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Bristol Post

National

Tristan Cork

Clean Air Zone: The route in and out of Asda Bedminster which will avoid a charge

Asda Clean Air Zone Bedminster Bristol City Council Bristol Bristol Live CAZ (Location)

UPDATE: This article was originally published on December 12, quoting information provided by Bristol City Council. During January, it became clear drivers undertaking this manouevre - turning left out of Asda's car park onto Coronation Road and left again onto St John's Road were still being fined. We approached Bristol City Council for clarification. They did not respond for two weeks so we published an article explaining what was happening, on February 2.

Only then did the city council confirm the original advice given in early December was incorrect, and apologise to drivers who had received PCNs. We published a second article, containing that apology, on February 5. The council's advice now is that any driver who has received a PCN for making this manouevre between December 12 and February 5 should appeal, and the PCN will be dropped. Any driver who has already paid a fine, should appeal and receive a refund.

Shoppers who visit the Asda store in Bedminster are able to drive out of the supermarket car park and into the Clean Air Zone and not be charged, even though they drive past a sign which tells them they are entering the CAZ, council chiefs have said. The council has cleared up uncertainty over the status of the 'loophole' in the Clean Air Zone outside the supermarket on the south bank of the River Avon, which is right on the edge of the CAZ border.

And because of a quirk involving a diversion for non-compliant CAZ vehicles to access another part of Bedminster, Bristol Live can now reveal access out of the car park is also affected, meaning shoppers who drive to the Asda store can also avoid getting charged, despite driving past a CAZ sign on the exit to the car park.

Bristol City Council has confirmed that drivers of non-compliant vehicles who leave the car park directly onto Coronation Road and then turn immediately left at the next set of traffic lights onto St John’s Road won’t actually be charged for entering the Clean Air Zone - even though there are signs on the exit to the car park warning drivers that they are entering the CAZ.

The loophole only applies to drivers who make that double left turn. Any non-compliant vehicle being driven further along Coronation Road will be captured on camera further down the road and will have to pay.

The reason for the loophole has arisen because Bristol City Council’s CAZ enforcement team have turned off the cameras that register vehicles at the junction of Coronation Road and St John’s Road. They’ve done that to allow the drivers of CAZ non-compliant vehicles to be able to follow a diversion to allow access to the Whitehouse Lane area of Bedminster, which sees drivers directed off North Street and up Dean Lane and St John’s Road and into the Clean Air Zone for 230 yards, but not be charged or fined.

Now, the city council has confirmed the loophole works for drivers coming out of the Asda car park and travelling the other way along that stretch of Coronation Road, and it means the 230-yard section of the A370 is both part of the Clean Air Zone and not part of the Clean Air Zone at the same time - depending on where you’ve joined the road from and where you’re going.

The council has installed extra CAZ cameras further along Coronation Road to register the vehicles that continue on into the rest of the Clean Air Zone, so drivers will be clocked and fined, so those signs on the exit of the Asda car park still apply.

A graphic map showing the diversion for motorists in vehicles that don't comply with the Clean Air Zone charges, to access the Whitehouse Lane industrial estates in Bedminster, around the closed northbound A38 Malago Road (Bristol City Council)

There is a second exit out of the Asda car park to the east onto New Charlotte Street and then down Bedminster Parade to Malago Road that has never been part of the Clean Air Zone.

A council spokesperson confirmed: “As long as someone remains within the non-active part of the zone i.e. does not go beyond the junction of St John’s Road but instead turn down that road, then they will not enter the zone and non-compliant vehicles will not be charged.." Bristol Live understands this loophole will only apply while the diversion is in place - and that will be for a while yet - Malago Road is not scheduled to reopen to northbound traffic until the summer of 2024.