurked]

uncleglen Wrote:

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> The back streets are being hit too. I was going to

> work at 7.15 am and a car I passed had about 1

> inch of one back tyre on the kerb and a ticket on

> the windscreen!

Translation: Enforcement action is also being taken over illegally parked vehicles on back streets. So park legally in ED.