Drivers in London snared by £56million in fines in two years of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods

DRIVERS in London have been snared by at least £56million in fines in just two years of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

One zone alone has stung 47,695 motorists, in a multi-million cash generator for councils.

Drivers in London have been snared by £56million in fines in just two years of Low Traffic NeighbourhoodsAlamy

At least a million tickets issued to motorists for using previously accessible roads.

But the true cost will likely be more as not all 32 boroughs responded to our Freedom of Information requests.

In some cases motorists have been caught on multiple occasions by driving down streets that for years they have been able to use unhindered.

The LTNs have been brought in by local councils in a bid to make some areas of the capital more pedestrian and cyclist friendly.

Some LTNs have seen roads blocked off with planters or bollards but in others the restrictions are policed by warning signs and a system of CCTV cameras.

The cameras record the registration plates of vehicles entering the zones and any vehicles not allowed in are sent a fine, which is typically £130, although this is reduced to £65 if paid within 14 days.

Campaigners against LTNs say the schemes just shift drivers onto the main roads, adding even more to congestion and so increasing level of pollution.

Lambeth took the biggest haul with £11.2million in LTN fines, followed by leafy Islington with £10.7 million. 

Barking and Dagenham clocked up £6.8million, with Ealing snaring £6.6million, Croydon £6.0million and Lewisham £5.7million

Of the ten councils that raked in the most money through LTNs all of them are Labour controlled except Croydon where Labour and the Conservatives have exactly the same number of councillors.

The busiest LTN in the last year was St Ann’s in Haringey, to the west of Seven Sisters station, which was brought in to choke off rat-running traffic from the area and improve local air quality.

It snared a total of 47,695 motorists last year, at a rate of 130 every single day, making it responsible for tickets worth £6.2million, although if paid on time this reduces the fines to £3.1million.

Hugh Bladon, a founder member of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: “It is all very well closing roads off for whatever reason but all you are doing is displacing the traffic somewhere else.

“You then end up creating more congestion and more pollution, as people sit there with their engines running. It just seems to me to be really stupid.”

Although the total stands at £56million it is thought the true total could be even higher as some large councils known to run LTNs, such as Southwark, did not response to the survey.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan again doubled down on expanding Ulez next month – despite critics saying his £2,000 scrapple scheme for non-compliant cars “would not touch the sides”.

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