A MOTORIST has finally won her eight-month fight to have a £30 fine scrapped after she pulled into a bus lane to make way for two fire engines responding to an emergency call.

Glasgow City Council announced the decision after The Herald on Saturday reported that Dr Catherine Berry had received the notice in July after her car was flashed by an enforcement camera in Maryhill Road, close to the top of Queen Margaret Drive.

Ms Berry, 38, who lectures in cell engineering at Glasgow University, and whose plight won the support of the Fire Brigades Union, said: "I'm very pleased it's been scrapped. It's a shame that they've taken all this time to actually do it. They've known from the start that the fire engines were there, they've got a video of them being there."

The council said it would not be pursuing the fine – which had gone to an appeal hearing last month – but insisted Dr Berry's actions were still wrong. "In general, we will waive a fine if a driver moves into a bus lane to let an emergency vehicle past. However, that is not a licence to drive in a bus lane," a spokesman said.

"The driver in this instance was clearly in the wrong as she continued to drive along the bus lane instead of pulling over and stopping to allow the emergency vehicle to pass.

"By pulling into the bus lane, and continuing to drive along it despite emergency vehicles approaching behind her, she could have created an obstacle for them. We are cancelling the fine on this occasion but remind drivers to use common sense and observe the laws of the road."

However, an unrepentant Ms Berry said she would do the same again, adding: "It was common sense. The bus lane was completely empty, all the way as far back as I could see. There was nothing there at all."

She added that her case had highlighted the problem. She said: "I'm sure it has happened to other people and they have just paid without appealing against it, which is a shame."

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said fining drivers who entered bus lanes to let fire engines pass was "crazy". It called for the law to be changed to protect the civic minded.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman cited the Highway Code, which encourages drivers to "take appropriate action".