County council waives £1m in fines over unclear bus lane signage

A county council has agreed to waive £1m in fines after acknowledging that the signage and road markings for reintroduced bus lanes in a city centre were unclear.

The amnesty relates to penalty charge notices issued in relation to bus lanes on North Hill and High Street in Chelmsford.

Essex County Council said additional signage and road marking improvements would be put in place “to ensure awareness of, and compliance with, the bus lanes”.

Cllr Rodney L Bass, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation at Essex, said: “We have received a high volume of correspondence from motorists regarding the clarity of the bus lanes in Colchester town centre, and therefore the decision has been taken to grant an amnesty on all penalty charge notices issued so far.

“I have asked for additional signage and road markings to be installed as soon as possible to make it clearer to motorists where the bus lanes are located.”

The council said it had begun enforcing the bus lanes again from 12 January. Any penalty charge notices issued after this date would require to be paid.

Essex added that it would process refunds for those PCNs issued before 12 January automatically.