Motorists’ fines returned by Camden Council – £50,000 is handed back after crusader discovers bus lane error

A CRUSADING motorist has forced Camden Council to pay back thousands of pounds to motorists who were wrongly hit with fines.

Penalty charge notices (PCN) worth £50,000 are being returned after Maurice Daly challenged a fine he received in Blooms­bury Street, Bloomsbury, in 2009.

Mr Daly, a delivery driver who lives in Oxford, discovered that motorists who entered the bus lane from January to June 2009 should not have been penalised for entering a bus lane due a temporary traffic order that was in place to facilitate roadworks.

After his own fine was cancelled he then began a two-year campaign on behalf of hundreds of other victims who had received £60 or £120 charges.

The council has now set up the Blooms­bury Street Refund Project to ensure the 2,926 wrongly issued fines are refunded. 

Mr Daly said: “Despite never paying my PCN I’ve been pursuing Camden Council for more than two years.

“No one will have realised how or why they were suddenly getting these refunds. 

“It took me months to get the council to even acknowledge their errors. It is morally wrong for Camden Council to benefit financially from their mistakes, they should have done everything in their power to return these funds much, much sooner.”

A Camden Council spokesman said: “The council incorrectly issued a number of penalty charge notices to motorists entering the bus lane in Bloomsbury Street between January and June 2009. At the time of issuing the penalty charge notices, our parking team were unaware of a temporary traffic order in place suspending the bus lane restrictions and therefore enforced them. 

“As soon as this was brought to our attention we took steps to cease enforcement and to ensure that motorists either had their penalty charge notices cancelled or refunded.”

Published: 21st July, 2011
by TOM FOOT