£550K worth of Bristol Bridge fines successfully appealed

Thousands of fines issued to drivers wrongly going through the Bristol Bridge closure have been successfully appealed - but more than £4million of fines have been paid.

The route was closed to general traffic in August 2020 in a bid to improve air quality.

Bristol City Council started issuing fines to people who drove through the closure in November that year.

Since then more than 176,000 fines have been issued - with almost 123,000 of them being paid.

It means the council has received £4million from the Bristol Bridge closure - which also impacts Baldwin Street, High Street, Union Street and Victoria Street.

But figures released to ITV News show 14,223 fines have been successfully appealed - worth a total of £555,202.

In a statement, Bristol City Council said: “Giving permanent priority to buses, cyclists and pedestrians over Bristol Bridge has reduced traffic in the central area of the city and improved bus punctuality and journey times, without causing significant problems elsewhere on the network.

"The changes are helping to improve air quality and making it easier for people to catch the bus, walk and cycle in the city centre."

While there have been complaints there are not significant signs to make the public aware of the traffic ban on the bridge, the council said the scheme has been "well publicised".

A spokesperson added: "We have even installed larger signs in the area to make it even clearer for motorists that the bridge is closed to private vehicles.

“We continue to monitor the measures and will consider additional physical changes to help emphasise the new road layout, such as red road surfacing in the bus lanes.”