Call for refunds over £550,000 Sheffield bus gate after fines appeal
victory

A controversial Sheffield bus gate which has generated nearly £550,000 in fines has been altered after one motorist won a major victory.

Steve Wilkinson says all drivers should be entitled to refunds after his
wife Katherine Wilkinson won her appeal against a series of fines issued by Sheffield Council for going through the bus gate on Glossop Road in the
city centre.

Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator for the Traffic Penalty Tribunal,
ruled in Ms Wilkinson’s favour, overturning eight fines totalling £480.

In her ruling, issued in March this year, she stated: “I find that the PCN does not adequately describe the location of the bus gate restriction that
the council intended.

In the circumstances it is in the interests of justice to revoke the
previous decision in this case and replace it with my decision to allow the appeal on the grounds that the contravention alleged on the PCN did not
occur. Like the others, this PCN must be cancelled.”

Sheffield Council says it has since amended the wording on fines and
improved the signs around the bus gate.

Mr Wilkinson claims this means that all fines issued before the changes
were made are invalid, though the council disputes this and says any
appeals have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Since the bus gate was moved to its present location in 2017, Sheffield
Council said fines totalling £546,239.50 have been issued.

Ms Sheppard found that the fines in question were invalid because the
penalty charge notice failed to state the date on which it was posted and
did not accurately describe the address of the gate, plus the signage in
place did not comply with the TRO (Traffic Regulation Order).

Mr Wilkinson says he previously had a fine which was issued in 2017
overturned on similar grounds yet the council failed to act then despite knowing the system in place was indequate.

He said: “Sheffield Council changed these signs in July this year. I had
told the council in 2017 about all of the defects, at my first appeal with
the Deputy Chief Adjudicator, yet it ignored me back then.

In a nutshell, the scheme was a complete mess from inception in 2010 and
this ruling means the council should refund all those motorists who have
been wrongly fined. What the council has done is called, in polite society, unust enrichment.”

Mr Wilkinson used to run Spa 1877 just off Glossop Road and when he closed
the business in September 2019 he claimed the bus gate had cost him
hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

[Full story at the link below]

<https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/people/call-for-refunds-over-ps550000-sheffield-bus-gate-after-fines-appeal-victory-3370712>

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