As thousands of people receive fines for driving through new “bus gates” in Brighton, a driver has started a petition calling on the council to refund them until the signs are clear.
Damien Williamson said: “As a driver who has followed the road signs that have directed me into the bus lanes and then received a fine, I have personally been affected by this issue.
“As reported by Brighton and Hove News, an astonishing 9,618 tickets were issued last month alone – that’s 310 a day or one every two minutes at peak times – and this was down on the figure for August.
“At £60 a fine, the financial cost of the tickets issued last month alone totalled more than £577,000 – or, if paid promptly, more than £288,000 at £30 a time.
“These fines are damaging to the reputation of Brighton and Hove Council in terms of the opinion of local residents.
“They also impact on the reputation the city has with tourists to the area.”
He set up the petition urging Brighton and Hove City Council to reverse fines issued at the bus gates until the signage is changed on the 38 Degrees website.
The petition said: “As your own councillors accept the road signage for the Brighton bus gates is misleading, I am calling on Brighton and Hove City Council to withdraw and refund all fines given to drivers who have entered the Bus lanes in Marlborough Place, St George’s Place, St Peter’s Place and York Place, and stop issuing new fines until the road signage is made clearer.
“Given the sheer number of fines issued, this is clearly not drivers ignoring the road signs. This appears to be an attempt to fleece innocent road users.
“This is damaging to the morale of the local population and discourages the tourism that Brighton and Hove relies on.”
To sign the petition, click here.
Re the Brighton Bus Gate article. I have seen the reports of the hundreds of motorists who have been fined for travelling in Bus Gates. We have taken this route out of Brighton for 40 plus years and were not aware of the situation. We did not see any notices to alert us to the restrictions and ‘Bus Gate’ as a term is not known to us either. We recently made a visit to Brighton, on 27th November to see a play and have a meal. We went back through Brighton town to see your Christmas lights and to our annoyance then received a notice from the Council fining us for driving on York Place. As we are not residents of Brighton we didn’t know the implication of driving in a bus gate lane at 8.27pm. This fine has changed our happy memory of our day in Brighton. These fines are nothing more than a Cash Cow for the Council and needs reversing! It will be a long time before we visit Brighton again.
The sign with a picture of a bike, a bus, the word “taxi” and the word “only” wasn’t enough for you? Maybe take a train next time, save lives.
There is little or no advance warning that you are suddenly going to find yourself in a Bus Lane or Bus Gate. You select your lane in advance of getting to a junction based on where you want to go – there should be a warning sign set well back to prevent you getting into bus lane/gate.
Whats a bus gate anyway?
Alan Gorringe
I don’t want to be rude, but after 40 years of taking the same route out of Brighton you must have surely realised the Road layout had changed!!!
As for notices, they are there, they are clear and they are legal and conform to the SIGNS within the Highway Code.
As for ‘bus gate’ even if the word Gate doesn’t register, surely the word BUS would.
The number one cause of crashes and driving errors is Observations, as proven by your very comments and those of others on similar threads.
Sorry, pay the fine and more attention.
I had almost the exact same experience as Alan just before Christmas. Once I was at the gate itself I realised it was an odd layout but by then it was too late (and dangerous) to change lane. I had to check the dashcam later and no question the road/signage leading up to it was confusing/misleading. The council accept that point as they’ve since changed all the signage to make it clearer. Add to that I’m not from Brighton and have never heard of a bus gate before and no such thing is (at the time anyway) listed in the highway code. Bit harsh to have a go at Alan in the circumstances.
Wasn’t enough for me either but then perhaps that’s because I was busy not running over pedestrians and trying to work out what ‘BUS GATE’ might mean while navigating an unfamiliar town in the dark using satnav. Still, I am sure ‘Some Guy’ will be delighted that I will be going elsewhere for the seaside in the future.
Some Guy is just a moron, ignore comments from idiotic non-constructive people like that.
Richard Atkins
You just highlighted one of the causes of so many fines, SAT NAV’s, these need to be updated from time to time.
Bus Gates, you do make a fair point, but as I said to another poster, the word gate might not immediately mean anything but the word ‘BUS’ might have given you a clue, therefore meaning you should’ve taken more attention than rely on a Sat-Nav.
At some point even if you haven’t seen the Road signs, you must have seen traffic lights, that also indicate what traffic must do !!!!