Fines totalling a record £8 million have been issued to motorists after a Labour council installed a bus gate “cash cow” next to an MOT centre last year.
The Bull Lane bus gate, which excludes all motor vehicles except buses, was set up to promote “active travel” on a north London industrial estate in August 2023.
Within a year of the lane’s installation, Enfield council has handed out a total of 63,134 fines to drivers caught by an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera monitoring the road.
If those fines were paid at the full £130 rate, the council would have raked in £8,207,420, believed to be the highest sum potentially raised by a bus gate.
Council benefitting ‘at expense’ of local business
Owners of local businesses affected by the bus gate are calling for the scheme to be scrapped because customers are “too scared” to visit the area where vehicles, including articulated lorries and trucks, are forced to make U-turns to avoid fines.
Data released by the council under freedom of information laws show the camera was handing out the equivalent to 172 penalty charge notices (PCNs) each day, worth up to £22,000.
The council released a list of its most lucrative enforcement cameras showing the bus gate issued seven times more tickets than its second best performing ANPR camera.
In September 2023, the first full month of data for the bus gate, it served 18,185 fines, worth £2.3 million if paid in full, rather than at the reduced £65 rate.
Lucas Stavrinou, of Demitris Motor Repairs, an MOT centre next to the gate, said he feared the camera was positioned near North Middlesex University Hospital and the Tottenham football stadium “to maximise fines”.
“Customers won’t come here because they have already had numerous fines or don’t want to risk getting another,” he said.
A “drop in trade” has resulted in Mr Stavrinou reducing his workforce from five to three mechanics.
Hassan Orhan, a manager at Elite Bathrooms and Plumbing, which has a warehouse on the lane, said delivery drivers face a “nightmare”.
He said: “It’s a disaster. Everyone objected because we knew it would deter customers coming. The council went ahead anyway.
“There’s been no increase in cycling or people walking. It’s a council cash cow.”
Mehmet Topuz and his wife, Fatima, fear their Queen’s Cafe is on the “wrong side” of the bus gate and may have to close.
“I have lost more than half my customers. We see cars come down the road but turn back,” Mr Topuz said.
His wife added: “I’m angry to find the council is making all this money at our expense.”
Roz Ozbek said her family-run Meridian Supermarket is “losing up to £300-a-day” and the council ignored a petition against the scheme.
An Enfield council spokeswoman said the bus gate was introduced to support a cycle lane, despite there not actually being cycling infrastructure where the bus gate was installed.
She insisted the council conducted a “comprehensive engagement process” and adjusted the scheme following feedback and a safety audit, adding that only warning letters rather than PCNs were issued from Aug 29 to Sept 4.
“Segregated cycle lanes are provided a little further north where there was more space for them to be accommodated,” she said.
“These traffic calming measures and active travel improvements were made to provide a quieter, safer, and more pleasant environment, to improve pedestrian safety and air quality, reduce traffic and to encourage people to walk, wheel and cycle for more of their journeys.”
She said “the majority” of PCNs are paid within two weeks at the lower £65 rate so
“Our total income over the last year is significantly lower than has been suggested.”
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