A man has hit out at Brent Council over “wrong road markings” after he was fined for driving in a bus lane.
The father of two from Harrow, who did not wish to be named, was given a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) after he “unwittingly” drove in the bus lane in High Road, Wembley, near Lancelot Road and Thurlow Gardens on January 21.
He said he initially paid the fine in full after it became clear that he had indeed driven in the bus lane.
But on a later journey in the same area, he realised he had strayed into the camera enforced zone “due to road markings that are encouraging motorists to drive in the bus lane”.
Both lanes of the road before the junction with Thurlow Gardens have markings that indicate drivers can continue straight ahead, even though the inside lane immediately turns into a bus lane after the junction.
The Harrow man believes the marking should indicate the left lane is suitable only for traffic turning left into Thurlow Road.
He has criticised Brent Council for the “wrong road markings”, claiming that they may be “unlawful”, or at the very least “morally wrong”.
The authority said the man had paid the fine in full and encouraged residents to use their appeals process if they think their PCN is unfair.
But he has now called on Brent Council to refund his £65 fine or donate it to a Brent charity of its choice. He also urged the authority to disable the bus lane camera until the road markings had been corrected.
A Freedom of Information request to Brent Council by the father of two showed that 17,182 PCNs had been issued to vehicles for contravening the same bus lane restriction since December 2013.
Of these, 41 PCNs were successfully appealed.
It is estimated from these figures that Brent Council could have raised over £1 million from the camera.
A Brent Council spokesperson said: "There is an appeals process for all penalty charges which we encourage residents to use if they think that their parking ticket is unfair. In this case the car was fined for using the bus lane and the driver has paid the fine in full.
“We would like to reiterate that motorists should observe all signage and road markings.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here