MORE than 10,000 motorists have been caught driving through a city centre bus gate in just over a fortnight.
The drivers now face fines totalling more than £600,000 if they fail to pay up in 14 days for going through the gates at Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow.
John Taylor, an architect who was caught going through the bus gate, lodged a freedom of information request with the city council asking how many cars contravened the restrictions from the day they went into operation on June 30 until July 16. On one of the days the camera was not in operation but, on the remaining 15 days, it caught a total of 10,096 motorists.
The lowest number of breaches was on the first day of the new scheme, when 477 were nabbed, and the highest on Friday, July 4, when 802 went through the bus gate. Each motorist will be hit with a £60 fine, reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.
Mr Taylor said: "I have no problems with bus lanes and improving traffic flows but the problem here is the bus gate is so badly signposted."
A city council spokesman insisted the new traffic restriction is well signposted: "The majority of drivers don't receive fines as they don't choose to drive through a well publicised and very visible bus gate.
"The number of offences has dropped by 65.7 per cent since the bus lane enforcement began."
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