Celebrity lawyer 'Mr Loophole' has called on a council to refund thousands of fines from one bus lane camera that has raked in up to £1million. Top solicitor Nick Freeman, who has represented the likes of David Beckham, branded the camera an "appalling piece of road architecture".
He said it allowed Croydon Council to collect more than 7,500 fines from motorists in five years - amounting to between £500,000 and £1million. Martin Best, a victim caught by the camera, claimed the authority set up a trap that "punishes safe driving" after he was slapped with a £130 ticket in April.
Mr Best discovered over 40 per cent of the borough's bus lane fines came from one camera on Wellesley Road, since 2018. Roughly 30 drivers a week get flashed at the camera in the same time period, according to Freedom of Information Act data.
It sits between two entrances to the Whitgift shopping centre car park, where drivers have to turn left. But if vehicles cross the left hand lane to park they are fined £130, or £65 if they pay quickly.
Mr Freeman runs an eponymous law firm that specialises in road traffic incidents - he has had endless celebrity clients including ex-Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson, comedian Jimmy Carr, and former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. He said: "It’s absolutely atrocious, it’s a money-making scheme.
“Their fines should be refunded without any question and the council should hang their heads in shame. My view is that those monies were unfairly and unreasonably obtained.
"The facts speak for themselves. If one camera is raising over 40% of revenue, there’s clearly a problem and the council needs to take responsibility for it.”
Mr Best said he was "genuinely surprised" when the ticket came through the door that he visited the carpark to see what had happened. Describing the carpark, he said: "It basically intersects a continuous bus lane, with an extremely small gap.
“On a busy day, I’m unsure how it’d be possible to make a perfect manoeuvre and avoid camera infringements."
He added it requires a "dangerous, 90-degree-angle turn" to cross it. "This seems more like exploitation of good drivers than a safety measure.
“Why place the camera in the one place they know people will be turning in?”
Croydon Council dismissed the concerns, with a spokesman saying: "[Drivers] should enter from the middle lane when it is clear."
Taking up his own investigation, Mr Best filed a series Freedom of Information requests. He learned between its installation in May 2018, and May 2023, the camera generated 7,617 fines.
In the same period 17,617 were issued across all of Croydon's bus lane camera. Over five years, the Wellesley Road camera snapped over 43 per cent of the council's total bus lane reprimands.
The council said each year an average of seven bus lane camera were turned on, but in some years this went up to double digits, pushing up the proportion of fines generated on Wellesley Road.
The council also disclosed the distance between the end of the bus lane and the second car park entrance is 24 metres, and Mr Freeman challenged it by stating the stopping distance at 30mph is 23 metres.
He said: “The stopping distance at 30mph is 23 metres, which illustrates the folly of this particular layout. People want to and are entitled to gradually ease into the left-hand lane.
“They don’t want to feel that at the last minute they’ve got to cut across. It causes anxiety with cars behind. It’s really poorly designed. Drivers should be given a minimum of 50 metres to safely pull over. Even that’s not very long, say, if it’s rush hour and there are buses there.
“I would be advising motorists to challenge any ticket they get in that lane, on the basis that it is unfair and unreasonable.”
Croydon Council warned drivers must slow down to enter the shopping district. A spokesman for the authority said: “Those wishing to turn into a car park in 24 metres would be expected to reduce their speed.
“If travelling at 30mph, they should do this as early as possible, to meet their requirement to drive with due car and attention, as is written in the Highway Code.”
