An Aberdeenshire woman who was fined four times in three days for driving through the Union Street bus gate is continuing to fight the council after her appeal was rejected.
Valerie Coutts, who lives in Kemnay, unwittingly drove through the bus gate repeatedly over a three-day period last year when she was in the city for jury duty.
Like many, she did not know she had driven through the traffic restriction until four separate letters landed on her doormat a month later.
She instantly appealed on the grounds that the signage was not sufficient, but her appeal was rejected.
Four bus gate fines in three days
Like many residents of Aberdeenshire, since the pandemic began Valerie has had little need to visit Aberdeen city centre.
So when she was selected for jury duty, it was the first time she had driven in the Union Street area for nearly two years.
“I was aware that parts of the street were pedestrianised so I was on the lookout for that,” she said.
“I was concentrating on making sure I didn’t drive anywhere I wasn’t supposed to.”
Despite that, Valerie says she did not notice any signs indicating the bus gate ahead when she approached from King Street to get to the multi-storey carpark on Shiprow.
“Then, of course, I accidentally missed the turning to the carpark because I was looking at all the road signs,” Valerie said. “So I had to drive round again and so got two fines in one day.”
Unaware she had done anything wrong, Valerie took the same route the following two days and received two more fines.
“I didn’t know until the fines came through the letter box, one day after another,” she said.
“Then when I was reading the letter I still wasn’t clear where I had gone wrong – what was the alternative route I should have taken?
“It was not obvious when I was on the road.”
Is it enough to appeal because of poor signage?
Valerie’s experience of the Union Street bus gate echoes what many drivers have been complaining about.
Several have written to the P&J to express their concerns that not only are the signs too few, too small and unclear, but that they do not give drivers sufficient time and space to react either by turning around or changing route.
Last month we revealed that three of the eight signs were in fact incorrect.
Two of these have since been replaced by the council.
Citing the lack of appropriate signage, Valerie appealed her four fines as soon as she received them but found out recently that this appeal has been rejected.
Because she appealed, the cost of her fines has increased from £30 each to £60 each, as she did not pay them within the initial 14 day period.
“So now I’ve got £240 of fines to pay, all because I was doing my civic duty,” she said.
“If I had not been doing jury duty I would not have been in the city at all and would not have received even one fine.”
Thousands of rejected Union Street bus gate appeals
Valerie is not alone in having her appeal rejected.
We asked Aberdeen City Council how many appeals it received for the Union Street bus gate between July and December of last year, when 42,000 drivers were recorded going through the traffic restriction.
The authority told us that 2,342 appeals were submitted in total.
Three quarters of these were rejected, with just 607 appeals upheld.
“When I found out that some of the signs were wrong, I couldn’t believe it,” Valerie said.
“It’s shocking, was this the council’s whole idea all along? Just a way to make money?”
Can I get my money back?
Ever since the council admitted three of the bus gate signs were wrong, one question has been on everyone’s lips — can I get my money back?
The answer isn’t clear, and according to local lawyer Stuart Beveridge at Grant Smith Law Practice this is because the law on such issues is vague.
There are a few things that you can do, but it may all come down to “the council adjudicator’s goodwill and discretion… possibly influenced by public outcry,” he said.
A spokesman for the AA agreed and suggested that gathering a group of people who all want to appeal their fines together may be beneficial.
For example in Warrington last year more than a thousand people signed a petition calling for better bus gate signage, and in response, the local authority decided to cancel all fines to date and to issue full refunds.
When it comes to Valerie’s specific situation, an Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “It would be inappropriate for the council to comment on individual cases.
“We can however confirm that, as previously stated, the statutory signage for bus lanes and bus gates has been accurate since its installation.
“Any motorist appealing a charge, for entering any bus lane or bus gate within the city, must do so to the council within 28 days of receipt of that charge in accordance with the criteria within the relevant regulations.”
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