The city council was left red-faced after a motorist challenged the layout of the restriction and won his case after it was ruled that the road markings were inadequate. As a result, up to 13,000 motorists are entitled to get their money back for being wrongly prosecuted. We have sympathy with the council, though. For they were guided by Government experts and did exactly as they were told, only to find that the advice was faulty.

From next week, the cameras are back in action and, sensibly, motorists will be given two months' grace with warning notices rather than fines landing on their doormat if they flout the rules. But we can imagine a similarly confusing problem arising as we saw at the Wicker when the system is in full swing. Most people do not break the rules deliberately but fall foul of being confused. We would like to see a system where people who go through the tram gate are told of their mistake and assured they will be fined the second time this happens.

That is the fairest way of dealing with this - and shows the public that the aim is not to raise money but to keep traffic flowing.

Involve community in punishments
WE are sure that the public will jump at the chance of supporting Commun-ities and Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears who wants the man and woman in the street to have a say over the kind of work carried out by offenders sentenced to community service.

It has already been tried out in the MP's own constituency, receiving high praise from those involved, and now she wants it to be extended throughout the country. We hope Sheffield is among those first in line. For people here are tired of feeling distanced from the legal process.

Ms Blears's idea is to have a 'top five' of schemes for the public to vote which should be tackled. To help get this off the ground, why not ask the public to put forward their own ideas. That way community service and community involvement will be real partners.


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