The single roundabout that has cost drivers half a MILLION in just one year – don’t get caught out

A SINGLE roundabout has cost drivers more than £500,000 in just one year.

Carmarthenshire Council in Wales was richer to the tune of £509,525 thanks to a road calming measure.

The money was made between December 2022 and November 2023 from drivers going into the bus lane at Trostre roundabout.

Figures show 15,112 motorists were caught in the bus lane from August 2022 to December the following year.

Journalist Robert Harries was driving towards the roundabout on a cloudy day when he decided to stop for a coffee at McDonald’s.

The reporter wrote: "Little did I know, it would turn out to be the most expensive coffee I've ever bought.

"It was cloudy, it was dreary, and I don’t know Llanelli and its roads that well, so I drove around the roundabout and took my exit immediately next to that big yellow McDonald’s sign.

"I drove straight down the road and then took another left into the drive-thru.”

Robert added: "Nice coffee, job done, home. I then turned left into the drive-thru, got my coffee, and headed home."

On December 6 though he got a letter from the council telling him he had to pay a fine because he had driven down a bus lane.

Robert said in an article: "I thought there must be some mistake, as I would surely have noticed had this been the case. But no, I had done so, and they even sent me a pretty picture of my car in said lane as I committed the offence.

“It was a fine for £70, but reduced to £35 if it was paid within 21 days (they’re very generous like that, Carmarthenshire Council).

He continued: “I want to be absolutely clear at this point that I did not challenge this penalty charge notice. I had no grounds to. I had driven in a bus lane.

“Whether I had intended to or not was irrelevant. I was in the wrong and I was fined. But I was still angry."

At the roundabout there are signs showing a small blue circle with a picture of a bus on it.

Next to the picture it says: “Yn unig/only”.

The small blue circle also appears at the start of the exit and wording painted on the road says “buses only” although the words have faded over time.

'NO GROUNDS TO CHALLENGE TICKET'

Robert wrote: "As I said, I had no grounds to challenge this ticket. But, the exit is directly next to a McDonald’s sign, and there is speed limit signage at the entrance to the bus lane, which is also flanked by large signs advertising Parc Trostre.

“An issue for me was the fact that it looks like the entrance into the McDonald's restaurant, because it is situated right next to it.”

Robert then went online to post about what had happened on social media and he got hundreds of replies.

While some pointed out that it is a bus lane and there is signage, others were more sympathetic and often related how they had also been caught out.

A woman said her husband had been caught out, adding the sign was not clear enough.

Another said they had been fined the month before, having never been down that route before and were unaware of the entry.

'CASH TRAP'

One called it a “cash trap” for the council.

Another said: “I hadn’t seen the signage then looked the next time and it was obvious - but I think in the moment I was looking for the McDonald's entrance so I didn’t register the signs.

“ It’s also harder to see in the dark and I think it would be dangerous to abort your decision once you’d seen the signs. £70 is brutal.”

'SO MANY SIGNS'

Another frustrated motorist wrote: “This happened to me! Couldn’t believe it! It’s easy to see the signage once you realise, but there are so many signs around there.

“If you’re not familiar with the area and are also trying to work out where you’re going, it’s easy to just turn too soon and it’s then too late to do anything as you can’t suddenly stop or reverse onto the roundabout.

“I rang the council and a very nice lady said - ‘oh my goodness, so many people do this all the time’.”

FOI REQUEST

Intrigued to find out how many other people had been caught in this way, he submitted a Freedom of Information request.

Robert wrote: "The answer is simply staggering. In just one year, drivers have paid more than half a million pounds in fines.

“To put that into some context, that’s a considerably higher amount of fines collected from one junction on one roundabout than was collected for all parking offences across the entire county over a 12-month period.

"Between April, 2022, and April, 2023, Carmarthenshire Council collected more than £350,000 in parking fines across the county."