I was fined, in feb 22, for traversing a 'Busgate' at Malborough Place in Brighton. I was delivering exhibits for an exhibition at ONCA Gallery which is in St Georges Place. I walked the route beforehand as I knew there where cameras there and decided that there was no other choice but to go through what I thought was a buslane going on from that junction. I was picked up by the camera, fined, appealed, rejected and then went to tribunal where I was successful. After my transgression I found there is a route you can take via Church Street, Tchbourne St and North
Road, but my defence was it was unreasonable to expect someone to know
that as the signage was misleading.The adjudicator's summary is over 2500 words long, and it's not cut and paste, he made a thorough and detailed analysis of the traffic set up there and my reasons for what I did. I would like to thank him for his attention to detail and his thoroughness.
I will not go into the detail of Busgates here as I expect anyone who has found this page will already be acquainted with them. But if you have been fined while trying to deliver to either Gloucester Place or St Georges Place you maybe able to offer this verdict to challenge it. As the Adjudicator says, his decision applies to a particular set of circumstances.
You can read about Brighton's Busgates here. https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/parking-and-travel/bus-gates
I would like to say to Brighton and Hove Council how ludicrous I think it is to reroute traffic from a main road through a popular tourist area, the North Laines. I would also like to suggest they take up suggestions I made at the tribunal for signage including this at the junction of Malborough Place and Church Street.
Here is the text of the Adjudicator summary for Tribunal number BH00284-2205
Adjudicator's reasons
1. I
have decided this appeal without a hearing. The parties did not ask for a
hearing.
2. The
Council have produced footage, from a camera device approved for bus lane
enforcement, which shows that Mr Weedy’s car was driven in this bus lane on
this occasion. Indeed, Mr Weedy acknowledges that he drove his car in this bus
lane
3. The
bus lane comprises a short section of the northbound carriageway of Marlborough
Place at its junction with North Road. The bus lane is the 4.3 metres of
the northbound carriageway northwards from a point 6.5 metres north of the
southern kerbline of North Road. It is reserved for buses, hackney carriages,
private hire vehicles and pedal cycles at all times. A bus lane of this sort,
which is a short section of bus only street, is referred to by the Department
for Transport as a bus gate (and there is now a “Bus Gate” road marking
prescribed in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD)
for use as part of the signage for this sort of bus lane).
4. The
practical effect of the restriction is to prohibit non-authorised vehicles from
entering Gloucester Place, which is the continuation of Marlborough Place
beyond its junction with North Road, from Marlborough Place. Other vehicles
driving northbound on Marlborough Place must turn right immediately before the
bus lane into the continuation of Marlborough Place at its junction with North
Road. Gloucester Place is accessible from its southern end, but only from North
Road (see the Council’s map at evidence 13). Evidently, the length of the
northbound carriageway of Marlborough Place which is the bus lane does not
extend so far north as to affect traffic turning left out of North Road (the
side road to the left where Marlborough Place leads into Gloucester Place) into
Gloucester Place.
5. Mr
Weedy explains that on this occasion he was heading to a loading bay outside
the ONCA Gallery on St George’s Place in order to unload items for an
exhibition he was installing there (St George’s Place is the continuation of
Gloucester Place north of the junction with Gloucester Street). He had walked
the route a few days before to make sure that there was no alternative route
because that route appeared to be for buses and taxis only. On doing so, the
signage convinced him that both Gloucester Place and St George’s Place were for
buses and taxis only. As a result, he concluded that he had no choice but to
use the route he took on this occasion for loading purposes.
6. Mr
Weedy notes the route he should have taken is as shown on the map at evidence
13, which the Council supplied him in the notice of rejection (that is left
from North Road onto Gloucester Place and then onto St George’s Place, neither
of which is, in fact, a bus lane northbound). However, he says this route can
only be known if you download that specific map from the Council’s website or
are a very seasoned driver in Brighton. In particular, he argues that the
signage on the route he took implies that Gloucester Place and beyond is a bus
lane, so that there did not appear to him to be a route from North Road to the
loading bay in St George’s Place. He explains this is why he concluded that,
although the road system leading to the loading bay was for buses and taxis
only, it may be used to access the loading bay which could not be accessed in
any other way.
7. This
is, therefore, an unusual case because Mr Weedy candidly admits that the
signage he saw clearly indicated to him that the route he took into Gloucester
Place was for buses and taxis only. Having considered the Council’s
evidence I agree that this is so, save that the signage indicates the route is
reserved for buses, taxis and cycles at all times. I note Mr Weedy suggests a
“Bus Lane” marking should be used for this restriction, but the “Bus Gate” road
marking actually used is prescribed in TSRGD and recommended for use for a bus
lane of the sort in Marlborough Place by the Department for Transport in the
Traffic Signs Manual. In addition, the blue and white upright sign at the start
of the bus gate is illustrated and its meaning explained in the Highway Code
and Know Your Traffic Signs, so drivers should be familiar with it.
8. Furthermore,
it is evident that, contrary to what Mr Weedy thought at the time, there is a
route to St George’s Place without going through the bus lane.
9. Nonetheless,
Mr Weedy’s case is that the signage created the misleading impression that the
route which was subject to this restriction was Gloucester Place northbound
from the junction with North Road (rather than just a short section of
Marlborough Place before the start of Gloucester Place). He argues, in essence,
that as a result it was reasonable for him to conclude that there was no route,
even from North Road, which did not entail driving in a bus lane to get to the
loading bay in St George’s Place, so that by implication using the bus lane
must be permitted to access that loading bay.
10. Mr
Weedy has been consistent in his evidence that the purpose of his journey was
to unload items at ONCA Gallery on St George’s Place. He has provided an
email from the gallery’s curator confirming this. I have established from
Google Maps and Street View that the gallery is on St George’s Place and that
there is a loading bay outside it. I accept, therefore, that the purpose of his
journey was to get to that loading bay to unload his vehicle.
11. It
is also evident from the Council’s map that the only permissible way for
general traffic to access St George’s Place, and so the loading bay Mr Weedy
was heading for, is by turning left from North Road into Gloucester Place and
then driving northbound along that road and into St George’s Place. The
Council’s map indicates that general traffic cannot access the northern end of
St George’s Place. The Council’s evidence indicates that this is because a
short section of the southbound carriageway of St George’s Place at its
northern end is also reserved for buses, hackney carriages and private hire
vehicles only (this is the same restriction as applies to the northern end of
the northbound carriageway of Marlborough Place). The map also indicates that
there is no other route to St George’s Place (and I have confirmed from Google
Maps that this is right because Gloucester Street, the side road shown on that
map at the point Gloucester Place leads into St Georges Place is a one way road
in which traffic can only head away from the junction of those two roads).
12. As
a matter of fact, therefore, the loading bay on St George’s Place outside the
ONCA gallery is sandwiched between two bus lanes: one at the very end of the
southbound carriageway of St George’s Place and one very close to the end of
the northbound carriageway of Marlborough Place. Whilst as a matter of fact
general traffic can avoid the latter bus lane by turning onto Gloucester Place
from North Road, I accept Mr Weedy’s point that there is a sign which creates
the misleading impression that the northbound carriageway of Gloucester Place
is a bus lane reserved for buses, taxis and cycles at all times.
13. The
particular sign which creates this impression is the direction sign in
Marlborough Place which gives advance warning that northbound traffic
approaching the junction with North Road has a bus lane ahead of it. This is a
map-based sign which shows the crossroads ahead (North Road is to the left, the
continuation of Marlborough Place to the right and Gloucester Place is straight
ahead). The sign incorporates the sign indicating a route reserved for buses,
taxis and cycles only into the map. That sign is embedded in the route straight
ahead after the crossroads. This serves to inform the road user that he is
approaching a bus lane ahead. It is obviously intended as advance warning of
the bus lane which is, in fact, close to the northern end of Marlborough Place.
Crucially, however, because the sign for the bus lane is embedded into the
route beyond the junction the effect is that, as Mr Weedy says, the direction
sign creates the misleading impression that it is the road straight ahead
beyond the crossroads (Gloucester Place) which is a bus lane at all times and
that the restriction begins after the junction.
14. The
upright sign for the start of the bus lane is on a traffic island sited in the
crossroads at the centre of the exit from North Road. This sign is sited prior
to the lane for traffic turning left out of North Road onto Gloucester Place.
From the perspective of a person approaching that sign from Marlborough Place,
as Mr Weedy evidently did when he walked the route prior to driving it, it
would appear that traffic turning left from North Road, which does so beyond
that upright sign, enters the road to which the restriction indicated by that
upright sign applied. The restriction is actually very short and so does not
apply to traffic turning left from North Road, but the length of the
restriction is not indicated by any signage in Marlborough Place. The upright
sign at the start of the bus lane does not appear, therefore, to be
inconsistent with the direction sign in advance of it which gives the
impression, for the reason explained above, that access to Gloucester Place
northbound from any direction (including North Road) is limited to buses, taxis
and cycles only because it is the northbound carriageway of Gloucester Place
which is subject to the bus lane restriction.
15. This
gives rise to the impression that the only way to access the loading bay, which
is clearly intended to be accessible by vehicles generally otherwise it would
not be there, from the south is via the bus lane which appears to be in
Gloucester Street. It is not clear if, when Mr Weedy did his walk through of
the area, he explored the possibility of accessing the loading bay from the northern
end of St George’s Place. He has not made reference to signage on that route,
which suggests he did not. He clearly ought to have done as it is a possible
route to St George's Place (and the signage he refers to only indicates the
northbound route to that road is a bus lane). Nevertheless, even had he done so
it would not have taken matters any further forward because the Council’s
evidence indicated he would have encountered bus lane signage indicating that
only buses, taxis and cycles could enter the northern end of St George’s Place.
Consequently, he would still have been left with the impression that the only
way to access the loading bay in St George’s Place was via a bus lane which was
signed as reserved for buses, taxis and cycles only (in which case the route he
took was the obvious route because it would not involve a U turn to access the
loading bay). This is, of course, why Mr Weedy concluded that he must be
permitted to use the bus lane which he drove through on this occasion to access
the loading bay, notwithstanding that the signage indicates that it is reserved
for buses, taxis and cycles only
16.
The only signage which could arguably have indicated to Mr Weedy on his walk
through that North Road was the appropriate route is a road marking in North
Road just before the crossroads (apparent in Street View images of the
crossroads from August 2021) which indicates that local traffic may turn left
into Gloucester Place. There is not an equivalent marking for traffic going
straight on from Marlborough Place into Gloucester Place and the road marking
for such traffic actually directs “Other traffic” to turn right. Nevertheless,
Mr Weedy has produced evidence that there is a road marking at the southern
entrance to Marlborough Place which indicates that it is a route for buses,
taxis and access only. I am just persuaded, therefore, that it was reasonable
for Mr Weedy to assume on his walk through, because the direction sign creates
the impression that the bus lane restriction is in Gloucester Place and that
traffic turning left from North Road was also using the bus lane, that vehicles
were permitted to use the bus lane to access the loading bay in St George’s
Place. In short because the signage creates the impression that all routes to
that loading bay from both south and north involved going through a bus lane
reserved for buses, taxis and cycles only, it was reasonable to assume that it
was nonetheless permitted to enter the bus lane Mr Weedy drove through on this
occasion for the specific purpose of accessing that loading bay. The
distinction between the route to the loading bay from the south via North Road,
which is permissible, and the route from the south via Marlborough Place, which
is not, is not sufficiently clear from the signage because the direction sign
in Marlborough Place is misleading as to the location of the bus lane and
suggests it is on both of these routes.
17. For
these reasons, I find that it was reasonable of Mr Weedy to assume that,
notwithstanding the signage he passed indicated that the route was reserved for
buses, taxis and cycles only, that it was permissible to use that route to
access the loading bay. For the reasons explained it was a reasonable
assumption that it was necessary to do so in order to access a loading bay
which is obviously intended to be accessible to general traffic. He would have
no reason to check the Council’s website for the map since provided by the
Council. He could expect the signage to adequately inform him of the
restriction.
18. This
is a case, therefore, where I find that the signage is generally adequate to
inform the road user of the bus lane restriction which Mr Weedy contravened in
this case, but on the specific facts of this case it was not adequate to do so.
The distinguishing fact in this case is that Mr Weedy was driving to a loading
bay in St George’s Place and, for the reasons explained, he had reasonable
grounds for concluding the bus lane was the only route by which he could do so.
On this occasion, therefore, I find that Mr Weedy was not adequately informed
about the nature of the restriction, in particular where it was, and so the
restriction is not enforceable against him on this occasion.
19. I
allow Mr Weedy’s appeal on the ground that the alleged contravention did not
occur. Mr Weedy has nothing to pay. He is, however, now aware of the bus lane
and that should he need to access Gloucester Place or St George’s Place in the
future he must do so via North Road.
