Drivers who use a bus lane without permission will see their fines increased from £60 to £70 from today as councils across the country get new powers. The Government has increased the fine that drivers pay for unauthorised use of a bus lane outside London.
Until now it was up to councils to decide how much they fine drivers, but that rule has been repealed and replaced with a UK-wide fee.
In London the fines are already much higher, at up to £160, and the new national fines have been introduced to bring the level in line with other offences. The increase comes as councils get the ability to ask for permission to fine drivers for more offences - such as stopping in a box junction.
The Government has decided to increase bus lane fines to bring them in line with the amount drivers pay for 'high-level parking offences'.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport, said: "We have ... used this opportunity to repeal the bus lane enforcement regime, in place since 2005 under the Transport Act 2000, to create a single enforcement regime under the 2004 Act; that includes bus lane enforcement."
She added: "As moving traffic and bus lane contraventions are of a type, we are increasing bus lane penalties by £10 to align with contraventions of moving traffic and higher-level parking contraventions —for example, parking in a disabled bay."
AA president Edmund King said: “Bus lane fines are set to go up by more than twice the rate of already rampant UK inflation. With finances for so many on a knife-edge, losing a day’s wages for mistakenly wandering into a bus lane could push many over the edge.”
The Department for Transport said the fines would reduce congestion and deter unsafe drivers.
