Is the term Bus Gate legal?

fatbadger2 · 30 June 2012 at 4:25PM

Hi

I accidentally drove into a lane labelled 'bus gate'. Pure accident as I was lost... tho I must be PUNISHED for my crime !!!:mad:

I was just wondering if that term is in fact allowed to be printed on the road instead of bus lane? :cool:

Also, this bus gate forked from a main road, so do the council still have to display a warning sign that there is a bus lane ahead, or is that just when the lane is on the left hand side of an existing road?

Ta very much

LincolnshireYokel · 30 June 2012 at 4:55PM

I suspect there will be smart kids along later, and im no expert on this one, but first i suspect there woudl have to be TRO to make such a road marking, and secondly it woudl have to comply with statutory markings.

Theres nothing about a 'bus gate' in here

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/traffic-signs-manual/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-05.pdf

fatbadger2 · 30 June 2012 at 5:19PM

THANKS,but what is a TRO and how would that help?

LincolnshireYokel · 30 June 2012 at 5:36PM

Traffic regulation order, required to make any sort of road sign or marking legally enforceable. usually all stored atthe Council Highways department and you have a right to see them.

mikey72 · 30 June 2012 at 5:44PM

Essex by chance?

CKhalvashi · 30 June 2012 at 5:51PM

I drove through one about 6 months ago in Basildon, and was told that even though my car had a Hackney plate on the back, because I had no taxi light on, it is treated as a normal car.

They offered to take me to court, at which point I coughed up £30. Essex are some of the worst.

(To give you an idea, there is a picture of the back of my car on another thread this morning. I've now had the light nicked

)

muckybutt · 30 June 2012 at 8:22PM

The use of a road marking has to comply with the traffic signs regulations and general directions regulations, marking 1048 BUS LANE has no other permitted varients, therefore if they have used BUS GATE then they have to have had permission from the Department For Transport.
If they have not sought DFT permission the road marking is non compliant and should be a win at appeal, the road marking should look like http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3113/images/uksi_20023113_en_152

You should also look at the signage, the regulations state that bus lanes have to be signed accordingly, if they dont conform they could also be non compliant and again all adds to the argument at appeal.

I am currently fighting one for my brother in Bath so am fairly up tp speed on bus lane stuff, however for even more advice I would say register on pepipoo and start a new thread in the council tickets section, take scans of all paperwork you have had from the council so far and street view links to the road in question and photos if you have them, the more stuff you can provide the better the defence you will have at appeal.

There a bit more info on ticketfighter as well. http://www.ticketfighter.co.uk/bus.htm

Coupon-mad · 30 June 2012 at 8:55PM

CKhalvashi wrote: »

I drove through one about 6 months ago in Basildon, and was told that even though my car had a Hackney plate on the back, because I had no taxi light on, it is treated as a normal car.

They offered to take me to court, at which point I coughed up £30. Essex are some of the worst.

(To give you an idea, there is a picture of the back of my car on another thread this morning. I've now had the light nicked )

Nope, you needn't have thrown in the towel so quickly! They did not offer to take you to Court, you just read it that way.

There is no Court over decriminalised contraventions, it's just an adjudicator. Like an office meeting, that's all. And MOST PEOPLE WIN.

If you are a taxi driver it's in your interests to know about pepipoo forums, see below, you could have won!

fatbadger2 wrote: »

Hi

I accidentally drove into a lane labelled 'bus gate'. Pure accident as I was lost... tho I must be PUNISHED for my crime !!!:mad:

I was just wondering if that term is in fact allowed to be printed on the road instead of bus lane? :cool:

Also, this bus gate forked from a main road, so do the council still have to display a warning sign that there is a bus lane ahead, or is that just when the lane is on the left hand side of an existing road?

Ta very much

As muckybutt says, register on pepipoo as they can help most people win most Council PCN appeals in the end, as long as you don't give up when you get a standard 'computer says no' letter like poor CKhalvashi did!

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

HTH, look at a few threads and learn about the forum, then register and put up a new topic with pictures of your PCN (all sides of all letters, all small print except car reg and name/address and PCN number).

jrrowleyws · 30 June 2012 at 9:03PM

fatbadger2 wrote: »

I accidentally drove into a lane labelled 'bus gate'. Pure accident as I was lost...

If you do challenge your ticket... Please don't use the excuse of being lost. Even when you are lost the highway code still applies as does British law.

"I didn't mean to run over the person, I was lost and so didn't look where I was going"

mikey72 · 30 June 2012 at 9:04PM

Maybe you need to get up to speed on bus gates, and previous rulings, before posting categorical statements to the op?

muckybutt · 30 June 2012 at 9:11PM

mikey72 wrote: »

Maybe you need to get up to speed on bus gates, and previous rulings, before posting categorical statements to the op?

Who is that directed at ?

Is the term Bus Gate legal?

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