Birmingham motorists who sneak into bus lanes to beat rush hour queues could face fines of up to £100 if the city goes ahead with a controversial plan to install cameras. The city's highways department is considering a pilot camera scheme to stop the bus lane abusers. But in London boroughs the cameras have caused furore. In many places they have been fitted at right turning junctions in a bid to catch drivers who need to go straight ahead over the junction but edge left into the bus lane to avoid the queue of cars waiting to turn right. Under a new Transport Act, coming into force later this year, councils outside London will also be allowed to install the cameras. But critics claim the cameras will be used as a revenue raising device because the Act allows local authorities to keep the fines and plough the cash into more transport projects including yet more bus lanes. Birmingham currently has 28 km of bus lanes with plans for more in the pipeline. A council spokes-woman said: "We are considering the introduction of cameras on bus lanes when the new legislation comes in. But no decision has been taken yet." Russell Eden, the Birmingham spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said the council should scrap bus lanes altogether instead of having more. "Bus lanes are empty 99 per cent of the time, you hardly ever see any buses using the Tyburn Road lanes," he said. "They just increase congestion on the remaining car lanes. "I would never condone people breaking the law, but when you are stuck in traffic and all this Tarmac is going to waste there is a huge temptation to use it. "If they are serious about the problem they should have more police officers to stop and speak to drivers not cameras." * It's just taxation by the back door City commuters gave a mixed reaction to proposed cameras to catch cars in bus lanes. Sukhi Atwal, aged 21, who drives into Birmingham from Warwick every day said the cameras would be used as back door taxation. "Bus lanes are very good, but cameras and fines of £100 are a bit excessive," he added. Bus user Rebecca Chance, who travels into the city centre on the number 9 from her Stourbridge home, said her son had been fined after slipping into a London bus lane to turn left. "He was not holding up traffic, they just wanted his money. They should only fine somebody who is blocking the bus lane." Bank worker Syed Ali, aged 26, from Hands-worth, said enforcement was not necessary as Birmingham drivers were respectful of bus lanes. "Most people obey the rules. In London lots of people drive in bus lanes." But 21-year-old Narinda Atwal claimed when she used to travel into the city centre by bus from Erdington along Tyburn Road a lot of people used the bus lane, because the road was busy. "But I don't think cameras will help - it's just to make money!" University of Birmingham lecturer Ian Grosvenor, a regular bus traveller, supports cameras: "Bus lanes have improved journey times, but it needs more enforcement."
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