Bus lane question....

[GloverMart]

Last night, I accidentally ended up in a lane specifically for buses and taxis in Basingstoke. I know, feel free to go ahead and flame me. I was wrong, my bad, terrible event, what was I even thinking of going to Basingstoke??

Anyway, was dropping my lad off at the station and intended to head to the car park at the back as we had a few minutes to kill. Found myself in the lane purely by accident as was looking for the rear entrance to the station. Had no option but to keep going till I exited it....

Should I....

(a) contact the council now and plea for leniency and tell the truth, ie I was too busy looking where to go to notice the bus & taxi lane.

(b) wait until the almost inevitable letter comes and then do (a)

(c) Suck it up and pay the fine when it comes through.

Funnily enough, a fortnight ago I had a bad puncture coming home from work which meant I had to pull over into a bus lane to get it fixed. I put the hazards on etc, got the wheel changed and was gone in 30 minutes or so. No fine has come through and by the looks of it on the council's website, there is no bus lane camera on that stretch of road. I'm veering towards (b) as I think I'll get the same answer as (a) without losing anything in waiting.

[Dave Hedgehog]

b) then pay the fine at the discounted rate, if it ever comes

[silverfoxcc]

Could it be a timed bus lane?

[GloverMart]

silverfoxcc said:

Could it be a timed bus lane?

It could be but from Google Maps, I can't see any time restrictions.

[numtumfutunch]

Lube up and get your cheque book ready

I made the mistake of using a short length of bus lane near my house on an Easter Monday a few years ago knowing that the bus doesnt actually run on bank holidays on that route

Unfortunately the cameras do run on bank holidays, even Christmas day too

Which was nice............

[Flumpo]

Do you know the bit you were in had a camera? I can only speak for the ones local to me. But the cameras are only on the bits at junctions. You can go 3 miles before there is a camera.

[GloverMart]

Flumpo said:

Do you know the bit you were in had a camera? I can only speak for the ones local to me. But the cameras are only on the bits at junctions. You can go 3 miles before there is a camera.

I'm not sure to be honest. On the occasion that I had a puncture in a Bristol bus lane, I checked on the council's website and there were 11 bus lane cameras, none of which were covering the point where I had to change my tyre.

Might be an idea to check the Hampshire council website too.

[bartelbe]

I can see how it could happen, if you are not familiar with the area. I almost got caught out, complex lanes in a one way system and very poorly sign posted.

Still as far I understand it there are no points involved, no increase in insurance costs. So my advice is put it down to experience and pay the fine.

[ceesvdelst]

Some of them are a joke, got done by one a few months back that is about 10 yards long and is basically a way of preventing traffic using a fairly low use road as a cut through, there is one bus an hour, and apparently when this lane was first introduced it dropped ten grand in a week. It's about ten feet long. And is basically stop sign in a perfectly normal road.

Using a bus lane is a traffic calming scheme, fair enough, utterly ruthless, especially when the road has been there a long time and was not a bus route until clearly some council wag decided he did not want hundreds of cars driving past his "new build"