ADVERTISE YOUR EVENT FOR £50
Lewisham Letter logo
Lewisham High Street bus lane

PICTURED: Lewisham High Street bus lane fines have shot up by 44 per cent in a year

EXCLUSIVE BY:

Matthew Dresch

Lewisham High Street bus lane fines soar by 44% in a year

LEWISHAM High Street bus lane fines have soared by 44 per cent in a year, netting the council £47k in penalties.

The council issued a total of 953 penalties to drivers who were caught in the bus lane last year, our Freedom of Information request found.

This is a 44 per cent increase on the 661 bus lane fines handed out in 2024, which made the council £37,395.

Meanwhile, the council also upped its takings from fining drivers who broke no entry rules on the high street.

It comes after the Lewisham Letter revealed how the council made more than £71,000 from a single yellow box junction in its first month in operation.

We discovered 896 penalties, amounting to £71,680, were handed out over the new yellow box at the Westwood Hill junction with Lawrie Park Road in Sydenham in December.

In total, the council issued 16,527 yellow box fines to drivers last year, netting the local authority a whopping £1.7million. 

Lewisham High Street bus lane
PICTURED: The council raked in more than £47k from bus lane fines on Lewisham High Street

Sam Wright, who is known as “Yellow Box Guru” on social media, successfully appealed against a penalty issued over the new yellow box junction in Sydenham.

He explained in a video shared online how one of his followers was fined after stopping his lorry in the yellow box junction to let a pedestrian use the zebra crossing in front of him.

Mr Wright said: “No driver should be put in a position where they’re faced with a decision between stopping to let pedestrians cross at a zebra crossing and getting a £160 fine – or driving through it to avoid the fine and potentially killing someone.”

The expert, who has previously described yellow boxes as “money-making machines”, added that it is not an offence to stop in a yellow box due to pedestrians crossing.

Sydenham yellow box
PICTURED: More than £71k in fines were issued in a month over this yellow box in Sydenham

He said: “Most people don’t know that and can panic and not stop to avoid the hassle of getting a ticket. 

“It’s important PCNs are never given out in these circumstances. It beggars belief that it was. I hope it won’t happen again.”

Lewisham Council uses a private company called NSL to issue its penalty notices. It issues £160 fines, which are reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days. 

Our Freedom of Information request also discovered that more than 100 fines were issued over another new yellow box which came into force in Ladywell in December.

Most Read Stories:

Some 143 fines were handed to drivers who stopped at the box at the Ladywell Road junction with Wearside Road in December, amounting to £11,440 in penalties.

But Lewisham Council’s most lucrative yellow box was in Grove Park – at the Baring Road junction with Chinbrook Road. 

A whopping 1,338 fines, amounting to £153,155, were issued as a result of the box last year.

Related Stories:

  1. “I had rats and illegal worker in my cafe but it’s not my fault”
  2. Lewisham hospital gives drug to WRONG patient causing overdose
  3. Lewisham midwife struck off for inhaling gas in empty labour rooms
  4. Council makes £71k from ONE yellow box junction in its first month