By John Simpson 09 August 2012
Some 2,400 motorists have been fined in the past ten days for illegally using London’s Games Lanes.
The network of temporary lanes have been in place since 25 July but Transport for London (TfL) held off fines in the first six days of their installation, opting to issue cautions while motorists got to grips with the lanes.
Stretching for around 30 miles through the capital, Games Lanes are reserved for on-call emergency services and other accredited Games vehicles, allowing them to quickly travel to Games venues during specific times of the day.
Motorists that violate the Games Lanes rules are hit with a £130 fine, potentially squeezing £312,000 from drivers.
Garrett Emmerson, Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport at TfL, insisted that the government body had no interest in unnecessarily penalising drivers.
"The operation of the Olympic Route Network (ORN) and Games Lanes has gone well,” he commented.
Click here to find out what you can and can’t do in the Games Lanes
"With a very high compliance rate of around 98% to date, the overwhelming majority are following the requirement to stay out of Games Lanes when they are in use.
"We are now issuing PCNs to drivers who contravene the ORN, but will continue to be proportionate and sensible; we're seeking compliance from drivers, not income from fines."
Last week, London mayor Boris Johnson revealed that “a lot” of Games Lanes had been “turned off” because they weren’t being used with most people using public transport.
“It turns out a lot of the Olympic bureaucrat types who could go in the Games lanes, the T3 people as they’re called, are using public transport,” he told the Independent.
Categories: Fleet news
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