Drivers to be refunded £485k in bus lane fines after admin error at London council

Between February and June this year, the council handed out 10,422 Penalty Charge Notices for motorists caught driving in bus lanes by CCTV cameras.

However, an administrative error by the council’s contractors resulted in the wrong legislation appearing on the notices.

The council has since apologised, and said all affected motorists will receive refunds, and any unpaid notices will be cancelled.

According to Southwark, the contractors involved have agreed to reimburse the council the equivalent total value of the refunds, which comes to £485,000.

Councillor James McAsh said: “Between February and June this year, an administrative error by one of our contractors led to some bus lane penalty notices being issued incorrectly. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.

“All affected motorists will receive refunds, and any unpaid notices will be cancelled. We have reviewed all other notices and found no further issues. We are also strengthening our checks with contractors to make sure this does not happen again. The Council will recover the full cost of the refunds from the contractors”.

Lottie Winson