Aberdeen’s controversial city centre bus gates which sparked a recent legal challenge from businesses have cost drivers £3.7 million in fines since they were first introduced.
New figures released by Aberdeen City Council show the traffic restrictions on Bridge Street, Guild Street and up Market Street towards Union Street have generated more than 105,000 bus gate enforcement notices.
Since being introduced experimentally in 2023 before being made permanent in early 2024, the bus gates have made millions for the council and are shortly expected to hit the £4m mark for income.
This financial year alone, from April until December 7, around £960,000 has been paid out in fines by drivers caught flouting the rules, generating almost 25,000 penalty notices.
Shop owner Norman Esslemont, who took the case to the Court of Session, had argued the decision to make the bus gates permanent was unlawful and that they prevented access to business premises.
However, in a judgement, a panel of judges concluded there was “no merit in any of the grounds of appeal” in regards to the decision to implement the measures.
Scottish Conservative North East MSP Liam Kerr, who has campaigned against the bus gates, said: “These deplorable bus gates continue to cause misery for businesses and visitors to Aberdeen city centre.
“This sorry excuse of a council is using bus gates as a cash cow to claw back millions of pounds from drivers that it has wasted on botched projects across Aberdeen.
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“As a result, this council administration has shut the door on Aberdeen’s business community, who are being starved of the footfall needed to survive by these ludicrous measures.
“Aberdeen should be a welcoming and inclusive city but banning vehicles with bus gates just diverts congestion to other routes that are already gridlocked.
“Rather than punishing drivers and cutting off businesses, these draconian measures must be dropped to give people the comfort they need to return to our city centre.”
