More than 270 bus lane fines wrongly issued in Wolverhampton
More than 270 drivers have been wrongly issued with bus lane fines in Wolverhampton over the last five years.
New figures revealed dozens of drivers are successfully having fines overturned every year.
Motorists face being fined for cutting into a number of bus lanes around the city, including on Stafford Road and Willenhall Road as well as in the city centre. The city council has raked in millions of pounds in fines over recent years from the bus lane cameras.
But since 2014/15, a total of 276 drivers did not have to pay the penalties after challenging the city council, believing them to be unfair. In 167 cases the fines were withdrawn due to an appeal being successful. Another 109 appeals were not contested by the authority.
The council said “only a fraction” of fines were appealed and that it may choose not to contest some appeals for “various reasons” and “as such these cases will be cancelled in favour of the appellant”.
Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environment, said: “Only a fraction of these make it to appeal, there are many reasons why the council may choose not to make representation - this is a natural part of a legal process.
"Where there is any advice and guidance coming from decisions by the adjudicator, our officers take this on board to continue to improve our processes.”
Opposition leader, Councillor Wendy Thompson said the number of successful appeals showed penalties are worth appealing.
She said: “They should definitely appeal. What is awful is people who come into Wolverhampton want to explore the city and they are horrified when they get a whopping fine.”
The figures, published under the Freedom of Information Act, showed there was a spike in successful appeals in 2017/18 when 96 drivers had penalties overturned. There were another 48 the following year.
The 12 bus lane cameras around the city brought in £1.9 million in fines in 2017/18.
