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Manchester Council raked in more than £10million from bus lane fines on just one street in 17 months, data has revealed.

A Freedom of Information request (FOI) submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that thousands of motorists have been fined for driving along the Oxford Road bus gate. The bus gate means that parts of the road are only open to buses, black cabs and pedal cycles from 6am to 9pm every day. Drivers in cars going through this section are stung with a £60 fine that reduces to £30 if paid within 21 days.

Since the beginning of 2020 a total of 182,707 fines have been handed out for cars driving in the bus lane along Oxford Road. For the period April 2022 to September 2023 the council collected £10,241,545.13 in revenue.

The start of the bus lane on Oxford Road in Manchester.

The most lucrative section of the road for the council is between Charles Street and Brancaster Road, where a total of 119,272 fines have been handed out between the start of 2020 and September 30. They have stated that money generated from this is reinvested into their road network through repair and maintenance work.

A spokesperson for Manchester Council said: “There are no current plans to change or add to the number of signs already in place to alert motorists to the bus lane. The council is content that the signs that are in place are adequate, that they meet the legal requirements and are prominent enough to make the bus lane restrictions clear to motorists. The income generated through penalties supports the costs of operating the camera enforcement and processing penalty charge notices. The use of any surplus income that is generated beyond those costs is set out in the legislation which governs bus lane enforcement. This essentially ringfences that income for use on environmental improvements, public transport services or highway improvements in Manchester.”

Here is a breakdown of the sections of Oxford Road and the number of fines issued each year:

Oxford Road (Charles Street to Brancaster Road):

2020: 27,653
2021: 30,667
2022: 36,617
2023 (from January 1 to September 30): 24,335

Oxford Road (Hathersage Road to Denmark Road)

2020: 4,682
2021: 4,052
2022: 4,044
2023 (from January 1 to September 30): 2,675

Oxford Road (Nelson Street to Hathersage Road)

2020: 9,491
2021: 20,633
2022: 15,754
2023 (from January 1 to September 30): 2,104

Manchester Council rakes in more than £10million in bus lane fines from just one street in 17 months