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Emergency volunteers delivering life-saving blood to Manchester’s hospitals have been ‘fined’ for ‘driving through council bus lanes’.
That’s according to Withington MP Jeff Smith, who’s secured an exemption from Manchester council for ‘blood bike’ riders so they won’t be penalised for driving through the city’s bus lanes, including a ‘bus gate’ outside five major hospitals.
A host of medical supplies, including blood and vaccines, are delivered by Greater Manchester Blood Bike Service 24/7 ‘completely free of charge’ to the NHS.
But the charity’s cars and motorbikes were not classified as ‘authorised’ or ‘emergency’ vehicles by the council when it installed a ‘bus gate’ on Oxford Road in September 2017, leading to volunteers being fined.
Oxford Road is home to Manchester Royal Infirmary, the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, and Saint Mary’s women and infants’ hospital, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, and Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
Council restrictions say ‘only buses, bicycles, black cabs, emergency and authorised vehicles’ can use a section of the road outside the hospitals from 6am to 9pm every day. Currently, the fixed penalty notice costs offenders £70, or £35 if paid within three weeks.
“When it was brought to my attention that volunteers had been issued with fixed penalty notices in Manchester for contravening bus lanes and bus gates while carrying out their important work, I raised this with the City Council,” the Labour MP for Withington said.
“I am grateful that they’ve agreed that blood bikers will now be exempted from these rules while doing their vital deliveries, so riders can deliver crucial medical supplies to our hospitals as easily as possible.
“Greater Manchester Blood Bike Service is a fantastic organisation of volunteers who transport blood and other crucial medical supplies to and from hospitals.”
The charity says it’s the only organisation ‘operating in Greater Manchester that transports blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines, donor breast milk, and any other urgently required medical items to hospitals and healthcare sites’.
The service is offered ‘at night, daytime, weekends and bank holidays’ to medics ‘completely free of charge’ so ‘the NHS [can] divert funds where they are needed most’.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Manchester council why blood bikes had not been exempted from the beginning of the bus gate, nearly eight years ago, but a spokesperson would not be drawn.
They said in a statement: “Blood Bikes play an essential and often life-saving role and we were more than happy to support Jeff’s proposal to have an exemption for them in place as is the case with other branches of the emergency services.”
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