On the anniversary on his grandfathers, my dads, untimely and totally unexpected death , my son, for some reason drove to Reading ( yes I’m still trying to find out why it’s 40 miles away, but he’s been Ill in hospital since Saturday and not able to speak to currently
Reading Issues more fines and has more bus lanes than any other place in Britain .
He somehow managed to drive in a Bus lane in Trooper Potts Way 18.36 stanshawe Rd 19.01 and Blagrsve Str 19.05 . Surely if someone visiting a town they’re not used to and get caught in 3 different locations in a bus lane , the signage is not adequate especially at night
Has anyone any experience of this town ,and what is the chances of getting them quashed on compassionate grounds , or combined into one fine . He’s a student and can’t afford it , I’m an impoverished dad , paying for his expensive London accommodation and can’t afford it .
Any thoughts or suggestions , nothing nasty please he and I are going through enough as it is
Thank you , just be careful should you go to Reading
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He can challenge the fines on line and review the video footage if he feels they are unjustified
Alternatively if he accept the fine and pay promptly he will get a 50% discount.
www.reading.gov.uk/vehicles-roads-and-transport/fines-and-penalty-charge-notices/
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Is 2 & 3 a continuing offence which should be counted as one offence?
Like a car doing a constant 100MPH down a motorway and gets snapped twice.
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Yes , it seems the road leads onto another road . What I was hoping for was someone from Reading to say whether it was obvious to a stranger in town at those times that the bus lanes are well signposted and obvious . I think that’s how I’ll go with an appeal . Thanks for the response .
In your example I’m sure I’ve seen stories of people doing 70 in a restricted zone of 50 for roadworks , and being zapped 5 times by cameras and getting 3 Pooh ts at each zap and getting an immediate 15 points and a ba. , so I doubt it will work ,but without trying it’s £90 he has to find
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>> Is 2 & 3 a continuing offence which should be counted as one offence?
>>
>> Like a car doing a constant 100MPH down a motorway and gets snapped twice.
I knew slowing down was a bad idea.
Trooper Potts way, the bus lane part has clear signage, with BIG white letters in the road. No excuse
Stanshawe Road, one way VERY big white signs on the road surface "BUSES AND TAXI ONLY..
Blagrave Street, He has strayed into the bus only road at the station, well signposted and separated from the rest of the road by pavement.
So all well posted and clear, all separated by non bus lane roads and links, three distinct offences with no mitigating circumstances.
Looks like he was trying to pick someone up from Reading Station.
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No specifics on this case but I hate signs on the actual road. They disappear underneath the vehicle in front of you especially if you are in traffic jams
Same as when you get to the traffic lights and then realise the lane you are in is a filter lane, only marked by an arrow on the tarmac.
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>> No specifics on this case but I hate signs on the actual road.
They are not legally required, but provide back up to the legally required blue prohibition signs - all of the locations named here in Reading have both.
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>> Blagrave Street, He has strayed into the bus only road at the station, well signposted
>> and separated from the rest of the road by pavement.
>>
>> So all well posted and clear, all separated by non bus lane roads and links,
>> three distinct offences with no mitigating circumstances.
>>
>> Looks like he was trying to pick someone up from Reading Station.
Is it this bit?
tinyurl.com/3uz4ju87
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>> Is it this bit?
>>
>> tinyurl.com/3uz4ju87
There or there about I guess so.
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I once got a severe (and unnecessarily rude, IMO) telling off from a copper down that little street at the side of the pic (North St). I'd dropped someone off at the corner and went to the end of the street to turn, instead of down the ramp into the drop off zone and back up. Which meant I'd gone through the (now, maybe always, rather prominent) No Entry signs. He threatened me with ignoring a road sign or driving without due care but thankfully got off his high horse (maybe as I was mainly apologetic) and just gave me a warning. He'd stepped out of the little door on the left to his van, which is still there in the pic :-)
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I can imagine myself doing that if I hadn't thought to look for signs and it's dark/raining when road markings can be next to invisible.
It's £90 if he just pays, or if he appeals and loses it's £180. Even if I felt badly done to, and I'm sure I would, I don't think I'd appeal.
If he is struggling with £90, can he afford to risk £180?
I know that isn't what you were hoping for but unless you can get a steer from the appeals office as to whether they will reduce/combine it, an appeal sounds a risky strategy.
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Thanks for all the responses , I remember it not being very nice weather that day , so could have been raining . Those signs esp in the road aren’t very visible at night .
Zero sounds like you know the area well . Yes he was picking up someone from the station . Is the fact the 2nd offence happened , could he have found a route from there , out of town , Without going through the 3 road ??!
It 60 minimum I’m gonna have to pay seems an un proportional fine for an offence where no one got hurt and no one was inconvenienced . Ive seen burglars and mugger get off with a lesser fine
Last edited by: wotspur on Thu 3 Mar 22 at 10:30
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£60 is a tank of petrol. Sometimes best to just accept the situation and move on. Life isn’t fair.
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Bus lanes with no enforcement are constantly infringed.
Amazing how compliance with one locally improved when a camera was installed.
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Looking at the picture he probably has little chance of an appeal except the possibility of treating them as a single incident.
However I do have a lot of sympathy with people who make an honest mistake and get caught out as the OP son was. There is just too much signage around our cities. An incoherent mix of the permitted and the forbidden and (as here) symbols and text. It’s hard to absorb all this in a strange city in the dark while under pressure from pushy locals who know the local rules. Some are also time of day restrictions which can be tricky to take in at moving traffic speeds.
In the particular case I hope a degree of common sense will prevail from the authorities.
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Totally agree MA. We are subject to information overload. Couple that with trying to actually drive the vehicle safely and avoid all the hazards then something is going to be missed.
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>> Zero sounds like you know the area well . Yes he was picking up someone
>> from the station . Is the fact the 2nd offence happened , could he have
>> found a route from there , out of town , Without going through the 3
>> road ??!
Yes afraid he could, the bus only areas were separated by signed bus lane free routes. reading station is now very big, (since it became cross rail) and coupled with the bus station is a confusing place. I suspect he went bowling in there with little planning (as he tried to access both sides of the station) and got caught in the complexity of the area. There is a signed pickup route in and out on one side of the station.
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if you was in the AA They might give you some sound advise . Edmund King has a thing about the likes of this. most people just pay up. 3to1 against getting off to paying higher fees
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Looking into this further the first offence at
18.36 was reference 84545
19.01 was reference 84567. So 22 in 25 minutes
19.05 was reference. 82481 How can a reference be before the other two , despite occurring later .
I was trying to work out how offences had happened
But based on 22 in 25 minutes the signage is obviously not good enough and the council couldn’t care because of the money raised l
perhaps the roads need to be RED , for danger , same with 20mph roads
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>> Looking into this further the first offence at
>> 18.36 was reference 84545
>> 19.01 was reference 84567. So 22 in 25 minutes
>> 19.05 was reference. 82481 How can a reference be before the other two , despite
>> occurring later .
>> I was trying to work out how offences had happened
>>
>> But based on 22 in 25 minutes the signage is obviously not good enough and
>> the council couldn’t care because of the money raised l
>> perhaps the roads need to be RED , for danger , same with 20mph roads
I wonder if the reference numbers are generated when the camera downloads are processed rather than the order in which they occur?
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I thought I was stuffed. Been in Lanzarote for three weeks and half way through remembered I hadn’t paid the £2.50 charge. Looking on line I discovered that it was too late to pay the charge and I would have to pay a penalty of £70 or £35 if I paid within 14 days.
The problems was I needed the penalty charge number to pay on line and they had sent me that by post so I couldn’t pay until I returned home and so was resigned to paying the full £70.
On logging in their morning with the penalty number I was slightly confused to find that the amount due was only the £2.50 charge - no penalty added.
On re raiding the penalty notice I was relieved to find that if the late payment is your first offence and you contact them within 14 days of the penalty notice which I had, just, they may waive the penalty which they had.
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>> But based on 22 in 25 minutes the signage is obviously not good enough and
>> the council couldn’t care because of the money raised l
>> perhaps the roads need to be RED , for danger , same with 20mph roads
Look I have been trying to avoid saying this, but lets be honest, three offences in less than an hour where the signage and the road layout is designed to avoid staying in the lanes is comprehensively clear shows that your sons driving and observation is clearly at fault, and you are merely trying to deflect blame.
Drive there, check out the first location. one really has to make an effort to get into that bus lane.
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People not used to driving in such areas will have a greater tendency to assume they can find a spot to dawdle or park briefly when trying to do a set down or pick up. Much as one might stop briefly in a bus stop or taxi waiting area elsewhere.
I don't live very near anywhere that this happens. That said if I am in Oxford or Cambridge, or Reading for that matter, I'd assume they were out to get me and be very cautious. Last time I went to Reading for the evening I actually booked a car park in advance, partly because I am prone to this sort of error in unfamiliar places when I am cruising around looking for parking. Experience doesn't always compensate for the distractions of over-complicated traffic management. A system that punishes genuine errors is bad design in my book.
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I’d agree with Z; though I did live in Reading the best part of 30 years ago I was last there in early 2020 on a trip down memory Lane, and the place had completely changed, but it was very obvious where the bus lanes were by the station, on the south side at least. I didn’t go to the north side.
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signs and markings should be made idiot proof. Sometimes it just to easy to get things wrong. things only improve after serious accident
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>> signs and markings should be made idiot proof. Sometimes it just to easy to
>> get things wrong. things only improve after serious accident
You're right of course and I'm sure that's the plan. But even when clear, layouts and instructions can't always be easy to take in almost instantly as part of a task that demands a high level of attention as when driving. Or even when not. Ikea assembly instructions? I'm sure they put a lot of effort into those, too.
A great deal of driving consists of sub-routines that are performed more or less automatically. Until they are learnt, just keeping the car in a straight line can be difficult. An unfamiliar layout makes everybody a learner.
I'm not over-fond of instructions painted on the road. They aren't always easy to see, for various reasons, and often when they are seen it's a bit late in the process.
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If I'm going to an unfamiliar place, especially if it's a town centre or I'm against the clock, I spend ten minutes beforehand on Street View trying to get some idea of what to expect. It's not infallible but it sure helps.
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...one would have thought that the situation around Reading would have improved after the town-planner got savaged to death by his guide-dog, but no.
(The situation around the station in Reading is particularly bad if you don't know the area _ I used to work adjacent, but the geography is much changed since those days.).
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A good tip. I do that before hiring a car in another country. Sometimes gives a feeling of deja vu!
Best way to avoid problems is use a SatNav in cities. Apple or Googlemaps would all safely avoid the bus lanes and remove the stress from driving in a strange city.
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>> If I'm going to an unfamiliar place, especially if it's a town centre or I'm
>> against the clock, I spend ten minutes beforehand on Street View trying to get some
>> idea of what to expect. It's not infallible but it sure helps.
Me too. Down to saving the car park entrance coordinates as a destination if it looks tricky.
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Thanks for all the responses . Zero ,you and I are experienced drivers. He’s 20 at night and it was raining . You know the area he doesn’t . With Reading issuing MORE Fines than London for bus lane offences despite having far fewer lanes , it seems blatantly clear , it’s not just my son , who couldn't tell the difference.
I have no desire to travel 40 miles to check out Reading I’ll tak your word for it. Do you know any locals who’ve been caught out
In London bus lanes are Purple in most places , it makes it obvious it is a bus lane , then there is signage to say when /if you can drive in it . Normally after 10-4, then after 7 .
To me Readings Is not about safety or helping buses getting around ,purely amassing money
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Well there you go . I wrote to Reading Council stating my son was in a strange town etc and whilst being issued with 3 fines for the same offence , blah blah blah , shock horror not only did they accept it and cancelled two of them , they also allowed us to pay the £30 fine for the one offence . I basically asked them saying it was 1 offence, repeated 3 times .
So there is common sense ,even at some councils so well done Reading , now use that money to PAINT the tarmac RED so no vehicle goes in there .
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pleased for you .bus lane near me ,there is no light on sign and the times are in small letters. just to easy to miss in busy wet dark times.
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I think you can count that as a result. Some commonsense application of discretion for a change.
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Driving in READING Beware - CGNorwich
