{"id":59092,"date":"2025-04-29T02:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/59092\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T02:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T02:59:17","slug":"drivers-fined-2-5m-for-going-through-controversial-bristol-bus-gate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/59092\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers fined \u00a32.5m for going through controversial Bristol bus gate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cumberland Road bus gate is a huge money spinnerNews<\/a><\/p>\n

Oliver Astley<\/strong> Content editor and SWNStom (Tom Bevan)<\/strong><\/p>\n

11:11, 27 Apr 2025Updated 17:22, 27 Apr 2025<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Cumberland Road bus gate has resulted in \u00a32.5 million of fines for drivers of 15 months(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

Drivers have been fined more than \u00a32.5 million due to a controversial bus gate in Bristol<\/a>. The fines were handed out over a 15-month period, meaning fines of \u00a3166,000 per month, new figures show.<\/p>\n

A Freedom of Information request has revealed a total of 60,128 fines were handed to motorists for driving through the Cumberland Road bus gate in Bristol between January 1, 2024, and April 3, 2025.<\/p>\n

The bus gate prioritises public transport over private vehicles<\/a> by only allowing buses, cycles, taxis and motorcycles to enter the central areas of the city using Cumberland Road.<\/p>\n

Penalty charge notices for driving through the bus gate cost \u00a335, with some drivers blaming Google Maps for still showing that the fastest way to get into town is along that stretch of road.<\/p>\n

Bristol City Council<\/a> said bus gates are installed across the city to help cut air pollution “and increase the number of bus travel options for residents”.<\/p>\n

The FOI from the BBC<\/a> shows that the Cumberland Road bus gate fines have now generated around \u00a32.529m, more than four times higher than the second highest grossing bus gate in the city.<\/p>\n

It also revealed there were 128 attempts at appealing the fines during the same period<\/a>, however it is not clear how many of them were successfully overturned.<\/p>\n

In February, a Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator raised concerns about the signage approaching the bus gate while determining an appeal.<\/p>\n

The council has repeatedly defended the signage, arguing it is compliant with the latest guidance and legislation.<\/p>\n

Councillor Ed Plowden, transport committee chair on Bristol City Council, told the BBC: “It is the responsibility of all drivers to plan their journey appropriately and avoid bus gates.<\/p>\n

“Drivers can find details of bus gates in Bristol on the council’s website.<\/p>\n

“We continue to offer leniency, at our discretion, for those drivers who receive multiple fines in the time between their first incorrect use of the bus gate and getting notice of the fine in the post.”<\/p>\n

The total revenue made from fines across all of the city’s bus gates was \u00a34.7m.<\/p>\n

One local man had previously claimed the gate was ‘unlawful’ and ‘defective’.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe controversial signage alerting drivers to the bus gate in Cumberland Road(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n

Matt Sanders, a graphic designer from Windmill Hill in Bristol, has spent months compiling evidence about the bus gate.<\/p>\n

He claims the signage goes against national regulations, and has urged Bristol City Council to make urgent changes, as well as refund drivers who have been fined – in a 150-page dossier.<\/p>\n

He has since sent a copy of the report to every councillor in the city.<\/p>\n

The council previously defended the scheme and said it installed 14 warning signs when it was only obliged to display two.<\/p>\n

It said the bus gate was installed to improve air quality and give priority to public transport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cumberland Road bus gate is a huge money spinnerNews Oliver Astley Content editor and SWNStom (Tom Bevan)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[192,381,3893,748,393,867,4884,9731,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-59092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-city-council","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-google","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-traffic-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114419018300232744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}