‘Thousands of drivers paying invalid traffic fines every year’

Thousands of drivers each year are paying traffic fines which should not have been issued, according to new analysis.

The AA said recent rulings by London Tribunals’ traffic adjudicators show at least six councils in the capital have engaged in the “outrageous” practice of handing out £130 fines based on restrictions and enforcement cameras which lack up-to-date paperwork.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has revealed to the PA new agency that a revamp of Traffic Management Orders (TMOs) which govern local road restrictions is now being proposed.

The AA also analysed statistics from London Councils – an organisation representing the capital’s 32 borough councils and the City of London – which showed 56% of appeals made by drivers against bus lane fines in the city were either upheld or not contested in the 2023/24 financial year.

For moving traffic offences such as stopping in a yellow box when not allowed, the figure was 35%.

Combined, the successful appeals represent nearly 7,300 cases.

The AA raised concerns about why drivers were forced to spend time and money going through the appeals process, when the fines could have been cancelled after they first contacted councils to complain.

It also found that, in the three weeks to January 4, six councils were unable to supply London Tribunals’ traffic adjudicators with paperwork to validate the fines they had issued.

They were the boroughs of Lambeth, Croydon, Harrow, Redbridge and Greenwich, and the City of London.

Adjudicators cancelled these fines, but the AA believes they are “the tip of the iceberg”.

For each successful appeal, “perhaps hundreds more” drivers who receive invalid fines pay up within 14 days to secure the 50% discount for early payment, the AA said.

Fines for bus lane infringements and moving traffic offences should only be issued when TMOs are valid.

Adjudicators have also ruled in drivers’ favour because councils failed to provide current certification for enforcement cameras.

Luke Bosdet, from the AA’s motoring policy unit, said: “Dishing out fines for any restriction that has expired is outrageous.

“While a handful of drivers have fought back against fines that shouldn’t have been issued in the first place, thousands of drivers each year will have paid the half-rate within 14 days.

“How can it ever be acceptable that a council fines a motorist for an offence without legal basis and just has to cancel the demand for money?

“The lack of accountability for councils’ road traffic enforcement needs to be reviewed by the Department for Transport.

“All TMOs should be held on a central database with alerts to warn when one is going to expire or has already done so.”

The AA also uncovered successful appeals by drivers who were “stitched up by council incompetence”.

They include drivers fined when signs directing them to avoid restrictions were inadequate, and a case where access to an electric vehicle charger for residents was via a restricted road.

It emerged in October that Southwark Council did not have a valid TMO for its most lucrative bus lane.

Weekly newspaper Southwark News reported that drivers received 4,478 fines worth a total of more than half a million pounds for entering the bus lane in Lower Road, Rotherhithe, over the previous year.

A DfT spokesman said: “Local authorities are responsible for local traffic measures and they should make sure penalties for the use of bus lanes are fair and proportionate.

“They must ensure their Traffic Management Orders are up to date, and we will be sharing proposals to modernise this process making it more efficient for local authorities.”

A London Councils spokesperson said: “London Councils encourages any motorist who does not believe that the PCN (penalty charge notice) should have been issued to make representations to the local authority, and then appeal any rejected decision with London Tribunals.

“The independent adjudicator exists for the very reason of dealing with difficult cases.”

They added that London Councils “cannot comment on the decisions made by individual London boroughs”.