Bus lane fines bill - your views online

Councils around the UK are raking in up to £3.7 million a year each from fining drivers for using bus lanes. Edinburgh was ranked eighth highest in the country, raking in £1,094,585 from 36,492 fines in 12 months between 2020 and 2021.

These drivers are steering clear of a city bus lane

Stuart Young: Bus lanes are a public highway. They belong to the public and like everything else the corrupt council treats them like its own property to make money from.

Jenny Lee: Maybe they should use the "fine" money to repair the shocking roads. There are more potholes than road in some areas.

Ken Joblng: My biggest gripe with bus lanes is to do with drivers who don’t seem to understand that you can drive in them outwith rush hours.

Keith Geddes: There is a real problem with the current strategy in Edinburgh. There are tailbacks from Leith to Ferry Road/Queensferry Road, with a smaller number of cars now creating greater levels of pollution. As for bus lanes, signing would help. Drivers tend to be like sheep and once one or two follow each other brain activity seems to stop.

Kev Mcghee: This is one fine I have absolutely no problem with. I’d go as far as to say they should invest in mobile cameras and move around city to make more. Fed up obeying traffic rules sitting there seeing people fly by on the inside.

Jake Fraser: Stop driving in them – problem solved

Jeff Little: Not to mention speed cameras that were supposedly positioned in accident hot spots are popping up everywhere – and there more coming soon judging by monitoring cables on various roads west and north- west Edinburgh. Money, money, money.

James Wilson: They want to start spending it on the roads then because they are disgusting. Nothing gets done these days by the council – I'd love to know what all the money goes on.

Jpn Sakura: They spend it on useless things like planters and the Spaces for People circus.

David Funnell: It’s not hard to avoid driving in a bus lane. There are plenty of signs showing where they are. If you miss them, maybe you are not paying enough attention.

Paul Cuthbert: It’s surprisingly easy for the mind to slip, especially if you are on a day’s holiday from work etc. It doesn’t help the council place cameras right at the end of bus lanes on roads that need you to go to the left lane. The one on Commercial Street at Ocean Terminal is an example. I’m for stopping people deliberately using them to skip traffic but they are just a cash earner, simple as that. This greedy council wouldn’t install them otherwise!

Sound of silence

Council leader Adam McVey was accused of shutting down debate after he muted two Tory councillors’ microphones when they tried to raise the scandal over failings at the authority’s secure accommodation for young people.

Tim Wight: The true colours of an autocrat. This is not democracy. We need transparency in local government. Voices need to be heard and a dedication to eradicate corrupt behaviour. Adam Mcvey must go.

Angela Astor: There are probably a few folk who wish they had the power of the button when he's doing the talking. It’s not giving a good impression of himself or colleagues dealing with debate in a democracy.

Alex Monaghan: Muting microphones in such a way should be subject to disciplinary proceedings. I hope those muted have raised formal complaints.

David Black: The voters in Adam McVey’s ward should have a long hard look at themselves as they are the ones who voted in this man and are equally as responsible if they vote for him again.

Strip clubs row

A union representing Edinburgh's sex workers has said plans which could see the capital's strip clubs shut would discriminate against women.

Barry MacKay: Sleazy, awful places filled with knuckle-draggers. Close them!

Colin Swinney: It’s better to be regulated and in a safe environment than have illegal clubs popping up putting both workers and customers at risk.

Simon Saorsa-Alba: Solving a problem which doesn’t exist and creating a problem which doesn’t exist. This council is wonderful.

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