Thousands of people have been caught going through Bath’s bus gate in the centre of the city over the past year, figures obtained by the BBC reveal.
The Council has said that of the more than 10,000 people who have been recorded going through the bus gate, 7,284 have paid the fixed penalty notice with 13 having successful appeals and 684 remaining pending.
The penalty charge for entering the bus gate is £60, which is reduced to £30 if it’s paid within two weeks. The charge increases to £90 if it isn’t paid after 28 days.
The BBC obtained the figures, which covered the 1st May 2012 to the 30th March 2013, in a Freedom of Information request that was made to Bath and North East Somerset Council.
CCTV is used to enforce the area, which is commonly entered by tourists and visitors to the city, unaware that is a bus gate. Signage at the site has often been blamed for people going through it.
The bus gate is enforced between 10am and 6pm each day. Only buses, taxis, and authorised vehicles are allowed through the bus gate during that time.
The number of fines given out in 2007 were 8543, in 2008 were 3208 and in 2009 increased to 6469. The installation of new cameras were the source of the more than doubling of fines handed out by B&NES Council between 2008 and 2009, with 15,556 handed out in 2010.
