![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_SWNS_BUS_GATE_03.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe controversial traffic control scheme continues to rake it in for Bristol City Council<\/p>\n
The controversial signage alerting drivers to the bus gate in Cumberland Road(Image: SWNS)<\/p>\n
Bristol City Council raked in just under \u00a31.5m in the last financial year thanks to a controversial bus gate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nearly 38,000 penalty charge notices were issued for infringements on Cumberland Road in 2024\/25, generating \u00a31.43m in fines at an average cost of \u00a338 per ticket.<\/p>\n That means the bus gate on Cumberland Road heading east towards Bedminster<\/a> Bridge and Redcliffe was responsible for seven per cent of all PCN fines issued by the council across the most recent full financial year.<\/p>\n Drivers have repeatedly criticised the council for unclear signs warning of the bus gate, criticism which appears reasonable by the sheer number of motorists still being fined for driving through it.<\/p>\n In 2024\/25, Bristol City Council<\/a> issued a grand total of 569,544 penalty charge notices, generating \u00a321.2m in income.<\/p>\n The Cumberland Road bus gate has regularly been ranked one of the nation\u2019s most lucrative fine spots since it was introduced in early 2024.<\/p>\n In the 2024\/2025 financial year, Cumberland Road was responsible for more penalty charge notices than all but two roads in the whole of the United Kingdom, according to research undertaken by insurance comparison website Confused.com<\/a>. It was also one of six in the country to generate a local authority more than \u00a31m in fines.<\/p>\n In a Traffic Penalty Tribunal ruling in favour of a fined motorist in February last year, adjudicator Mackenzie Robinson criticised the council for the lack of clear signage on the approach to the bus gate.<\/p>\n \u201cI must look at the situation as a whole, and I am concerned that little use has been made of road markings diverting drivers towards the Council\u2019s preferred alternative route,\u201d he said. It is not for an adjudicator to advise the Council on exactly how to sign and mark a restriction. There are a number of possible measures that can be employed, such as directional arrows, wording on the road surface, broken white lines to delineate the route intended for the main traffic flow and so on. It is for the council, with its detailed local knowledge and expertise, to decide what specific measures should be put in place,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The research undertaken by Confused.com <\/a>suggests over half of drivers believe confusing or unclear signs make certain streets more likely to generate fines.<\/p>\n Matt Crole-Rees, a motoring expert at Confused.com, said more and more drivers were feeling they were being unfairly fined.<\/p>\n \u201cPenalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are a common concern for many drivers, particularly in busy towns and cities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile fines are meant to keep roads safe, our research shows a growing number of motorists feel the system isn\u2019t always clear or fair.<\/p>\n \u201cConfusing signage, changing road rules and limited parking all increase the chances of drivers being fined, particularly in busy areas. When restrictions aren\u2019t easy to understand, it becomes harder for drivers to make confident decisions and avoid costly mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you receive a PCN, it\u2019s worth taking the time to check whether it\u2019s been issued correctly, as some fines can be challenged, particularly where signage or road markings are unclear.\u201d<\/p>\n Bristol City Council has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from BristolLive?Making us your preferred source on Google means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add BristolLive as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.Or read more<\/a> about selecting your preferred sources.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The controversial traffic control scheme continues to rake it in for Bristol City Council The controversial signage alerting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[10139,381,3893,748,393,4884,1230,9731,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-787768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bedminster","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-city-council","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-motoring","15":"tag-traffic-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116130664027732388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787768","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=787768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}