Southwark Council will refund almost half a million pounds to drivers after thousands of bus lane fines were found to have been wrongly issued.
The local authority confirmed it will repay around £485,000 to motorists, following what it described as an administrative error made by one of its contractors. The error affected fines issued between February and June this year.
More than 10,000 penalty charge notices were incorrectly handed out during the four-month period, with the mistake later revealed through a Freedom of Information request, according to ITV News.
Cllr James McAsh said, “All affected motorists will receive refunds, and any unpaid notices will be cancelled. We have reviewed all other notices and found no further issues.
“We are also strengthening our checks with contractors to make sure this does not happen again. The Council will recover the full cost of the refunds from the contractors.”
The refunds will come as a relief to thousands of drivers wrongly penalised, but the incident raises wider concerns about the accuracy of automated traffic enforcement systems. Local campaigners have warned that errors of this scale could undermine public trust in councils’ use of fines to manage congestion and enforce traffic rules.
The council has pledged to tighten oversight of its contractors to prevent similar incidents in the future.
