Hi - was horrified to receive a Penalty Charge Notice for driving in a bus lane this week. It was for a short journey to my local post office which I tend to do two or three times a week and have never had trouble before.
I tend to go to the post office between 3 and 4pm and the PCN was for 3.24pm and have always assumed that the bus lane was 'Peak Time' operational (ie 6am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm). I was straddling the bus lane approaching a left hand turn. So I wasn't blatently sneaking down to avoid traffic jams, the traffic was very light - I genuinely didn't think I was doing any wrong and indeed do this short journey regularly.
It seems that where I was 'snapped' it is a very short piece of road, and although this is a main road into our city centre, this 200-300 yard stretch of road, unlike the rest, which is peak time, is 24 hours!
So I am wondering if this has been changed recently because, if not, why have I not been 'snapped' before, doing the same wrongdoing? I cannot seem to be able to find the information I need, despite searching my local council website and emailing them. It seems they have been guilty of doing this before (do links work on here?):
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/82-000-tickets-issued-Bristol-bus-lane-changes/story-13646091-detail/story.html#axzz2LFeUgD9F
I have, of course, two weeks to appeal but am not sure how to go about it.
Any advice gratefully received.