A pensioner has successfully appealed against a council fine for driving in a bus lane, after discovering a loophole in the law. Bill Ball was slapped with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) by the local authority following the incident last November.
But the 78-year-old launched an appeal as he claimed one of the three entry signs to the bus gate on the city's Canal Street was not in place at the time. Bill, a retired engineer, took his case to a tribunal last month, which found that signs "did not adequately inform drivers about the bus lane", reports the Mirror.
His £35 fine was scrapped as a result by Nottingham City Council. Mr Ball, 78, from Nettleham, Nottingham in Lincolnshire, said it was a "complete fluke" that he worked out the legal loophole that led him to the successful appeal.
He said: "I'd never driven in the city before and I just didn't notice this bus lane. The camera that took a photo of me in the bus lane also took a picture of the signs. As a stranger I wasn't to know a sign would normally be in the middle, but I went on Google street view and there were three signs.
"The council said the sign had been damaged in a road accident and had deemed two signs to be sufficient. It was a complete fluke that I noticed it. People like me, we hardly ever come across bus lanes at all."
Despite Bill's successful appeal, a council spokesperson said other cases where people had accepted a fine would not be affected by the ruling. Mr Ball said: "Most people that were also done probably won't know that. Anyone in their right mind will pay the £35 and get on with their life."
There were 38 PCNs issued for the same offence on November 14, the day as Bill was photographed in the bus lane, according to council figures. Bill added: "If you refuse to begin with, it's doubled, and then you have to go through the appeal process. To some people £35 is quite a lot."
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “At the time this fine was issued, a central bus gate sign had been damaged in a road accident. However, two signs remained in place on either side of the road which we deemed sufficient for ongoing enforcement.
“The signs we use are DFT approved and since the new road layout was introduced we have provided further signage and road markings to make the arrangements, including the bus gate, as clear as possible to motorists.
"We know that the vast majority of motorists are following the signs and road layout without entering the bus gate and incurring fines.
“Appeals are dealt with on their individual merit so under the rules of the national tribunal, the outcome of this appeal will not alter those cases where people have accepted a fine on Canal Street.”
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