I had seen reports of a bus lane/gate in Glasgow that was generating 700 tickets a day (700 x £60 = £42k per day) and the $chunter in me was mortally offended by a council that was so blatantly ripping off its visitors. So I decided to pop along to see what was going on first hand.
Having spoken to many interested parties while I stood on the corner helping to divert at least 250 motorists from committing the offence in 4 hours, the depth of the council's cynicism was even worse than I first thought. I would add that although I managed to save many, I estimate that for every four I managed to divert, a fifth sailed past completely oblivious to me and the signs. In the immortal words of Killswitch, “You win some, and the council win some more.”
It seems that the bus gate was installed immediately before the Commonwealth games when they knew there would be an influx of drivers not only from Scotland, but from all over the country and the world, the vast majority of whom would be blindly following satnavs. And before you say it, I know it is no excuse to say you were following your satnav but when you see the state of the signs I'm sure you will agree that this is irrelevant.
Where do I begin? First, I am reliably informed that the signs are wrong in that they don't comply with the TSRGD. And before you ask, yes the TSRGD does apply in Scotland unless the Scottish Ministers sanction them separately (
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3113/regulation/8/made).
This is what I am told is wrong with the signs:
1) The 932 (Bus Gate) Sign MUST have a 932.2 (Only) plate.
2) The time plate should be “except” times not operational times.
3) The authorised vehicles plate should be “except authorised vehicles”.
4) Guidance suggests that there should be no more than 3 plates on a post and should not exceed 4m high.
Here are the signs in their full glory.
As you can see from all the photos the signs are clearly inadequate, as is evidenced by the number of motorists who are simply not seeing them. Drivers turning left or right into West George Street from West Nile Street only get one advance warning notice that can easily be obscured by a parked van or lorry.
Drivers travelling on West George Street directly towards the bus gate have the same problem which is exacerbated by the council putting the new sign behind a “Pay and display” sign (see West George Street looking east towards bus gate 5 & 6).
Unfortunately we know nothing about the independent adjudication service in Scotland, nor do we know what legislation the Glasgow council thieves are using to rob people blind. If anyone can throw some light on this I would be most grateful.
Anyway, back to the $chunt. The vast majority of drivers I managed to divert were approaching the bus gate head on down West George Street, which is a one way street. Much of the time the road markings were covered by traffic, mainly the buses and taxis who can legitimately use the bus gate.
The taxis in Glasgow add to motorist's confusion because they look like ordinary cars unless you know to look for the license badge. Unfortunately this can be placed on different parts of the car depending on the whim of the operator. In fact, sometimes I was trying to persuade taxi drivers to go round because it was not clear from the front that they were taxis, but they didn't seem to mind.
In fact the support I got was more or less the same as on any $chunt daaarn sarf, with many bus and taxi drivers and ordinary drivers giving me the thumbs up or a toot on the horn (steady Ewan).
Then came the inevitable coppers.
The first I knew of their presence was when I got a tap on the shoulder, but they had obviously been watching me for some time because they told me as much.
The younger, stroppy one took the lead. “Excuse me sir, do you mind if we have a word” (Yeh, like I had a choice).
“By all means” says I all smiles and receptive like.
“Take off your mask and remove your earphones.” This was a command not a request, but since I was breaking new ground in what may soon be a foreign country, I thought discretion may be the better part of valour. I complied.
Me: “Is there a problem?”
Young gun: “We have been watching you because we have had a couple of phone calls from drivers to say that they had come close to running you over”
Me: “Really? I can't think of any near misses although some of the buses turning left do get very near to the kerb.” At this point the more experienced of the two stepped in.
Plod 2: Yes we noticed that when we were watching you and we saw that you do not step into the road at any point. Anyway, what are you up to?
I then went on to tell them of all the Mob's efforts south of the border. They listened intently, as did the small crowd that had started to gather. Lipping the coppers in Glasgow is a national sport, and a few of those in the crowd were looking for an opportunity to join in the game. One drunk guy in a thick Glaswegian accent piped up from the back (from where he couldn't possibly hear what was being said), “Lea' hem alowne. He's no dun any en wrong”. Scottish people. Don't you just love 'em.
Once I had had my say the youngster had one last go at trying to undermine my credibility.
Young gun: “But there are signs further up the road warning drivers, so why do you need to be here?”
I was ready for him. “Because 700 hundred drivers a day aren't seeing the signs, that's why. Do you really think that 700 drivers a day deliberately set out to get fined?”
This finished all resistance from young gun, and I could sense from his demeanour that he was a beaten copper. So could the crowd.
Up stepped the voice of experience who spoke loud enough for all to hear. “Well I don't think you are doing anything wrong as long as you don't step off the kerb. You can carry on holding out your sign and warning drivers, but please try not to cause any accidents.”
Me: “I think that goes without saying officer, but of course I will bear it in mind.”
And with that they were gone, leaving me to deal with all the handshakes from the crowd for getting a win at their national sport. “Well done mate. Keep it up.” was the favourite comment, and I will always remember the drunk guy's sly smile when he shook my hand as we watched the coppers disappear round the corner into Nelson Mandela Place. He didn't care about the issues. All he knew was that someone had put put one over on the polis.
Hehehehehehehe