Thousands of motorists have been fined for going through Union Street’s bus gate, but now the council has admitted three of the signs were wrong, there is one question on everyone’s lips — can I get my money back?
The signs in question all gave incorrect distances to the bus gate, adding more confusion to the traffic restriction which many drivers claimed was already unclear.
Two of the signs have since been altered.
We asked the experts if they think those who were slapped with fines could get their money back from Aberdeen City Council as a result.
What happened to the signs?
In the last six months of 2021, more than 42,000 drivers were fined for going through the Union Street bus gate.
Many of those who were fined blamed poor signage, stating that the signs were either too small or not clear in their meaning. Others say they didn’t see the signs at all.
Last week the Press & Journal revealed that three of the signs were in fact incorrect, with two of them indicating that the traffic restriction was further away than it actually was.
At the time, a council officer confirmed they were aware of the problems but “supply chain issues” meant it was difficult to install replacements.
As of yesterday, two of the three incorrect signs have been changed to better reflect the true distance to the bus gate.
One on Market Street which formerly said ¼ mile (440 yards) now says 220 yards and one on Union Street which previously said 200 yards now says 110 yards.
Have any other councils given back cash?
Although the Union Street bus gate is relatively new, there are other bus gates around the UK which have their own history of poor signage and frustrated residents.
In Warrington last year, more than a thousand people signed a petition calling for better bus gate signage, and in response the local authority decided to cancel all fines to date and to issue full refunds.
“Issues with signage at bus gates is a very common problem,” said AA spokesman Luke Bosdet.
“The problem is that if you get a fine and then you pay it, councils take this as you admitting you were in a part of the road you shouldn’t have been and that you were in the wrong.
“So once you’ve paid, it can be extremely difficult to get your money back.”
A controversial bus gate in Preston in the north of England immediately sprang to Luke’s mind when he heard about the situation in Aberdeen.
“I’ve seen a class action success in Preston when a group of people got together and all appealed their fines because they felt the signage of a particular bus gate was wrong,” he said.
“Investigators went along to see the signs in person and decided that yes, the signs were wrong.
“The council accepted this decision and decided that no more fines would be issued until the signs were replaced.
“But they said that this policy wouldn’t be backdated and none the fines which had already been paid would be refunded.”
What does a lawyer think?
Stuart Beveridge is a criminal defence lawyer at Grant Smith Law Practice in Aberdeen.
Despite having worked as a solicitor for more than 20 years, even he struggled to figure out if north-east residents could have any grounds to get their money back.
“It took me a while to get my head round it,” he said.
Stuart’s first port of call was the government’s appeals website, which states that incorrect signage or road markings are grounds for appeal.
“But then I looked at this in a bit more detail, and the MyGov website information is incorrect, or at best confusing, since it refers to both parking and bus lane notices.
“The incorrect signage ground only applies to parking”
Stuart found that according to the Bus Lane Contraventions (Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, the only time an individual can challenge and/or appeal a bus lane or gate charge is on one of the statutory grounds which are listed.
Those grounds appear to be limited to;
- The contravention didn’t take place
- Other proceedings have already been taken for same incident
- That you were not the registered keeper or driver of the car at the time
So, no mention of incorrect signage.
“That said, the council have put this on their website which suggests that they would accept appeals on the basis of signage on a discretionary basis,” Stuart continued.
“The problem might be in the time limits for appeal, as normally you have 28 days to challenge a parking or bus lane fixed penalty notice issued by the council.”
But Stuart thinks councils do have the discretion to accept appeals outwith that 28 day period so “it’s probably worth challenging the notice.”
After a challenge is mounted, the council will appoint an adjudicator to deal with the situation.
Typically if the council rejects a challenge then a further appeal can be made to the Parking and Bus Lanes Appeals (PBLA) tribunal.
But since the PBLA can only deal with appeals on a legal basis (and the grounds listed above for bus lane/gate appeals don’t cover incorrect signage), this avenue isn’t open to drivers in this case, according to Stuart.
As far as Stuart can tell, anyone appealing the Union Street fine “would have to simply rely on the council adjudicator’s goodwill and discretion… possibly influenced by public outcry.”
Should councils monitor problems with bus gates and take proactive action?
The issue that many motorists seem to come up against is that there is no clear organisation or department that deals with complaints about bus gates in particular.
According to Luke, this is indicative of the poor monitoring of bus gates in general.
He believes that there should be a base number of fines which indicate a problem with a bus gate, meaning that if the number of fines surpasses this threshold then councils need to look at why so many drivers are driving into an area they shouldn’t.
“People don’t just throw themselves into bus gates like lemmings,” he said.
“When thousands and thousands of people are getting fined, councils should be asking themselves why.
“Of course part of the problem is that bus gates make so much money for councils.
“The camera just sits there and the fines roll in – it’s easy money and there is no incentive to sort out issues.”
Has anyone successfully appealed their fine in Aberdeen?
We asked Aberdeen City Council how many appeals it received between July and December of last year, when 42,000 drivers were recorded going through the bus gate on Union Street.
The authority told us that 2,342 appeals were submitted in total.
Three quarters of these were rejected, with just 607 appeals upheld.
The council has updated its bus lane appeals page online to include specific detail about the Union Street traffic measures.
It states that the council “wish to clarify that distance signs installed alongside bus lane and bus gate signage has not affected the validity of any charges applied to motorists.”
“The council accepts that two distance signs, on Union Street and Market Street, were not accurate and thanks the public for bringing this to our attention.”
The message continues by stating that these issues have been rectified and that members of the public are welcome to appeal any fines within 28 days of receipt of that charge and that any appeal will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “It would be inappropriate for the council to comment on individual cases. Each appeal made to the council is considered on a case by case basis giving due regard to the specific circumstances of each case.
“We can however confirm that the signage that you refer to in this specific circumstance was supplementary signage and is not classed as statutory signage which is accurate.
“Any motorist appealing a charge, for entering any bus lane or bus gate within the city, must do so to the council within 28 days of receipt of that charge in accordance with the criteria within the relevant regulations.”
Read more about the bus gate:
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More than 42,000 drivers fined for driving through bus gate on Aberdeen’s Union Street
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Fined for going through the bus gate? You can pay on the city council’s website.
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Or, you can appeal your bus gate fine here.
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Have you successfully appealed your fine? Let us know by emailing environmentandtransport@ajl.co.uk
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