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Penalty fine for Scottish bus – on Oxford St
Officials blame ‘clerical error’
BUNGLING parking officials sent a penalty notice to a Scottish bus company after CCTV mistakenly spotted one of their local fleet in Oxford Street.
Every day the number 44 bus carries thousands of passengers between the Edinburgh suburbs of Balerno and Wallyford.
So it is easy to see why Lothian Buses were left baffled when a penalty charge notice from Westminster Council arrived in the post.
The council even included CCTV evidence of the alleged offence on July 7 last year, which was later found to show a car and not a Lothian double-decker.
George McKendrick, Lothian Buses’ operations manager, said: “At first I thought it was someone playing a joke but when I studied the offence they really did think our bus had been on Oxford Street.”
He added: “During my 30 years in the bus industry, I’ve known of a few buses to get lost but this one tops them all – being able to get from the Edinburgh City Bypass to Oxford Street and back to our Longstone depot in 17 minutes surely must be a record.”
The penalty notice said the distinctive number 44 Lothian bus – mainly white with chequered red and blue – was spotted by cameras “using a route restricted to certain vehicles”.
Adamant that the double-decker took a 400-mile detour on July 7 last year the council sent crucial CCTV evidence.
The images showed four double-decker buses, as well as a black cab and one car on Oxford Street – but did not identify the offending vehicle.
Lothian Buses’ own cameras placed the vehicle on the City Bypass as it returned to the depot.
The company disputed the fine, including their own images from the vehicle’s on-board CCTV cameras, which show the bus travelling around the City Bypass at precisely 6.31pm.
Nine minutes later, footage also shows the bus in its Longstone depot and the journey between Wallyford and Balerno.
Mr McKendrick wrote to the council to say: “In conclusion, I can only suggest that either your camera system is inaccurate or the registration number for our bus has been cloned for use on another vehicle.”
After detailed investigations the council was forced to concede the offending vehicle was in fact a car – with a marginally different number plate.
A “clerical error” was blamed for the mix-up and the fine has been cancelled.
A spokesman said: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused, or any time spent dealing with this complaint.”
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