Celebrity lawyer Mr Loophole says council should refund thousands of fines from ‘appalling’ bus lane camera that has already raked in up to £1million in a ‘money-making scheme’
- Solicitor Nick Freeman says Croydon Council camera has generated 7,500 fines
- The fines, collected in five years, amount to between £500,000 and £1million
Celebrity lawyer ‘Mr Loophole’ has called on Croydon Council to refund thousands of fines from a bus lane camera, which has already raked in up to £1million for the authority.
Top solicitor Nick Freeman says the ‘appalling piece of road architecture’ has allowed the local authority to collect more than 7,500 fines from motorists in just five years, amounting to between £500,000 and £1million.
Mr Freeman, who has represented the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, comedian Jimmy Carr and David Beckham, runs a law firm which specialises in road traffic incidents.
He alleges that the camera on Wellesley Road, equates to 40 per cent of the borough’s bus lane fines after one victim, Martin Best, made the shocking discovery in a Freedom of Information request.
The request also showed that roughly 30 drivers a week were flashed by the camera since 2018.
‘It’s absolutely atrocious’, he said. ‘It’s a money-making scheme.
Martin Best, a victim caught by the camera, claimed the authority has set up a trap which ‘punishes safe driving’ after he was handed a £130 ticket in April
The camera sits between two entrances to the Whitgift shopping centre car park, where drivers must turn left
‘Their fines should be refunded without any question and the council should hang their heads in shame.
‘My view is that those monies were unfairly and unreasonably obtained.
‘The facts speak for themselves. If one camera is raising over 40 per cent of revenue, there’s clearly a problem and the council needs to take responsibility for it.’
Mr Best, a victim caught by the camera, claimed the authority has set up a trap which ‘punishes safe driving’ after he was handed a £130 ticket in April.
The camera sits between two entrances to the Whitgift shopping centre car park, where drivers must turn left. But if vehicles cross the left hand lane to park, they are fined £130, of £65 if they pay quickly.
Mr Best said he was ‘genuinely surprised’ when the ticket came through the door, and that it prompted him to visit the carpark to see what had happened.
Describing the carpark, he said: ‘It basically intersects a continuous bus lane, with an extremely small gap.
‘On a busy day, I’m unsure how it’d be possible to make a perfect manoeuvre and avoid camera infringements.’
Mr Freeman, who has represented the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, comedian Jimmy Carr and David Beckham, runs a law firm which specialises in road traffic incidents, and claims the council should refund fines generated by the camera
If vehicles cross the left hand lane to park, they are fined £130, of £65 if they pay quickly
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He added it requires a ‘dangerous, 90-degree-angle turn’ to cross it.
‘This seems more like exploitation of good drivers than a safety measure’, he said. ‘Why place the camera in the one place they know people will be turning in?’
A spokesman for Croydon Council said: ‘[Drivers] should enter from the middle lane when it is clear.’
After receiving the fine, Mr Best filed a series of Freedom of Information requests about the camera.
It was then that he learned that between its installation in May 2018 and Mary 2023, the camera has generated 7,617 fines. In the same period, 17,617 were issued across all of Croydon’s bus lane cameras.
Over five years, the Wellesley Road camera has snapped over 43 per cent of the council’s total bus lane reprimands.
The council said each year an average of seven bus lane camera were turned on, but in some years this went up to double digits, pushing up the proportion of fines generated on Wellesley Road.
The council also disclosed the distance between the end of the bus lane and the second car park entrance is 24 metres. Mr Freeman has challenged this, by stating the stopping distance at 30mph is 23 metres.
He said: ‘The stopping distance at 30mph is 23 metres, which illustrates the folly of this particular layout. People want to and are entitled to gradually ease into the left-hand lane.
‘They don’t want to feel that at the last minute they’ve got to cut across. It causes anxiety with cars behind. It’s really poorly designed.
‘Drivers should be given a minimum of 50 metres to safely pull over. Even that’s not very long, say, if it’s rush hour and there are buses there.
‘I would be advising motorists to challenge any ticket they get in that lane, on the basis that it is unfair and unreasonable.’
Croydon Council warned drivers must slow down to enter the shopping district.
A spokesman for the authority said: ‘Those wishing to turn into a car park in 24 metres would be expected to reduce their speed.
‘If travelling at 30mph, they should do this as early as possible, to meet their requirement to drive with due car and attention, as is written in the Highway Code.’
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