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My appeal against a bus gate PCN notice was turned down by Portsmouth Council. This particular site is ranked about #12 in the country as a Pompies money making scam works a treat for them. A bus gate differs form a bus lane in that the road effectively becomes a no-through road half way down. It was accessed via a roundabout and no signage is displayed preventing access into this road.
With a bus lane the adjacent lane can be used by cars but in this instance what appeared to be the adjacent lane was in fact for traffic coming the other way. The fact that it was late and no traffic was around meant that it was not obvious that this short section was a two way road, and signage suggested that cars had to go into the RHS of the road and prepare to turn right, presumably at the upcoming set of traffic lights. Given that the road was in fact two way, and that I was in a large van, my only option would have been to reverse back down a main road, then reverse around a roundabout.
The only advance sign they had was was a direction informational sign, and was not a sign for legal instruction. Anyway, it was perhaps 100m before the give way lines at the roundabout, On taking the right hand turn a poorly lit small sign with non-standard marking exist that warns of an upcoming bus lane, and implied that you needed to move onto the RHS of the road, which I did. I appealed to the council, who informed me that I was supposed to make a U turn on this main road, which actually would have required a 3 point turn. I do not think any recognized signs for a mandatory U turn exist.
The photos of the signs sent to me dated from 2022, and they ticket a few thousand people a year, so they clearly know that the signage does not work as intended.
I will not use the council's appeals site as that is a scam, I'll go to the small claims court and ask for my money back. If the court overturned my ticket it would mean that the council has to refund millions to many tens of thousands of people. Or would I do better with a TV programme? Any ideas which one - if only Top Gear was still running.
With a bus lane the adjacent lane can be used by cars but in this instance what appeared to be the adjacent lane was in fact for traffic coming the other way. The fact that it was late and no traffic was around meant that it was not obvious that this short section was a two way road, and signage suggested that cars had to go into the RHS of the road and prepare to turn right, presumably at the upcoming set of traffic lights. Given that the road was in fact two way, and that I was in a large van, my only option would have been to reverse back down a main road, then reverse around a roundabout.
The only advance sign they had was was a direction informational sign, and was not a sign for legal instruction. Anyway, it was perhaps 100m before the give way lines at the roundabout, On taking the right hand turn a poorly lit small sign with non-standard marking exist that warns of an upcoming bus lane, and implied that you needed to move onto the RHS of the road, which I did. I appealed to the council, who informed me that I was supposed to make a U turn on this main road, which actually would have required a 3 point turn. I do not think any recognized signs for a mandatory U turn exist.
The photos of the signs sent to me dated from 2022, and they ticket a few thousand people a year, so they clearly know that the signage does not work as intended.
I will not use the council's appeals site as that is a scam, I'll go to the small claims court and ask for my money back. If the court overturned my ticket it would mean that the council has to refund millions to many tens of thousands of people. Or would I do better with a TV programme? Any ideas which one - if only Top Gear was still running.
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