Timed bus lanes are a great example of many drivers not reading signage. A few bus lanes near to me are timed and I often use them when allowed. I also have to be ready for angry drivers trying to cut in front of me (i may pass numerous drivers on the approach to the traffic signals), often without indicating, at end of the bus lane who think i should not be there, and they possibly feel that I am getting in their way. I believe they see the solid white line and the blue sign, but do not bother to read the blue sign, and just stay out by default. So, I always proceed carefully in bus lanes due to this problem, and try to anticipate other drivers that may decide to aggresively cut in front of me believing they are making a point.

@fburton8

Ай бұрын

That's common in Glasgow - everyone tailed back in the lane next to a timed bus lane.

@nononsense7867

Ай бұрын

@@fburton8 Indeed, a bus lane local to me that is always a headache is Balmore Road near Possil heading in to town...and to compound the issue, people park in the bus lane to use the carry out shop and take away 🤪

@DemiGod..

Ай бұрын

They don't read the highwaycode after passing. Anothern thing they dont understand is that they not supposed to stop inside cycle box at lights.

@paulqueripel3493

Ай бұрын

​@@DemiGod..just to clarify, they mustn't enter it after the lights change. If they were already in it (entered on green but then the lights changed, held up by traffic etc) they must stay there and not cross the second line. Highway code says you shouldn't enter it if you can't exit it on green, not mustn't.

@wibbley1

Ай бұрын

Try using a bus lane in London, then indicating to move out when encountering an obstacle (bike or delivery driver, for example) The abuse one gets is even more than Ash does when he criticises a bike rider on a tube video 😆 It is just easier & safer to stay out of the bus lane altogether. I'm sure that's why the vast majority of drivers don't bother using the bus lanes. It is rarely any quicker anyway, as timed bus lanes only come in when there is increased road demand,.

When I was a delivery driver I absolutely LOVED timed buslanes, used them to miss so much standstill traffic.

@leexgx

Ай бұрын

Same here timed bus lanes are the best everyone stays right,until the bus lane ends then they swing across 3 lanes to get to lane 1 of 4 so you have to be aware that they are going to be stupid at the end of the bus lane and pick Lane 1 to go straight on (as long as this video doesn't become common knowledge I am Happy)

Near Bury there were bus lanes along a the Manchester road into Bury. As you approached the bus lane it had times, so it wasn’t in use, further along the road the bus lane then had a sign with no times, then further again there was another sign with times. The problem was people saw a time at the start of the bus lane and expected that to be the same all along the whole bus lane, of course there was a camera along the part with no times catching everyone. This is the sort of actions that make road users distrust councils.

I love that people don't read the bus lane times near me. The amount of times they pile into the right lane and slows down to a crawl and I wizz on by.

@paulmeynell8866

25 күн бұрын

Drive in Nottinghan the signs are up and down every few hundred yards backed up by cameras, much safer to stay in the normal lane. Some of the time signs are like war and peace 😮

Reading times and dates on signs when in busy traffic or in poor light on roads you are not familiar with is a big ask. Roads in Liverpool are unusual in being so big and wide with good sight lines, many other cities are far more congested.

@vladimirszabo384

Ай бұрын

An idea I had is to install an LED light above or below the sign that is either green or red based on the current time. It would require a small computer and a power source for each sign but if we start now in 2-4 years all of the signs would be easy to read in all weather and light conditions.

@tylerdurden7500

Ай бұрын

Not here for an argument but would like to add that if traffic is that congested one would be driving that bit more cautiously and further back from the car in front so one is able to create a little time to read the signs. Having said that, anything more than a time slot of operation is beyond me. I've always had a problem reading and driving. It seems to me like two conflicting parts of the brain are required to work at the same time and my driving ability suffers for it, especially if signs are put in silly places.

@peterjeremymckenzie8444

Ай бұрын

@@vladimirszabo384 Brilliant idea!

@johnw2758

Ай бұрын

@@vladimirszabo384 yeah, there was a guy on Dragons Den with a great idea like this 🙂

@Hfil66

Ай бұрын

It is not just about how visible it is but also sometimes about information overload, and maybe if one is going to discard some information as more than one can cope with the times a bus lane is active may be less important and so safer to discard than other more important driving information.

First time I got caught in a bus lane was 3 days after I retired from driving buses 😆 🤣 another funny story I broke down in a bus lane driving a bus this time and the recovery truck driver got a fine for coming into the bus lane to recover my bus in Glasgow

@ernesthogan681

Ай бұрын

That could only happen in Glesga'!

@TestGearJunkie.

Ай бұрын

That's daft, hope he got it cancelled.

@johnmccallum8512

Ай бұрын

When I still lived in Scotland most if not all of the recovery trucks were chopped down single deckers still in bus company colours yes I'm old.

It's pretty easy to miss the times, or indeed not be sure what the time is!

@Enjay001

Ай бұрын

Agreed. It's not so bad if the time information is simple (e.g. the bus lane is in operation from 08:00-18:00) but near me there are several bus lanes where the lane may be in operation during morning rush hour, evening rush hour and perhaps even at other times of the day and the timings are not simple whole hours but things like 07:45. So, you have a lot of (reasonably) complex information to take in, that is printed in quite a small font and perhaps you may also need to do a double check of the actual time to figure out whether you are inside or outside any of the specified operational timeslots: all as you pass by at the speed of the traffic flow. Very few (if any) other signs (even complex direction signs) present you with that level of information in such a condensed way, that you then have to process numerically before you can figure out what it says and then respond accordingly.

@rontrousers4889

Ай бұрын

There isn’t the time to process the times given as you drive past.

@ibs5080

Ай бұрын

@@Enjay001 All very well put and I can totally relate to this

@byMRTNjournals

Ай бұрын

*no stopping in this area* Bus lane rules the length of Fellowship of the Ring

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

And yet people just assume that everyone can read small text, or just assume that everyone has a clock in their cars, or just simply assume that everyone wear watches.

Your viewer, Tom, was very fortunate that it was not West Yorkshire Police. I can remember handing in some lost property to a police station in Leeds while another person was trying to convince the police that there was a car with cloned number plates in a car park in the city antre and the police wanted nothing to do with it, telling the guy that it was a civil matter.

@TestGearJunkie.

Ай бұрын

Parking is a civil matter now here in Aberdeen. The police aren't interested in people on double yellow lines or whatever, it's down to the City Wardens. Who all clock off at 8pm, so after that, park where you like, mate 🙄

Some years ago I received a parking infringement notice from the people who monitor Clacket Lane services on the M25. The photograph showed a tatty old Ford Fiesta with the same registration mark as my Harley-Davidson motorcycle. How on earth could these people confuse a small car with a motorcycle? I attempted to inform the police about the cloned plate but they weren't interested.

@tooleyheadbang4239

Ай бұрын

Police would only be interested if it was a racist cloned plate!

@waltersobchak1719

27 күн бұрын

Just for future reference- the police CAN put an information marker against your registration number on PNC, to state that the registration is believed to have been cloned and may have been used on a different vehicle.

An old colleague of mine got pulled over in his Driving School car for driving “ in a bus lane “ by the Police. He let the officer write the ticket and, just before he signed it, told the officer that he wasn’t accepting it. The officer then got educated on the times on the signs as my colleague was driving in it when it wasn’t in operation and the officer hadn’t got a clue about the times on the signs….. In my area, one local authority has bus lanes 24/7 the next local authority has rush hour times. No one drives in the out of hours ones but loads drive in the 24/7 ones. Crazy.

@SteveN-pw4dj

Ай бұрын

This is because normal police drivers get no extra training. Only traffic police get extra training. So I was informed after I sped past a normal police car and pulled over only for him to advise me he could not issue a ticket.

@waltersobchak1719

27 күн бұрын

⁠@@SteveN-pw4dj That was probably because he didn’t have any speed detection equipment with him and the local patrol cars (i.e. NOT Traffic) don’t have their speedos calibrated. He could have issued a ticket, but then he would have had to go through the palaver of getting his speedo professionally calibrated. He probably didn’t know that, though 😁

As a bus driver, personally I love it when drivers dont read the timed signs, as it means the buses get a lane to themselves, even outside of operating hours. However, I am always amazed at how little notice people pay attention to the signs and there poor lane discipline.

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

To be fair, the written times are pretty small. Humans tend to focus a symbols, less on small fonts.

@ukeleleEric

Ай бұрын

As a bus driver that occasionally uses a car, I love it when they do that even when I'm in the car. Happens on the Mansfield Road virtually all of 5 miles into Nottingham (though there are a couple of 24hr sections, including one very short pointless one). Mind you, if I'm going into Nottingham, I don't usually take the car. Also happens on the Chesterfield Road (a similar length) into Sheffield. Number of times I've gone several miles along there at twice the speed of the rest of the traffic...

I got a parking fine once from a council in Hertfordshire. The accompanying photo clearly showed a VW Golf with my number plate. I replied that I was never anywhere near their town and my car at the time was a Rover 75. They replied relatively quickly that I was right and my fine had been cancelled. Never heard anything else about it.

Had my motorbike teg cloned when i was in Portsmouth, police knocked my door asked me for proof of ownership not reg doc but proof, luckily i had my sales invoice still. Apparently they caught a biker on the isle of wight with my plate, think it was suspicious they checked. That was the last time i ever came across police investigating a crime properly 😂

@paulqueripel3493

Ай бұрын

Is it autocorrect that keeps putting rouge rather than rogue? It's a very common error, in fact it seems more common than seeing the correct spelling.

@tin2001

Ай бұрын

​@@paulqueripel3493 Are you suggesting it wasn't a red policeman speaking French?

@Trevor_Austin

Ай бұрын

That must have been years ago.

@SiCrewe

Ай бұрын

I had a similar thing. I bought a very nice red 5-series BMW for what was, I thought, a very good price. Things started to get strange when I randomly received a new V5 that stated the vehicle was modified for use by a disabled driver... which I'm not. I contacted the DVLA and got that sorted out and then, during an MOT, the garage told me my car had the "wrong" engine in it. Apparently, according to the DVLA, it was a 525 (2.5l straight six petrol) when my car was actually a 540 (4.0l V8 petrol). Again, I received a new V5 showing a cylinder capacity of 2495cc and, this time, had to pay the DVLA to change the details back to what it had always been. That happened for 2 or 3 years; I'd take it for an MOT and be told it "should" be a 525, get issued a new V5, contact the DVLA and have it change back to being a 540. This was back in the days before the DVLA had a website but it was also in a time when you could easily get in touch with a helpful person on the phone and I was told "my car" had been through 3 new owners during the time I'd owned it and each one had changed something on the V5. Shame really because it WAS a really nice car but after I got the V5 sorted out for the 3rd or 4th time, I traded it in for a newer model which turned out to be far less reliable and ended-up being the last BMW I owned.

I got a fixed penalty for riding in a bus lane, luckily I knew where and I was in a position to go back. I took a photo of the sign that said motorbikes are permitted and sent it to them. They cancelled it however if I didn't know the road or wasn't able to go back and check... 🤷

@retrorevival1

Ай бұрын

Google Street View is always worth a look

@david94549

25 күн бұрын

This is when you use Google street view and hopefully it's up to date enough and has an angle that makes it visible

For those who might face a similar situation. It's all about documentation. Have all your documents ready, photocopies, and proof of communication, keep copies of any letters you send or receive. All this will come in handy if it goes to the county court. If it does, it's simply about providing documentation, and writing a story. Describe each step you took, and the response you received, or the lack thereof. Better not to write long paragraphs, write it in bullet point format after initial introduction regarding the case. The judge can quickly scan the information, they won't have time to read long paragraphs, and could miss important information. Resulting in a judgement against yourself, probably a slight chance but why take it, when you can simply present your arguments in a easy to follow format. Good luck if you are in such a situation.

@Sonya_Makepeace

Ай бұрын

Better not register your vehicle would be easier.

@youknow6968

Ай бұрын

@@Sonya_Makepeace that makes no sense. Not registering is an illegal act. Are you encouraging people to break the law?

@Sonya_Makepeace

Ай бұрын

@@youknow6968 Yes. Laws are made by the same cretins, that told you to get jabbed.

I passed my test in 1990 and my instructor did not give the comprehensive running commentary that you do for your students. It reminded me of my grandfather who took the Advanced Driver test, he told me as part of the test he had to give a running commentary as he performed the test.

@TestGearJunkie.

Ай бұрын

I'd never have passed that then, I'm hopeless at commentary driving.

@R04drunner1

Ай бұрын

My instructor was the same: he did not do a running commentary. However, he did discuss any issues emerging so I was happy enough. I find doing a running commentary a really useful exercise to sharpen my driving, particularly my observation skills as I am looking for things about which I can or should comment! Commentary was something I practiced for my IAM Roadsmart advanced driving, although I didn't need to do it for all of my IAM Roadsmart advanced test way back in 1989.

Twice I've had notices from Brighton & Hove, from which I live 100 miles away and never drive to. The first included a photograph and was very clearly a misread plate. Another clue was that the vehicle involved was a flatbed Transit and not my Yamaha GTS1000. That one resolved quite quickly. The second was for my van and the provided evidence was an incredibly poor quality video, in which I could just about tell it was the same model and colour as mine. No picture of the plate was provided. My initial appeal was rejected, at which point a picture of the plate was included, which made it quite obvious that it was again a misread plate. I then had to start going through the independent appeals process, at which point the penalty was dropped before an appeals decision.

Whenever there is an oppurtunity to drive in a bus lane I will, provided it is at a time where it is non-functioning. I don't drive in the bus lane for really any other reason than I can! But much to my annoyance, whether councils allow you to ride a motorcycle in bus lanes seems to vary too much! South of the Tyne in Gateshead it is a massive no-no but yet Newcastle City Council and most other councils in the North East will allow you to do so.

I've heard it recommended that you don't post photos of your car online showing the plate number, as this makes it very easy for someone in another part of the country to clone your plates without even seeing your car or being anywhere near you. Be careful on social media for this sort of thing, including Facebook, Instagram and so forth.

@Haggisking

Ай бұрын

I'd rather someone on the other side of the country cloned my plate than someone just down the road. Much easier to prove you weren't in Glasgow if you have receipts and GPS data showing you were in Bristol for example. Someone cloned my other half's car a few years ago, and they were using it only about 20 miles away - she ended up getting 4 speeding tickets and a parking ticket. Fortunately for us a) we were at the other end of country at the time and were able to show receipts from supermarkets etc., and b) the car hadn't actually moved since the MOT a few weeks before and the difference in mileage between the reading at the MOT and the current odo reading wasn't enough to actually get to where the camera caught her! Still took a couple of months to get them dropped however - found it interesting that there was no option on the NIP for "I have no idea who was driving as this wasn't my car", so I had to add one. The force refused to supply any photographs/video of the car either to allow us to identify any differences. Our legal system supposedly operates on the principle of "innocent until proven guilty", but that certainly wasn't the impression I got from the process.

@davem9204

Ай бұрын

@@Haggisking It seems "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply to motoring offences. It's really difficult and potentially expensive to try and prove your innocence in things like this. I think a lot of people don't bother challenging them as it's less hassle just to suck up the £200 fine and 3 points (or whatever the penalty has been dished out) than go through all the stress and cost of challenging it, knowing you're unlikely to succeed.

@royster3345

Ай бұрын

Wouldn't bother, they just get them off auto trader, search for same model and colour then take your pick.

@ibs5080

Ай бұрын

@@Haggisking That's quite something and I'm very sorry you had to go through such hassle and no doubt considerable stress and worry until everything got sorted out.

@phillwainewright4221

Ай бұрын

@@davem9204 Three points on your licence can mean a hike in your insurance, and if you've already got points, a potential ban.

Many years ago, my idiot brother stole the plates off an identical car, then went and filled up at the local Morrisons and did a runner. He didn't expect his picture from the CCTV to make the front page! Fool he was but he's grown up since.

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

It's funny how people calls their own sibling idiots, yet get offended and angry when someone else calls their sibling idiots

@RikAindow

Ай бұрын

@@automation7295 oh no. He was an idiot. I won't say what else he did on here but he had nobody to blame but himself as he chose to do it. I don't get offended if someone calls a relative a fool if they are a fool. 😀

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

​@@RikAindow While you would get offended if someone calls your relative a fool, but you would probably get offended or even cry if someone makes fun of your relative in a rude way.

@debesys6306

27 күн бұрын

​@@automation7295 my slime they quite clearly do not care

Regarding bus lanes, interestingly in Vancouver Canada you are allowed to drive in a bus lane for a maximum of one city block in order to either turn off into an upcoming side street or to use it as a merge / acceleration lane when coming out of a side street onto the main road. I actually have a situation over there where I am turning onto a main road with a bus lane and two blocks later I need to turn off it again into another side street. Because I can legally drive in the bus lane for one block to merge onto the main road and also allowed to drive one block to turn off the main road, this means I can continue in the bus lane for the full two blocks for turning on and off the main road without leaving the bus lane.

@mattwardman

Ай бұрын

That sounds unenforcible except by cops in cop cars.

@ibs5080

Ай бұрын

@@mattwardman Yes that's true. In fact Vancouver doesn't have bus lane cameras, though they do have red light cameras.

@jgdooley2003

13 күн бұрын

This could be useful at Heuston Station Dublin where you have 2 car lengths of allowed lane to make a left turn into the station carpark when approaching from the west. Idiotically short turn left lanes are painted at many of our junctions and idiotic lane changes painted on or near junctions which if followed to the letter of the law would result in sideswipes and collisions.

The timed lanes can be funny. I frequently experience people getting quite indignant when I use one in the permitted time, one woman broke the speed limit to overtake, gesticulating wildly as she passed, and then pulled in front and slowed sharply. I didn't see her face as I moved into the other lane, passed her and proceeded through the lights which changed to red before she caught up, but I doubt it would have done much for any local milk.

The problem I have with timed bus lanes is the roadside parking outside the designated bus lane times. In certain areas I drive, it’s better to stay out of the inactive bus lane to avoid all the parked vehicles.

@johnkeepin7527

Ай бұрын

Similar to lanes that have timed “no parking”. Often called “urban clearways” At some places, at times when parking is allowed, I avoid using them altogether.

I feel a lot of drivers stay out of bus lanes just to avoid a conflict with the council sending you a fine because they are not clever enough to work out time let alone when they fine a cloned car that was not the same type or colour as the as the as the V5 - Staying clear of bus lanes just makes life easier in the long run.

My 80 year old father from Fife Scotland received a fine from Liverpool council a few years back for driving in a bus lane somewhere in Liverpool, photo is same car looks like same reg, only problem was he’s never been out of Scotland in this particular car owned from new for 16 years, contacted Police and council Police we’re not bothered about possible cloned plates, council did however cancel the fine.

I used to have fun when I taught in Shrewsbury. It's a one way, 2 lane 20mph zone with the left lane being a bus lane from 7:30 - 18:30. I used to time lessons to take students through at 18:31 and watch drivers speed past us at 30, apopleptic with rage that we were in a bus lane. The irony.

@smilerbob

Ай бұрын

Did you also enjoy going back passed them at the lights they were all waiting at up the road? 🤭

@SiWeeMann

Ай бұрын

@@smilerbob Oh, but of course. That's still a favourite of mine.

Rookies use cloned plates, they're pretty easy to detect especially once the real owner flags it up. Proper crims use foreign number plates, which effectively gives one carte blanche to ignore all driving laws as long as there's not an actual police officer about (which given the cuts to the forces is fairly unlikely). You can observe this in many parts of London for example.

They've done this for decades - the automated system just sends stuff out without even rudimentary checks. I knew someone 25 years ago who got a speeding ticket and a picture of a common car in the post. He sent back a picture of his motorbike and politely told them he wouldn't be paying.

In one of the Large Towns not far from my home, there are Full Time and Part Time Bus Lanes. When they were introduced and I was still Instructing, myself as well as other Local Instructors correctly advised our Pupils to drive in the Part Time Bus Lanes outside the times displayed. The amount of abuse we all got for doing the correct thing became so bad that we got the DSA, Police and Local Press Involved. Did it improve matters NO. Even today there is still a minority of drivers think its wrong, when I drive in the Bus Lanes outside the times on the signs.

@martineyles

Ай бұрын

It's right, and easy enough if you drive the route regularly, but if you're unfamiliar it's just hard to keep up with that and simultaneously safely navigate hazards.

@alanhindmarch4483

Ай бұрын

@@martineyles The Drivers who are the biggest culprits for not reading signs and complaining about drivers doing the right thing are residents of that said town, Not Strangers who are unfamiliar as they are the ones who read the signs. Familiarity Breeds Contempt.

Bus lanes are a pain because as a bus driver I use them all the time but people who don't use them then suddenly want to turn left and just go for it without indicating in front of buses or cars if out of times of bus lane operation is unreal. If I'm undertaking cars queuing in outside lane it definitely makes you more aware of cars queuing and slow down for each junction.

Interesting. Here in Finland you're allowed to go on the bus lane right away if you're turning at the next intersection, no need to wait for anything.

@wibbley1

Ай бұрын

Yeah but this is Britain. Everything possible is done to increase traffic congestion & frustrate the motorist. At 4.56 for example, one is not allowed to use an empty bus lane to go round a vehicle turning right. Instead one must waste brake material to stop & wait like a lemon, burning over-taxed fuel, until the car turns and the accelerate again burning more over-taxed fuel.

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

​@@wibbley1 Britain is just backwards and have stupid laws regarding bus lanes. In many Nordic countries when approaching intersections it's allowed to go on the bus lane right away, most bus lanes are doubled as turning lanes for cars. And yet in the UK, you're only allowed enter at the end of the bus lane. No wonder why UK drivers cut off buses.

@rainbowevil

Ай бұрын

@@wibbley1lol, everything’s a war on motorists to you types. Given the average length between turns isn’t particularly large in the UK, if drivers were allowed to use the bus lane for turning “immediately” (whatever that means) then you’d basically not have bus lanes.

@MrDblStop

9 күн бұрын

@@rainbowevil "You types." Don't tell me, you don't drive, you vote Green, and you want everyone to give up their cars.

@rainbowevil

8 күн бұрын

@@MrDblStop I do drive, I last voted Labour but will probs vote Green as they’re the only semblance of a left-wing party left in the country, and I would like for much better and more affordable public transit to be available to everyone (myself included). So like 1 out of 3, good job fella.

The weirdest story I heard about illegal bus lane usage was on TV. A guy had registration something like KN19 TER received a letter, got the photo and it was of two women crossing the bus lane on foot. One woman had a bright yellow knitted top on and a shoulder bag with a diagonal black strap. On her top it said in big letters KNITTER. No one from officialdom had checked it for a ridiculous and embarrassing error. Its on you tube "woman walking in a bus lane gives a car a fine".

@waltersobchak1719

27 күн бұрын

Oh. My. God. That is hilarious😂😂. I just saw it - it was on BBC Breakfast with Dan Walker. You honestly couldn’t make it up😂😂

@roberthennersten-manley6597

25 күн бұрын

Whilst that incident does look daft, do you think they have the resources to check all the automated letters that get sent out? Occasionally these silly mistakes occur but the effect is minor and easily rectified, whilst the vast majority will work as intended. Everyone would be up in arms if they found out a council was wasting money checking something that had a miniscule failure rate.

@waltersobchak1719

25 күн бұрын

@@roberthennersten-manley6597 No they wouldn’t. They’d be more likely to be upset if they found out ridiculous mistakes were happening because the council couldn’t be bothered to employ ONE single person to actually check what they are sending out. If they have the resources to fund and maintain all these cameras, then they have the resources to employ someone to check the pictures. Mistakes like this can be considerably stressful for some people, it could actually affect their health. Mistakes like this should not happen. EVER.

@roberthennersten-manley6597

25 күн бұрын

@@waltersobchak1719 meanwhile, in the real world, the councils have been bled dry. The idea they can spend money on that is fanciful. If you met someone that said "my job is to check the number plates match the vehicle on automated letters" you'd be thinking "typical council, they spend money to ensure their fines are correct but leave my road full of potholes". It is just not feasible to monitor these, for what will be a tiny failure rate. Where these mistakes occur it is horrible for the victim, I'm not arguing with that. I've little sympathy for councils either but am aware of how poorly funded they are and I'm also aware of how these mistakes can be made (I work in IT), with an understanding the economics of adding in a manual process.

@waltersobchak1719

25 күн бұрын

@@roberthennersten-manley6597 and yet they can afford to purchase, install and maintain all these cameras. Funny how they can afford all that but can’t afford someone to check what they are sending out. Nah, I disagree. Mistakes like this should never happen.

I find the times on bus signs often hard to read, while observing other things, due to the size and trying to make sure which times are relevant. I often use the none bus lane to avoid any penalty until I get to a 2ns sign that I can read and confirm it's 'open' then move back to use it.

Last year I had a new V5 in the post for a Vauxhall Zafira I had never owned. DVLA website tells you what to do although I copied the front and back for my own records before posting off. Expected lots of fines in the next 6-8 weeks but got nothing. Just fortunate I think on this one.

When my misses worked as an administrator for a company, she dealt with the company cars. They received a speeding ticket for one of their cars, captured fairly local to their office in Hertordshire. However the person responsible for the car had gone by train to Edinburgh for a few days. The police were adamant that they had issued the ticket accurately, it was only after a lot of badgering that they re-checked the photo and with reluctance and no apology had to confess that they had transposed two of the registration letters when they generated the ticket. That was a very long time ago (early 1990s). Probably these days it would all be automatic, done using ANPR technology?

The annoying and quite frankly mind boggling bit of this is the fact that there is a camera picture of the "offending vehicle", and anyone with a single brain cell should have picked up "hmm, that's a funny looking Honda, somethings not right" Either this is all automatic, or the person who looked at this before sending the FPN letter is stupid

@stephenhayes6145

Ай бұрын

Probably automated

@mcdon2401

Ай бұрын

Was sent a ticket a few months ago, and it was obvious no human had been involved at any point before the letter was sent out. On the photos, about the only thing that was even close to correct was the vehicle colour. Make and model were completely different, and the plate was nothing like my number. Doesn't give much confidence in ANPR when it gets the basics so very wrong.

@stephenhayes6145

Ай бұрын

You think that's bad, London we have 24hr bus lanes but ppl Park in them in the evening when the single red line is allowed to be parked on......

@AnythingForSouls

Ай бұрын

it is all automatic the camera just captures the reg and it gets matched to the last known address in the DVLA database and then its sent out no one looks its the same for all camera fines private or government.

@NightEagle256

Ай бұрын

@@AnythingForSouls makes sense Though in this developing world where we have AI, surely that would be intellegant enough to recognise what vehicle is caught. Would prevent a lot of these incidents from happening

Chances of it being an actual cloned plate is small ... it's much more likely to be a plate misread, maybe due to dirt on the plate or the colour of the plate mounting screw.

@NessieS93

Ай бұрын

yeah that’s what I thought too!

@heavybrambles

Ай бұрын

Yeah, it does happen but they're usually smart enough to not put a grey Civic plate on a Transit!

@sanchoodell6789

Ай бұрын

I'm noticing too, the letter 'D' on newer reg. plates tend to have a slight overlap on both the top and bottom with the vertical line. I'm guessing to make it more distinguishable from the numeral '0'

@davem9204

Ай бұрын

There's also the authorities' unwavering belief in the reliability of technology such as ANPR, where they can't seem to consider it might not be 100% reliable or accurate.

@paulqueripel3493

Ай бұрын

​@@sanchoodell6789I just checked our printer (make plates at work), the official font has those.

The cloning thing is one reason I download and keep my dash cam footage for a minimum of a month. It's all part of the protection it offers. You won't believe the number of drivers I've seen today crossing solid white lines into bus lanes, wrong side, and worst of all, joining and leaving motorways. It seems to be just a normal part of driving for some.

Worth noting if you need to lead or pick up you can enter and exit the bus lane depending on the waiting/loading restrictions. (I wouldn’t do it by a camera to save the hassle though 😂)

Near Newcastle where I live there's a few bus lanes where the restriction is only 12 hours a day, from 7am to 7pm. For some reason car drivers tend to keep clear of them all the time, maybe they're just on autopilot. Furthermore if you do use the lane some drivers seem to go all out to stop you merging back in at the end, even if the traffic is moving with no queues.

I got my car cloned some years ago. First I heard of it was a mate calling me to ask if I knew anything about an armed robbery that 'my' car had just been used in. Worst of all it was local, but I was 200 miles away at the time.

@WheelieMacBin

28 күн бұрын

You were lucky, people have had their doors kicked-in very early in the morning due to a cloned plate being used in a robbery.

@jimdixon3131

28 күн бұрын

I had the same with a ram raid. Police surrounded the house. They were shocked when I said if you have my car whose car did I park on my drive. Different make and different colour. They had used a cloned plate.

@ElectricPics

28 күн бұрын

@@WheelieMacBin It was definitely a bonus that the investigating cops knew me otherwise I'd have had the old come out with your hands up malarkey.

What annoys me about 24hr bus lanes is the fact that there are rarely 24hr bus services. Not but a money maker for the local authorities.

The one thing I would say about timed bus lanes is that, in my experience at least, the vast majority I come across allow roadside parking outside the hours of operation, and so are blocked to through traffic anyway. I generally keep out of timed bus lanes even out of their operating times for this reason alone, although there are one or two around where you know there won't be any parked cars (A370 heading towards Weston-Super-Mare approaching M5 J21, for instance), and are quite handy for jumping the queue. You've just got to be careful of people cutting across at the end of the bus lane not expecting you to be there.

@SteveMcIlhennie

Ай бұрын

Surely they'd check their mirrors. It could be any vehicle that can legally use the bus lane, like a taxi. Or what about when the bus lane is open to all traffic?

@fetchstixRHD

Ай бұрын

@@SteveMcIlhennie: Also see the last motorcycle compilation, where a rider came out of a bus lane that was timed, and allowed motorcycles while active, for example. There's one location where there's a break in a bus lane to allow for vehicles turning left, but people will often cut in that lane with the hopes of passing someone/squeezing past the junction before the bus lane begins again, often without any indication, or even time to react safely...

I stay out of timed bus lanes at all times as I just don't want the hassle of having to deal with the local council who have fined people for using a bus lane, despite it being outside of it's hours of operation. It takes months of arguing and the burden of proof is always on the victim. Not worth the hassle for me.

*Thank you, Ashley, always great content.*

Cloned Plates : About 10 years ago I flew into heathrow and picked up an Astra hire car to drive home back to Wales, about 2 months later I had a traffic violation from inner London for this car, BUT it was not the car I Hired it was another make and model. I did the same thing reported to my local Police station and to Heathrow Police , they told me it's very common for people to scan the hire car places and copy plates and drive on them so number plate recognition sees the car is taxed and insured. Needless to say I got the traffic violation reconded but it's a very common thing to happen

My mate got pulled over on the M5 by 3 unmarked police cars with armed police. Someone had cloned his plates and done an armed robbery at some point before. The bad guys put the plate on a similar car (make, model, colour). He had no idea what was going on. Annoyingly for him it was a personalised plate as well and he had to stop using it as the police basically he would be stopped forever more if he kept the personalised plate on.

The issue of cloned plates is ridiculous - successive Governments haven't done enough to counter the issue. There are covert & overt ways to make it far harder - contained in a report that the Home Office still seems to be sitting on 3 years later. Innocent motorists are caught up, Police are wasting time, criminals are committing more crime ('county lines' drug gangs, 'bilking' fuel theft etc.). It's a growing problem & ANPR picks-up more of it.

@TestGearJunkie.

Ай бұрын

The way to counter cloned plates is to adopt the American system of having them made by prisoners in jail. In most places in the US, the plates are issued by the state, you don't get them made privately. They also have an excellent way of stopping bilking (driving off without paying for fuel). The pumps are pretty much all pay-at-pump with a card, if you want to pay cash you go to the cashier in the kiosk/shop and say "I want $30" or whatever. You give them the cash and they enter the amount into the computer and the pump is switched on. When you get to $30 or whatever you paid for, the pump cuts off. If you fill up before that amount is reached, you go back in for your change. Why can't we do that..?

@Pystro

Ай бұрын

@@TestGearJunkie. Well, the British (and German) fuel pump system gives people to fill up with more fuel than they wanted. If you try to fill up for 30.00 and end up putting 30.72 into the tank, that's an extra 72 cents that this fuel pump gets (and the next one that the person fills up at doesn't get - ignore the fact that will often be the exact same gas station). But apparently those extra cents are (or look) higher than the looses due to bilking (or insurance against bilking losses). Not to mention that that change would cost money and would likely confuse the customers. And the state-issued plates only solve part of the problem. There will still be producers of vanity plates. But if you can't say "Plates to the usual legal specs, please. I definitely own this registration; You don't need proof for that, right?" then it would be harder to find a place where you can buy a plate like BR-QG-17 without raising suspicion. Nothing keeping you from driving around with plates like "RE-TIR-ED" that on first glance have the normal design, though. But why not make the life of criminals that little bit harder? Also, you don't necessarily have to have the plates manufactured by prisoners. Each county or whatever can also just buy them in batch from the cheapest bidder.

When I was living in France, I got a call at the end of July from the police saying that my car was involved in a fatal hit and run. The next Monday, I went to the police station and was told that the investigating officer was on holiday and would return at the end of the month. I spent the whole of August panicking, went the first day he was back, only to be told that my plate had been cloned and that the car in the accident was a Ford Focus whilst I had a BMW Z3. I can confirm that misread and cloned plates can cause a loss of stress! 😂

About the speed camera so many drivers below the limit and still they hit the brakes when getting to a speed camera, see this all the time with one of our rare cameras on the A1 in Northumberland.

@jgdooley2003

13 күн бұрын

This disease seems to be widespread. Drivers hitting the brakes to 50 kph in a 80 kph zone when they spot a speed van. Made worse by people coming up behind them at 100 kph because they have just left the motorway 1 Km before. I call this road Revenue Road because it seems to be infested by speed vans while other roads with much higher rates of speeding cars are largely left alone.

Thw problem with timed bus lanes in Edinburgh is that often the blue bus lane sign is located maybe up to 100 yards AFTER the start of the bus lane as marked on the road surface. Because I know the timings for some of them I can use them. But when I am on an unfamiliar road, I tend to stay out of the bus lane because I dont know the timings until the lane has already started and as it is a continous white line, I am not supposed (allowed) to cross over into the bus lane.

I got a fixed penalty notice for a driving offence in London when I was 60 miles away at the time! I explained the situation and provided a photo of my car as well as a witness statement from my manager at work who vouched for me being at work in Northampton when the incident occurred. The penalty was obviously quashed. It does show that the authority in question did not check the rwhistration as it would have shown that my car was not involved. I did read somewhere that some foreign plates can throw up a mis-read registration but I don't know that this is true.

@WheelieMacBin

28 күн бұрын

Yes it can. Romanian plates follow the UK format, so a ticket can be issued to a UK car instead that has the same registration mark.

A clear and concise video. I certainly read the signs of the prat in the grey Audi, who took the left lane too early.

At 04:57 it is not clear whether you said would or wouldn't be allowed to use the bus lane to overtake a car turning right. My understanding is that you should not use the bus lane, but have to wait behind the right turning vehicle. In Swindon, there's a situation where there's a bus lane down the centre of the road, as oncoming buses turn right behind you. When a bus stops ahead of you, the only way past it is to use the opposing bus lane, which to me is a no, as it means crossing a solid white line. Just have to wait for the bus to move, but most of the locals use the bus lane. On one approach to Salisbury, there's a timed bus lane, but hardly anyone uses it out of times, due partly to occasional parked cars, btu mostly due to the last few yards being 24/7 bus lane, on approach to traffic signals that give buses priority as the road narrows. Using the bus lane will always bring a fight to return to the main lane at this pinch point. I think the local test centre stopped using this on routes due to the confusion caused. When a bus lane is not in operation, we all should use it, as we should keep left unless overtaking, but add in parked cars and most drivers not using the bus lane, and few timed bus lanes are of use. Would be easier if they were all 24/7, or at most a single time, not morning/afternoon. In Swindon, there are a few permanent bus lanes, but most are 7am-7pm. So we're allowed to use the bus lanes when traffic is light. Brilliant.

@ryanmitcham5522

Ай бұрын

>At 04:57 it is not clear whether you said would or wouldn't be allowed to use the bus lane to overtake a car turning right. Sorry but it's perfectly clear. You can't enter a bus lane to pass a vehicle turning right, unless of course it is a timed bus lane and out of it's hours of operation, in which case you should probably have been in the left lane anyway. If you think it isn't clear a brush up of the highway code is needed! >as it means crossing a solid white line This is common misconception. There is nothing automatically wrong about crossing a solid line. What you mustn't do is cross a *double* solid white line (where the line nearest to you is solid) or a solid line surrounding a hatched area. Separately you mustn't enter a bus lane during it's hours of operation. So in the example you quoted, for me it would depend entirely on if the bus lane is during its hours of operation. Outside of those hours I see no issue in using it to overtake. During it or if it's a 24hr lane, I wouldn't. >Would be easier if they were all 24/7 God no. So many bus lanes I know that I will concede are helpful during peak times, but absolutely aren't needed most of the time, and it improves flow being a general traffic lane most of the time.

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

Britain is just backwards and have stupid laws regarding bus lanes. In many Nordic countries when approaching intersections it's allowed to go on the bus lane right away, most bus lanes are doubled as turning lanes for cars. And yet in the UK, you're only allowed enter at the end of the bus lane. No wonder why UK drivers cut off buses.

@nigelcox1451

Ай бұрын

@@ryanmitcham5522 You have misunderstood. My query was not about teh rules being clear, but about the sound quality at that instant on the video, so it was not clear what Ashley actually said. Your reply is rude, whether it was meant to be or not, so wind your neck in.

@mrfoameruk

Ай бұрын

@@nigelcox1451 I thought he said that as well, and relistening to it it still sounds like "would be able to"

Wonder if that was the only photo of the vehicle the Council provided? Many times people wrongly assume it was a clone when on closer inspection it's actually a misread of the offending vehicles plate. And as to why discrepancies aren't picked up (van rather than a car) that's because the system is almost totally automated with very little human intervention and no incentive to have any.

gov web site has this "Bus lane signs show the times when they operate. Most bus lanes operate at peak times only (typically 7.30am to 9.30am or 3.30pm to 6.00pm on Monday to Friday). Outside the hours of operation the lanes can be used by all traffic. The legislation for most bus lanes allows permitted taxis, motorcycles and bicycles to use bus lanes. the city centre, bus lanes operate all day, from 7.00am to 7.00pm from Monday to Saturday."

Timed bus lanes are great and as you said, it's about reading the signage. There's a road (with a timed bus lane) near me that on a Sunday morning all the learner drivers are in the middle lane and not in said bus lane.

@automation7295

Ай бұрын

I still think bus lanes should only be reserved for buses at all times. UK allowing everyone on the bus lane for certain hours is stupid, it's says "BUS LANE" meaning that buses should only be allowed at all times. No wonder why UK drivers cut off bus drivers and causing them to be late.

I once cloned a plate by accident when I was 18. My brother took my plate as he needed some metal. I had to get w new one so went to my local plate shop. Later that week I got the blue light treatment on my way home at 1am. Turns out the plate I had made I got to letters the wrong way around. It was matching a stolen Allegro, however I was on my motorbike. Lol I was arested and held for several hours whilst they tried to sort it all out. Its now one of my favourite stories 😅

I find it amusing that bus/cycle/taxi lanes are meant to speed up public service vehicles and cycles yet as soon as you have a cyclist in the lane the other two vehicles have to slow to the speed of the cyclist because there is insufficient room to pass safely and often this is slower than the main traffic. A word of warning if you are in Nottingham. At the end of the bus lanes, which are often monitored by cameras and where there is traffic lights, under no circumstances cross the solid white line even it is by just a couple of feet from the end to pull into the LH lane because you will be fined. Its a particularly nasty situation because you may be turning left and because the left lane in front of the bus lane has a couple of cars in the very limited space you will be stuck in the RH lane obstructing all the through traffic. Pulling into the bus lane would be pragmatic to maintain traffic flow and will not inconvenience the buses but the 'jobs worth' will not be allowed any discretion.

There's a series of bus lanes on the west side of Edinburgh where many drivers seem to be unaware that these are timed lanes and so, do not enter. But when you do legitimately drive in them, you soon start to wonder if there's another, smarter reason. The amount of potholes in these lanes is appalling and so telling of the amount of damage these heavy vehicles do to the road. Another reason some drivers do not enter timed lanes is because they are driving too fast to read the restriction details and so take the 'safer' option.

It's not just regular motorists not reading bus lane times. Around a year ago, I had read a news article about a local primary school headmistress complaining about cars driving in the bus lane outside her school when the kids were leaving. School finishes at 3pm, bus lane isn't active until 4pm. Maybe a week later, I was driving in the lane around 3.05pm when a traffic officer stepped out, and signalled for me to stop. He appeared stunned when I pointed out that the lane wasn't yet active. This happened 3 times over the following 2 weeks, with different officers. All had taken the view that the bus lane was active at 3pm, not 4pm. I wondered how many tickets were issued before the message got back to police Scotland. Bus lanes here used to all be active at 3pm, but changed to 4pm around 20 years ago. Just a shame that the police were only just realising this.

I can understand why people still think it's a bus lane though, even though the posted signs have gone there is still signage on the road. Not sure if just natural fading or poor attempt to paint over. But there were some easily recognisable as 'bus lane'. I would say the issue here is poor work from the council in removing the bus lane and markings.

The same thing happened to me few years ago, not a bus lane, but a no entry road. It went all the way to county court before it was dismissed. It was a ridiculous process.

A bus lane was installed fairly recently on a two lane carriageway between Silverburn and Braehead in Glasgow but I didn’t last long and is now discontinued. There is a sign saying ‘bus lane not in use. Use both lanes’. But a lot of people don’t notice they just look at the road markings and treat it like it’s still a bus lane

I've recently went to London and ended up accidentally in a bus lane... Then I noticed I was just in time, it went out of operation a minute before I got in it. By the point I saw the sign I had already moved out of it only to then notice many cars move into it and pass unreasonably fast on the left...

I don't know how many times I've been blown off the road by taxi drivers who thought I was using the bus lane during operational hours. Even they don't know the hours. A dash cam is a must for the more aggressive ones.

We have a non existent ex bus lane that's been gone for about 5yrs and even the red surface has gone - yet still people don't drive it and pull across where it used to end - scary! I also see sooooooo many cars who avoid a bus or 2+ lane outside of the active times - total lack of awareness

I tend to ignore times on bus lanes and avoid them altogether. You're not doing anything wrong by not driving in them when you're allowed to. It's much simpler this way and it allows me to keep my eyes on the road rather than looking at the clock and working out whether the bus lane restriction applies or not.

The other thing a lot of people don't realise, is that an awful lot of bus lanes are also open to motorbikes.

We have a long road with a timed bus lane on test routes in Northampton. The problem is people park in it, stop to deliver goods in it and poke their car half way out over it when waiting to emerge. There are also some legacy road markings and signs which make the situation confusing. But if learners don't use this lane when it's available then they can get a serious fault on their test and fail.

My car was recently cloned by an identical car and I started receiving Penalty Charge Notices for bus lanes in my town centre. I successfully appealed each one by sending photos of my car showing the reg number font differed to mine. DVLA offered to issue a new reg number but would take them 6 weeks, with me receiving more PCN's in the meantime. Instead I paid them £80 to instantly issue a new reg number, bought new number plates @£20 and my insurers charged me £20 to update their records. So far it has cost me £120 and I've done nothing wrong!

@mrfoameruk

Ай бұрын

I guess putting Go Faster decals on your bonnet or on the roof is the way to go. That way your car will look different to any car using your reg number.

@barrieshepherd7694

Ай бұрын

No doubt you kept the old plates for the occasional weekend blast down the motorway 😂

@843thebear

Ай бұрын

@@barrieshepherd7694 I may or may not have 😄

@Xtravia9

Ай бұрын

@@barrieshepherd7694 The plates will be marked as stolen, so he might get pulled over.

@barrieshepherd7694

Ай бұрын

@@Xtravia9 Oh dear, I clearly needed to put /s on the end of my post.

I love timed bus lanes with a short length of untimed buslane between them. Maddening.

Bee in my bonnet: Timed bus lanes. Yeah they are fine except they change to untimed bus lanes. You're driving along thinking all 's fine and suddenly you are in an untimed bus lane and the PCN is already in the post. Been driving 45 years, never been done for speeding, never been done for parking, been done for bus lanes twice. I stay out of bus lanes now.

The inability of a shockingly large proportion of the population to read simple signs is incredible. I often pass huge queues of 10-50 drivers in these bus lanes! It is both extremely satisfying and frustrating.

Yes, I remember those breakdown buses too. Guess it's more cost effective to farm out breakdowns to specialists nowadays, or it might be Health and Safety, who knows?

Part of the issue of cloned plates is that there are companies online that advertise they will make any plate for you as a "show plate". No questions asked and no checks performed, as would be the case at an authorized number plate dealer. Interestingly, some of these "show plate" companies have offshore addresses, such as the Isle of Man.

@kenbrown2808

Ай бұрын

it leaves me wondering if the US and Canada practice of only allowing state approved manufacturers to make number plates makes cloning harder or if it's easy enough for black market plates to be made.

I used to love the timed buslanes in south London. Used to undertake dozens of queued up cars. As for Hampshire Police. I have a grouse with them, they sent me a summons for speeding at 18:53, when I was definitely not driving. I queried it, they sent me a pic of 10:53, an 8 hour difference, but it was me, not paying attention, and they said the charge stands. However, several letters later they still state the incorrect time which is giving me a niggle. Buggers.

In Nottingham the sections of bus lane change form 24 hour to other times like it’s going out of fashion. They also have cameras on them. Choosing to drive in the normal lane all the time negates the risk of accidentally getting a ticket in the bus lane. I’m sure the council have made it deliberately awkward, just so they can get some more money in fines .

Hi Ash, at 4:56, did you say would or Wouldn’t? I’ve been given a bus lane ticket (a few years ago) for doing exactly this. Bus Lane Camera was positioned at a junction and got my picture, with just the left side in the lane, but still, in the lane.

@ashley_neal

Ай бұрын

Wouldn't

Thanks for teaching me this. As a foreigner I certainly would have entered the bus lane when turning right from the traffic lights, as I would expect a bus lane to be marked with the word BUS painted on the tarmac. I would probably miss the blue sign, and if I didn't, I'd ask myself "Okay, but where?". Now I know what to look for. One related question popped up though... Looking at the situation between the bus lanes along the Cooksons Bridge Pub there is a blue sign for cyclists that seems to direct them onto the pavement. This pavement does not appear suitable for cycling at all. Where should they enter that "lane"? How should they navigate all those obstacles? There are even lamp posts in the middle of the pavement on both sides of the bridge. I know the cycling infrastructure in the UK can be horrible. Is this just one example?

@AnythingForSouls

Ай бұрын

so that sign is saying cyclists can use the pavement for that bridge it is a lowered kerb before it so you can enter it smoothly but coming off it you would never need to do it at that first junction with the lowered kerb if there was no car right next to you id personally put my hand out to indicate i was coming off it or the safer option is just to go to the next junction slightly up from when the bus lane starts again and just merge over there should be pretty safe to do so. It is shocking but if you look around you'll find cycle lanes that jump from one side of the road to the other for no other reason that its a new council district and they put that path there.

@oroozen

Ай бұрын

​@@AnythingForSouls The last chance to enter the lowered kerb is at 4:13 where the pedestrian is waiting. You'd have to navigate around the pedestrian and the lamppost following. But is it even legal to cycle there? The cycle lane starts quite some distance down the road, at 4:17. If you did not notice the sign from a distance, you'd have to hop onto the pavement via a much higher kerb. And then there's that yellow sandbox, and cracks in the pavement trying to distort your balance. Just horrible.

@4:55 good instruction. So easy to do the sensible thing for progress.

I helped someone out at work once when they were sent a bus lane fine from somewhere they had never been I believe it was Luton council.- the operators had actually misread the number plate. The image sent on the letter was so poor you couldn't read it at all but it was clearly a different vehicle. Luckily there was a facility to view online. When you zoomed in you could see they had read one of the digits wrong. Took a while before they finally accepted it though.

BTW out of curiosity (as I don't live in UK) - if you would have the white label "bus lane" on the tarmac, but no sign on the left, would it still be a bus lane for you? Or in UK the labels on tarmac are just hints and only the signs on side of the road tell you what you can or can't do?

@pineappleroad

Ай бұрын

Im not entirely sure, but I think there is always supposed to be a sign to indicate the bus lane (and the sign also indicates if the bus lane is only active between certain hours)

Invariably, the people who ignore the bus lane times and drive in the right hand lane are those that will want to turn left at the next roundabout.

I moved down to Plymouth from Merseyside last year and so this has been a big adjustment for me. I went from knowing maybe 1 functional bus lane (that I don't think I was allowed in) to having almost all bus lanes available at all times (im on a motorbike). It's been great - until I get caught behind a bus up hill! I will admit though, If it's a times bus lane that bikes aren't automatically allowed in, I usually wont even check it, since my bike doesn't have a clock, and the clock I attached has long since broken, presumably due to getting too wet, and so there's no real way of my checking the times against what time it is now (all whilst keeping eyes on everything that is happening around me). Even if I did know exactly what time it is, it's still alot of extra information to take in and process whilst riding, usually in busy traffic. This isn't an excuse of course, and it is very much doable (if you have access to the time) but it is something that used to worry me since I heard you can fail for not using a bus lane that you are allowed in during a test, which admittedly is probably a slightly more common issue for bike tests.

It amazes me that people do not read these signs. There are bus lanes in Hampshire that allow HGV's. The amount of times I have driven a truck in a bus lane, and been beeped at or blocked. Also, car share lanes in Bristol can be used by HGV's. Again, I get beeped or blocked by other road users. All because I can read signs and they don't.

Unless you're familiar with the bus lane, you've got to try and read the times when it's in use, without taking your eyes off the road for more than the split second it would take read a normal warning sign.

Problem with times bus lanes is that the signs are placed at the start of the lane and to read it clearly can be difficult especially if the lane is active when you get there. Don’t assume that if cars are in the lane that it is open to use either.

On the cloning issue. There was a BBC Radio 4 programme “You and Yours” on 8th May discussing drivers licence cloning which viewers might find interesting.

near Edinburgh airport there's a dual carriage way and the return side to leave Edinburgh the left lane got turned into a bus lane making it essentially a single lane for some odd reason maybe 2-3 years ago and they have ALWAYS had a sign saying bus lane not in use or not enforced use both lanes something to that effect and there's a few placed along it . Still people don't use it and it just backs up the traffic more which is why I think its never been used as a bus only lane because it was stupid taking a dual down to single for no reason it was such a waste of tax money.

The cloning issue you brought up rings a vague bell, but not about cloning, where, just after i bought a new car, and sold the previous one to a garage, years ago, i think i remember getting a speeding fine through the post to do with the previous car, but i think it got resolved quickly, and i forgot about it, till now.

I had a similar thing with my number plate. This was invilving a parking ticket. The local council had issued me with a parking ticket. Different area different vehicle and I was working at the time. They first tried to say someone else was using my car and stole my car keys. When I highlighted the fact it was a van and not a car that was parked they then went on to ask for my VIN and Tax disc number. This seemed to clear the matter up and they stated the matter had now been cleared. I have since wondered how common is this practice and can I do anything to prevent it again.

I tend not to use bus lanes outside times, mainly because I prefer to develop the habit of simply not using them... but generally this also coincides with traffic being light and therefore it's not an issue.

Problem i used to have with a bus lane outside my brother's previous home: gates on his driveway. Never got a ticket but regularly got jobsworth bus drivers striving up behind and stopping to prevent me reversing in. In fairness the majority of drivers would hang back and leave room for the manoeuvre, but every so often would get a moron who thought he was traffic police. Note to that minority of bus drivers: you are not traffic wardens nor cops. It's not your place to enforce the law, especially when you don't realise that access/egress to/from property is a reason to use a bus lane: and even to briefly leave the car if it's to open any gates on the drive way, or close them before departing immediately.

The problem is, unfortunately, that the times shown in writing on the signs is quite small and that, together with all the other street furniture plus traffic and pedestrians, makes reading and checking when the bus lane is in operation a risky operation. Hence in London many drivers just steer clear of bus lanes at all times.

You can get a cheap private number plate for £150. You don't have to immediately put it on your car, but it takes 10 minutes to change over should you get cloned. It's nice to know you can screw over the criminals

I think it's a better safe than sorry attitude too, as sometimes the signage can be obstructed, missing or possibly out dated, and you can be using all the information available to you as you drive & be in accordance with that, but still be prosecuted through an automated system that is running to a different ruleset. The burden of proof is then on you if you to fight the prosecution, and provide evidence to contest everything - wasting alot of your own time to a system set up to easily issue penalties but make laborious the task of recinding them - for the best outcome to be not paying a fine that should never have been issued, let alone any compensation for stress & wasted time.

Just wondering, does that mean the bus lane must be backed up with a sign to make it valid? Or does just having markings on the road count as a 24/7 bus lane?

@hippopotamus86

Ай бұрын

The sign must be there as that tells you what the restriction is. Without a sign, no restriction. The markings on the road just show you where it is. Same with disabled bays on public roads, without a sign, they're courtesy bays and anyone can actually park in them legally.

4:50 I never knew that was allowed. If theres a queue turning right, is it still ok to use the bus lane when it's clear during the active times?

Just trying to get my lad ready for his test, long story…. Re bus lanes, (during active time) did you say it’s ok to dip in if way ahead blocked for eg right turn , assuming no bus etc coming?