ON the face of it, government adjudicator Stephen Knapp seems to have driven a coach and horses though City of York Council’s controversial policy of restricting traffic on key routes.

In a ruling published yesterday, Mr Knapp said neither Coppergate nor Lendal Bridge could sensibly be described as bus lanes, because there were too many categories of traffic still allowed to use them.

So while the council had the right to impose traffic restrictions at both locations, it had no power to hand out penalty notices to motorists who flouted them, Mr Knapp said.

The adjudicator made his ruling in the case of a single motorist who appealed against a fine imposed for driving along Coppergate. But it clearly has much wider implications because the council has collected at least £1.3 million in fines from Lendal Bridge alone since last summer.

The council is seeking independent legal advice, but for the time being the restrictions on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate will remain in place.

To an extent Mr Knapp’s finding amounts to a technicality, largely to do with how you define a bus lane. Nevertheless, there is predictable glee from opponents of the traffic restrictions. Conservative group leader Coun Chris Steward said the situation was worthy of an April Fool, while York Outer MP Julian Sturdy described the implementation of the Lendal Bridge traffic restrictions as a “dog’s breakfast from start to finish”.

We have never been against the Lendal Bridge experiment as such. There is a desperate need to do something to reduce congestion in York.

Nevertheless, it is hard not to feel that the whole experiment has been badly mishandled. What will happen now is anyone’s guess.