Found this story in the Fail. What do you do, ignore the police and get a bollocking, or drive in the bus lane and get fined?
This has been discussed before in relation to going though red lights to let the police on lights and sirens through, and there was no consensus then.
Any thoughts? Isn’t a forum member an ex traffic police officer? What do you say?
I once had to do a delivery of concrete stairs to a house in Brixton and had to use the bus lane while they tipped me with the crane. I was there about 2 hour and there was a camera right where I was tipping.
I rang our place up and told them the situation and that if I got a ticket I wouldn’t be paying it and they should pass it on to the customer. There was also 2 coppers in a van parked across the road I think they was watching me and wanted to give me a ticket but saw I was doing a drop and there was nothing else I could do.
I never heard anything about a ticket being issued from our company and if there was, like I said earlier I wouldn’t have paid it.
This just goes to prove what I have said all along - the only drivers who actually get prosecuted for this type of thing are the ones where the NIP goes ahead and they do not contest it - most get scrapped and the NIP is never sent
The most common one is moving into a safe place but over the stop line at a set of red lights which have cameras to allow a B&Ts to proceed
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
I once had to do a delivery of concrete stairs to a house in Brixton and had to use the bus lane while they tipped me with the crane. I was there about 2 hour and there was a camera right where I was tipping.
I rang our place up and told them the situation and that if I got a ticket I wouldn’t be paying it and they should pass it on to the customer. There was also 2 coppers in a van parked across the road I think they was watching me and wanted to give me a ticket but saw I was doing a drop and there was nothing else I could do.
I never heard anything about a ticket being issued from our company and if there was, like I said earlier I wouldn’t have paid it.
Oh! and the relevance is… 
Just another way for the local councils & TfL to screw the motorist, yet again!
A great money spinner & all controlled by CCTV!
Why oh why oh why didn’t he just stop outside the bus lane and let the police go and pick up a fine instead?
Snudger:
Why oh why oh why didn’t he just stop outside the bus lane and let the police go and pick up a fine instead?
Hold on that’s forward planning not on these roads 
never catch on 
These bus lane cameras are all just money machines. I would love to see the evidence which shows that bus lanes considerably better journey times, as opposed to just having two lanes for all traffic to use. I just don’t see it.
I think he did the right thing, which is backed up by the fact that they have now refunded his £500+ fine back to him. I hope he enjoys his holiday he was planning and sticks a big pair of fingers up to Boris Johnson!
These bus lane cameras are all just money machines. I would love to see the evidence which shows that bus lanes considerably better journey times, as opposed to just having two lanes for all traffic to use. I just don’t see it.
This wouldn’t fit in with their aims of getting everyone out of a car and running around on buses and bikes, leaving just the rich and elite to travel around in their flash cars with no one else on the road.
Snudger:
Why oh why oh why didn’t he just stop outside the bus lane and let the police go and pick up a fine instead?
+1
Didn’t see if the police were were running with blues lights? If not then how was the guy instructed by the police? If they were then stay out of the lane and let the coppers use the bus lane.
The police riders would probably have preferred he stayed in the normal lane so they could ride along in the bus lane
rob22888:
These bus lane cameras are all just money machines. I would love to see the evidence which shows that bus lanes considerably better journey times, as opposed to just having two lanes for all traffic to use. I just don’t see it.
Some bus lanes make no difference, some make bus journeys much faster… Where I used to drive buses, there is one road in the city centre that was in desperate need of a bus lane heading towards the city, there is a bus lane I know where its in operation 24 hours and only a few buses pass it… but by far the worst is in a place called Castlecary, they have a bus gate, which prevents traffic from entering and exiting the slip roads heading a specific way… Why? For ONE bus per hour, X39, not even a busy bus. This causes such a inconvenience to lots of people and even slows the bus down, cause the driver has to stop at the gate and punch in a code…
One of the lads at our place was driving his van as per the rules, bus driver came out of the bus lane to overtake one that was stopped and clipped his back end, bending the rear wheel. Unable to proceed, and needing to exchange details (A501Marylebone) he chucked it into the bus lane. The NIP nearly beat him home.
dri-diddly-iver:
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
I once had to do a delivery of concrete stairs to a house in Brixton and had to use the bus lane while they tipped me with the crane. I was there about 2 hour and there was a camera right where I was tipping.
I rang our place up and told them the situation and that if I got a ticket I wouldn’t be paying it and they should pass it on to the customer. There was also 2 coppers in a van parked across the road I think they was watching me and wanted to give me a ticket but saw I was doing a drop and there was nothing else I could do.
I never heard anything about a ticket being issued from our company and if there was, like I said earlier I wouldn’t have paid it.Oh! and the relevance is…
Considering I had to tip whilst parked in a bus lane then there is some relevance I know I wasn’t driving in one but I could’ve been fined for using it to do my delivery.
The article just says that the van driver never received the letter from the council issuing the fine.
I wonder what the real truth was.
Did it get delivered to the wrong house?
Was the letter stolen?
Did it ever get sent?
Did the driver receive it but just discard it as junk mail?
Whatever the real truth was - it just seems a bit drastic for the council to clamp the vehicle merely because a letter has not been responded to.
Bus lane on his left, hatched area on his right which would offer 2 options to the police bikers. Why didn’t he just stop and let them pass on whichever side they chose?
scanny77:
Bus lane on his left, hatched area on his right which would offer 2 options to the police bikers. Why didn’t he just stop and let them pass on whichever side they chose?
It’s a natural reaction to get out of the way!