Shafted on Shaftesbury Avenue!

[Ken Figenus]

Pootling down Shaftesbury Avenue behind 2 double decker buses and as the buses clear my view as I stop at a red I find myself surrounded by tourists in Piccadilly with all lanes in front of me saying BUS LANE! Whaaaaatttt? I almost got the wallet out there and then and posted Westminster Council a ton and a heartfelt country bumpkin muppet apology! Never has driving in a bus lane been done so blatantly - I deserve points just for sheer swag!

Trouble was I never saw a bus lane sign as the, err, two double decker big things blocked them all out! Imagine this with 2 x No38 red's in front of you!



I couldn't have missed this olde type i'm sure:



Ohh well - all on me, on the chin - but be careful out there guys as I doubt there is any way I'm getting away with this thug life and that an invoice i en-route

[PorkInsider]

I’ve got to say it certainly does sound like the thug life has chosen you, old chap.

If that’s the way you roll I expect you’re bound to fall foul of the local council’s signage peculiarities now and again.

(I would never have spotted those signs myself!)

[dacouch]

How did you miss the left turn only sign on the traffic lights?

[Trevor555]

Worth letting it go to court?

If the magistrate agrees the signage isn't good enough then it ca be overturned.

Anyone with experience of this?

That left turn sign on the traffic light is very small.

[WinstonWolf]

dacouch said:

How did you miss the left turn only sign on the traffic lights?

"err, two double decker big things blocked them all out! "

[Ken Figenus]

dacouch said:

How did you miss the left turn only sign on the traffic lights?

Short cut innit bruv!

I don't know how I missed them! Not turning my neck side to side much and following bus closely certainly didn't help. Or maybe it was too much subwoofer Bass and Kodak Black shaking the view innit!

[Graveworm]

Ken Figenus said:

Short cut innit bruv!

I don't know how I missed them! Not turning my neck side to side much and following bus closely certainly didn't help. Or maybe it was too much subwoofer Bass and Kodak Black shaking the view innit!

Worst case just pride and small cheque as it's PCN world now. The old school sign, whilst possibly clearer carries points as well.

Not wanting to in any way hit you when you are down, but if you can see whether the lights are red, then the sign may well have been in view as well, along with the ehm big white arrow on the road
.

Edited by Graveworm on Tuesday 18th December 18:41

[Black_S3]

Hopefully it's just a single camera that's got you & the punishment for your ghastly crime is restricted to £100.

Buss lane fines are similar to parking fines & should have an appeals process on the back of the ticket.

[Eddieslofart]

London is full of traps, if one doesn’t get you, another will. The recent one at Bank has earned Mayor Khant and his mates a fortune.

[jakesmith]

It's extremely easily done. It's one thing for all the predictable old tossers to say "if you can't see the signs, you shouldn't be driving' or similar, that's fine if you live in a normal area with a reasonable number of signs, but in central London there is a huge number of signs, restrictions, cameras, box junctions etc. It is very easy with just a slight lapse of concentration to end up breaking a rule and getting some huge fine. I am a competent aware driver and I don't like driving in London for this reason. I do it all the time but find it unsettling. I do not have any issue interacting with the other drivers on the road it's the complex road systems, filter lanes, signs and cameras that make it so

[anonymous-user]

Trevor555 said:

Worth letting it go to court?

If the magistrate agrees the signage isn't good enough then it ca be overturned.

Anyone with experience of this?

That left turn sign on the traffic light is very small.

Small or not, the signs should comply to the TSRGD regs regarding size unless there is a "special authorisation" in place otherwise they are technically unlawful.

[anonymous-user]

Eddieslofart said:

London is full of traps, if one doesn’t get you, another will. The recent one at Bank has earned Mayor Khant and his mates a fortune.

It's partly deliberate to discourage driving in the 'wonderful' city of London.

[megaphone]

There are loads of these traps in London, I have to drive up on a weekly basis for my work, I'm pretty savvy but still get caught out. TBH that signage is pretty clear.

OP lesson learn't, don't drive in London, next time take the train, hope you paid the CC?

[Marcellus]

Ken Figenus said:

Short cut innit bruv!

I don't know how I missed them! Not turning my neck side to side much and following bus closely certainly didn't help. Or maybe it was too much subwoofer Bass and Kodak Black shaking the view innit!

Are you sure the lights were green, or were you too intent on looking at the back of the buses that you didn’t see they were red as well as the left turn only?

[EU_Foreigner]

Marcellus said:

Ken Figenus said:

Short cut innit bruv!

I don't know how I missed them! Not turning my neck side to side much and following bus closely certainly didn't help. Or maybe it was too much subwoofer Bass and Kodak Black shaking the view innit!

Are you sure the lights were green, or were you too intent on looking at the back of the buses that you didn’t see they were red as well as the left turn only?

Guess you have never driven in London then, where you need 20 pairs of eyes to just not hit pedestrians, cyclists and taxi's ...

[megaphone]

cb1965 said:

Eddieslofart said:

London is full of traps, if one doesn’t get you, another will. The recent one at Bank has earned Mayor Khant and his mates a fortune.

It's partly deliberate to discourage driving in the 'wonderful' city of London.

I do think this is the case, and to be honest I do support it somewhat. There are still far too many cars in London which don't really need to be there, other than an outright ban the only way to discourage them is to make it so difficult and expensive that the drivers give up their cars for the train.

Good news today is that nice mister Khan is going to impose the CC on Mini Cabs, about time too.

[untakenname]

OP, don't suppose you've got dashcam footage of the offence? I had a buslane fine a couple of year back and thought it was unjust so posted in this forum and got some good advice.
Because I had footage showing the sign was obscured (by flowers) it was overturned, similar may be of use if you can show that you couldn't see the signs from your vantage point.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[C70R]

Ken Figenus said:

following bus closely certainly didn't help

I learned this quite early on when driving in London. Double-decker buses are massive, and the temptation driving in London is to follow the car in front too closely. Combining the two can bring undesirable consequences, as discussed (thankfully I was lucky).

[PAULJ5555]

Bit of black insulation tape on the number plate, change a 6 to an 8 or somthing. No police on the roads anyway.

[Marcellus]

EU_Foreigner said:

Marcellus said:

Ken Figenus said:

Short cut innit bruv!

I don't know how I missed them! Not turning my neck side to side much and following bus closely certainly didn't help. Or maybe it was too much subwoofer Bass and Kodak Black shaking the view innit!

Are you sure the lights were green, or were you too intent on looking at the back of the buses that you didn’t see they were red as well as the left turn only?

Guess you have never driven in London then, where you need 20 pairs of eyes to just not hit pedestrians, cyclists and taxi's ...

Nope, never... apart from the 35years I lived 3miles from the Shaftesbury Avenue/Piccadilly Circus junction