A Fine Day For Birmingham Police

POLICE in Birmingham have discovered they are not immune from traffic fines, after figures released by West Midlands Police show that local law enforcement have fallen foul of the city’s tough stance on bus lane offenders.

In a hard-line approach, which had drawn criticism from some drivers, Birmingham City Council put up new signs on existing bus lanes in the heart of the city barring all other vehicles from using them and enforcing the rule with traffic cameras to catch the culprits who flout the ban.

As a result, a reported 60,000 fines were issued by the end of last year following the scheme's launch in September, with police drivers accounting for 408 of those transgressions and individual drivers responsible for payment of the fine.

The council said the scheme was necessary because too many people were ignoring the rules of the road. Each penalty notice carries a fine of £30, which doubles after 14 days without payment.

Fines handed out to police drivers since September 5 total more than £24,000, according to the force. However, about a quarter have already been cancelled as in those cases the vehicles were classed as exempt, for example if they were out on an emergency call.

A spokesman for the force said the outstanding penalty notices would now be looked at "to determine if they were responding to an emergency or on an operational manoeuvre.”

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said: "West Midlands Police has an agreement in place with the council that, under certain circumstances, a number of police vehicles working for specific departments will be exempt from the bus lane restrictions.

"The council appreciates the need to provide a prompt, effective delivery of police services, especially in cases of urgency.

"However, police drivers who aren't exempt must abide by the same rules as citizens and if they flout traffic restrictions they could face penalties."

The £4 million bus lane scheme is estimated to have brought in up to £1.7 million in revenue for the council, to December last year.

By Press Association reporters