MORE than 4,300 drivers were caught using a city bus lane last year - costing them nearly £100,000 in penalty charges.

Automatic number plate recognition cameras were installed on Coppergate bus lane in York on January 9, 2017, to catch motorists flouting the rules, which bar most drivers.

And City of York Council has collected more than £95,000 in penalties from the traffic restriction so far.

Figures released to The Press after a Freedom of Information request show that 4,382 drivers were caught using the road, including 37 fines issued on Christmas Day 2017.

Only buses and permit holders – including taxis and private hire vehicles – are allowed to drive in Coppergate between 8am and 6pm. The bus lane runs from Clifford Street to Piccadilly.

Executive member for transport and planning, Cllr Peter Dew, said: “Restrictions have been in place on Coppergate since the 1960s but enforced infrequently. We reintroduced traffic restrictions in 2017 in an effort to reduce congestion in the area.

“We began enforcement in phases which began in January 2017 with a significant grace period. For two weeks we issued a warning letter to all drivers who entered the street. For the following six months drivers were sent a warning letter for their first offence.

“We then started issuing penalty charge notices from July 23, 2017.”

But, prior to July 23, repeat offenders who continued to break the rules after receiving their first warning letter were issued fines.

November saw the highest number of penalties, with 801 drivers caught breaking the rules. And on July 28, just days after the council began automatically issuing fines, 14 drivers were fined in just one hour between 5pm and 6pm.

Cllr Dew added: “More than 40 temporary warning signs and many advisory signs and road markings were also put in place warning drivers of the restrictions in late 2016 on all routes in and around the city leading to Coppergate.

“I hope that most of the city’s motorists will continue to respect the restriction which is helping to improve traffic flows in the area.”

The figures show the council has received payment for 3,253 enforcement notices, totalling £95,408 so far.

The council’s budget for 2017/18 was banking on bringing in £125,000 in fines from the Coppergate enforcement, as previously reported by The Press.

Council documents show the cameras cost £15,000 with some ongoing maintenance costs.

In 2016 thousands of motorists were entitled to refunds of fines worth hundreds of thousands of pounds for using Coppergate during a previous enforcement period, after the Government’s traffic adjudicator said the council did not have authority to apply the fines.

The bus lane on Low Poppleton Lane also has automatic numberplate recognition cameras and is restricted 24 hours a day, seven days a week.