Should I worry? Bus lane mistake

loadsalaughs

I wonder is anyone knows how long a bus lane ticket takes to come through.

I was in a part of london which I dont know today. The GPS was telling me to go straight on at the traffic lights and the traffic was queing to turn right, several cars moved into the left lane and went straight on at the lights. I did the same and the flow of traffic stopped after about 5 seconds as the lights changed, with me at the back.

A bus pulled up behind me with a black dome on his dash board which I presume was a camera.

As the van in front of me pulled away I saw a sign 20 meters in the distance saying "End of bus lane" :eek:

I looked on google street view and there are signs further up saying the bus lane is from 4:30 till 7pm and I was there at 6pm. So I was in the wrong.

The problem is that I have always been careful and never got a ticket before so I wonder if anyone knows how long these things take to come through? That is if I was caught.

marywooyeah

I think it's an £80 fine if you get caught, although I would imagine it would be about a week or so for a notice to come through. perhaps you would be able to appeal though due to your genuine mistake.

Bowling_4_Gold

The dome in the bus isn't used to catch bus lane offenders (afaik)... you will only get a ticket if you were caught on street mounted CCTV (which would have to be zoomed in and following your car to get an accurate image).

In any case, a valid ticket will come within 14 days.

JTA, are you sure the bus lane is operating 7 days? Quite often they are Mon-Fri.

loadsalaughs

It happened yesterday, friday. I looked around on google and could not see any street mounted cameras. You are correct though, the lane only operates Mon-Fri.

I just panicked a bit as I read somewhere that buses are now mounted with cameras, perhaps TFL are just trying scare tactics, like the TV licencing people did when they claimed years ago to be able to see unlicensed tvs with thier detector vans.

scheming_gypsy

loadsalaughs wrote: »

I just panicked a bit as I read somewhere that buses are now mounted with cameras,.

pointed inside the bus for driver and passenger protection

greenface

and pointed infront for any traffic incidents or driving problems

loadsalaughs

Thanks every one I feel a lot better. I will let you know in a couple of weeks if anything else came of it.

flyingscotno1

There were at one time over 1,000 bus mounted cameras in London for bus lane offences. No idea if that number is still the same.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Don't worry too much, often bus lanes end just before and begin just after traffic lights to allow 2 lanes of traffic to get themselves through the lights, not as it helps to ease traffic flow.

If you've got nicked you'll be helping to keep the London deficit to only third world standards..;)

paddedjohn

IMO buslanes should be abolished. They are part of the public road structure and publicly funded but reserved for private business's, wrong in so many ways.

rev_henry

I've seen bus mounted enforcement camera footage on Police Camera Action etc, but not for several years. If everyone else was at it I think you'll be ok. You won't get points, I believe its treated more like a parking fine, but in London it has gone up to £120 I understand.