Taxi Driver Online

Council told to change bus lane signs after High Court hearing

Nottingham City Council has been told to change its signage on a bus lane which has seen thousands of drivers fined.

Earlier this year, the Post revealed more than 11,000 drivers had been fined for driving through the bus gate on Shakespeare Street - but a High Court judge has ruled the signs on the street were unclear.

The case of a taxi driver, Mohammed Sattar, who was fined £60 by the council for using the bus lane in November 2015 and later had it overturned by an independent adjudicator, was taken to the High Court by the council to see if their sigange was in accordance with the law.

An adjudicator ruled last year that traffic restriction signs were not in recommended form and too far away from the start of the bus lane.

Mrs Justice Lang said today that the signage was "unclear" and did not provide enough information to motorists.

Mrs Justice Land told the court: "The adjudicator was entitled to emphasise the importance of consistency in signage."

That was needed "to avoid confusion among road users who may be travelling at speed, in unfamiliar places, perhaps when visibility is poor".

The judge said Shakespeare Street had been made a "bus only" highway in 2015 at the request of Nottingham Trent University.

The council made a traffic regulation order because the university wanted to improve road safety for its students and reduce traffic in the area.
The only buses that used that street were student and school buses, and a tram replacement bus service, the court heard.

And, in a further headache for the council, the adjudicator had doubted that the order in fact created a pedestrian zone as well as a bus-only street.

A council spokesman said: "This is a case which we brought ourselves because we are seeking clarification on whether or not our signs comply with the statutory requirements.

"We believe they do but as the adjudicator had upheld some appeals based on signage, we needed to understand whether we could continue as we are or needed to make any changes.

"The adjudicator agreed with us that it was in the public interest to seek clarification and so we had agreed with them that whatever the outcome, neither party would seek costs against the other. This outcome therefore does not mean we are facing heavy legal costs.

"We used Mr Sattar's case as an example to bring the issue to the high court for a judge to provide clarification. It does not affect him and we were not looking to change the outcome of his case.

"We now need to look at the details of the judgment and decide how to proceed. However, the judgment will not alter those cases where people have accepted a fine on Shakespeare Street."

Read more at http://www.nottinghampost.com/council-t ... 0T4gI6x.99

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

shouldn't think they are worried after all the money that camera has generated UNLESS it becomes the next PPI and 1000's of drivers sue for repayment of fines

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

There's loads of them round Nottingham now. That's why I don't do Nottingham's anymore. Every time I go there's been a new lane installed. The last time I got hammered was 04:30 one Monday morning, a new bus lane had come into action at 00:00 on the Monday morning, unbeknown to me I dropped off outside the station. Four days later a letter was on the floor with a photo of me dropping off in this new bus lane that had been in operation for 4½ hours.

One of our drivers got caught out by this camara. I will see if they fancy making a challenge.

_________________
Grandad,

So how do you drop off at Nottingham station

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

There is a pick up and drop off point inside the car park on Station Street. If I remember rightly, it is free for 30 minutes.

_________________
Grandad,

TSRGD, the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions are the regulations every authority MUST follow literally to the letter (yes, including fonts and font size) for road signs and markings. If the sign does not comply with TSRGD it is NOT a road sign. Every council should know that.

The problem is more to do with where the signs are and that they do seem to contradict each other a bit. The first sign that states that it is a 24 hour bus lane is about 100 meters from the entry point. At the entry point is says that it is a pedestrian zone but at that point it is difficult to turn round to avoid going through.

_________________
Grandad,

Nottingham City Council aren't refunding anymore drivers, it's been on the local news.

Good luck they aren't giving anymore refunds out.

If you can get parked.

The times are also confusing, it says from 7am until 5pm then underneath it gives another time. It flashed it up on East Midlands Today at half 1.

not on the pic, it says 7pm to m,night, then m,night to 7am, so obviously 7pm -7am, how is it confusing ??

There's the confusion, they're getting people outside them times.

They may not be giving them out but if a court orders them to do so then they will have to do so.
I think there will be quite a few people now taking the matter up.

_________________
Grandad,