sneaky bus lane camera...

Hope you had a good bank holiday weekend?

I went down to the west country with my girlfriend and as I write this on Monday, am just watching Battle of Britain on the TV and waiting for my roast dinner!

Anyway, I saw this in Orpington in Kent last Friday:

http://btst.co.uk/SmartBuslaneCamera/

When I asked the driver what she was doing, she tried to ignore me. I persisted and she eventually wound the window down enough mumble something in broken English.

So I asked “is it a speed camera?” (I was playing dumb). She told me that it was a bus lane camera.

It’s a crafty little trap to catch drivers who put two or four wheels in the bus lane.

I know from experience that these guys aren’t just out to catch people actually using the bus lane – they often get you for just ducking into it to overtake someone turning right or waiting to park on the opposite side of the road.

I took a few snaps of the little smart car on my iphone and the pictures are here:

http://btst.co.uk/SmartBuslaneCamera/

Now this car was well hidden and it’s unlikely that anyone would have spotted it as they passed because of the cars size, the fact that it was further in towards the kerb than the normal sized cars in front of and behind it and because it was on the opposite side of the road to the bus lane.

I got one of my researchers on it straight away and we understand that the fine is £60, although this has not yet been “officially” confirmed.

So make sure you look out for a little black car when you put a wheel over that little white line…

All the best,

Adam