Sheffield City Council makes £700,000 from bus lane fines in a year after 43,000 drivers are caught

New data – researched by focus group Moneybarn – has shown how many motorists were hit with fines for making the mistake of driving in one of Sheffield’s bus lanes.

It shows how the city council made £708,791 from bus lane fines alone during the financial year of 2020/21, taken from 42,906 individual penalties.

It means Sheffield ranks sixth out of UK cities for the number of fines handed out, where Manchester came first with 116,862 tickets.

However, Sheffield made far less revenue out of its bus fines compared to other cities.

For example, Lambeth handed out only 4,000 more tickets than Sheffield, but made nearly four times as much off the back of it – racking up £2.73 million in fines.

Sheffield City Council has been contacted for a comment.

It comes as a controversial plan is in the works to extend bus lane operation times to 12 hours a day, remove parking and create a red route along the length of Ecclesall Road and Abbeydale Road, with the aim of improving bus services and encouraging people to ditch their cars.

It has been coldly received by businesses on both major roads, leading to a petition with more than 7,500 signatures opposing the plans being presented at a full council meeting in February, saying it would “butcher” small businesses.

It has also led to a second petition calling for parking permit zones just for residents off Abbeydale Road, in particular the roads from Grasmere Road to Arnside Road.