Signs to change at controversial Derby City bus lane

Signs at a controversial Derby city centre bus lane are set to be changed after it was reported the restriction had raked in millions of pounds for the council.

The latest development comes just a couple of weeks after it was revealed that the Corporation Street bus lane had raised Derby City Council more than £3 million from fining motorists since stricter enforcement measures came into force a few years ago.

Freedom of Information requests showed that almost 100,000 fines had been issued by the council since the end of 2021 for drivers breaching the bus-lane restriction.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has been informed that following the article, Derby City Councillor Gaurav Pandey held a meeting with the council’s traffic department to discuss the bus lane and the money generated from it.

Following the meeting, the Labour-led council has confirmed the signs around the bus lane will be “refreshed”.

However, the exact changes that will be made to the signage are not fully clear. The council says the reason is connected to the closure of the Assembly Rooms car park.

However, the authority has previously stated, on several occasions, that the current bus lane signage at Corporation Street is “above and beyond” regulatory requirements.

Carmel Swan, Derby City Council cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “While the bus lane signage on Corporation Street goes above and beyond what is necessary to meet the regulatory requirements, it will be refreshed as part of an update of city centre signage taking place under the Transforming Cities scheme.”

It is unclear when the new signs will be installed but Councillor Pandey said he believed they would be in place in a few weeks.

He said the LDRS article about the £3 million bus lane income triggered him to set up a meeting with council officers. Cllr Pandey said: “I have been told there will be bigger signs and they will be in place in around a month’s time. That’s the time frame I’ve been told.

“I told them ‘you can’t raise £3 million – something needs to be done unless you want to milk it’. There is signage there, obviously, but they are getting missed for whatever reason.

“The story was shared and highlighted that people need to be careful when approaching the bus lane. I hope new signage will help motorists.”

A council spokesperson added: “The signs on the approach to Corporation Street currently direct drivers to parking (Assembly Rooms car park). It is these signs that are being refreshed, to remove that parking reference and therefore reflect the changes in the area.”

Last week another motorist who recently got fined by going through the bus lane called for signage to be improved.

Keith Baker said: “While the council may think the area is suitably signposted, I beg to differ given the thousands of penalty fines since the bus lane has been in operation. It is not the restriction that’s the problem but the way it is implemented – if they don’t want motorists, then signpost it properly.

“The upshot of this experience is that I will pay the fine. Will I visit Derby anytime soon? No!”