An open letter sent to Lancashire County Council regarding Preston’s controversial bus gates has gathered momentum in the mass media.
Following the Chamber’s representation to council last month, the story has been picked up by the BBC, the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Times which stated the city’s gates are racking up more fines than any other bus-only area in the UK.
One 24-hour gate on a 60m stretch between Marsh Lane and Heatley Street has generated more than £1.54m with over 47,000 penalty notices handed out for violations. In total, Preston bus gate fines have totalled more than £3.7m in fines with the money collected being divided into other parts of Lancashire and the city only receiving a small amount of funding from LCC.
This has led to calls on the back of the Chamber’s letter, from Preston MP Sir Mark Hendrick and the city’s Liberal Democrats to the Reform-led LCC to scrap the gates, a move which was rebuffed by council leaders.
However, following media reports and further backing to scrap the controversial gates, the LCC has since said it could consider a compromise for first-time offenders.
