Northampton woman, 29, slams council after bailiffs threaten to clamp her car over unpaid bus lane fine

A 29-year-old Northampton woman has slammed the council after bailiffs came to her house and threatened to clamp her car over an unpaid bus lane fine.

Rebecca Cooper, who lives in Billing, was just moments away from having her Toyota Yaris taken away before shelling out £400 to get rid of the debt collectors.

The engineer, who works in St James Mill Lane, was caught driving in the 24/7 bus lane in St James' Road a five times in 2021.

The bus lane camera opposite Westbridge Garage, which has been called a "cash cow" by many, was switched on on February 15 last year - all five of Rebecca's offences came in that first week it went live.

For each offence, the motorist is fined £60 reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days. If the first payment is missed then it is increased to around £90 and then bailiff action.

Rebecca said: "I was shocked. I thought, 'what's going on here?'. The bailiff told me I had not paid the fine.

"I paid the £400 he was asking for because I just wanted to get rid of him. I was lucky I had the money, I've not got a lot. It just ruined the day.

"I can imagine that this would have hit a lot of people who don't have that money to pay.

"I feel like the council has deliberately put that camera there to make money.

"There I am working through lockdown trying to keep going and keep myself going but what the council was doing is thinking, 'right, money, how can we trick people easily to make money'. It just makes you feel like they're not thinking of you as a human."

Rebecca's main issue is over the fifth offence, as she believes she never received a penalty charge notice letter from the council.

The council, however, has said that Rebecca was aware of the fifth incident because she called them about it in July.

Rebecca said she paid three tickets and appealed the fourth fine by asking the council to understand it was a genuine mistake.

She said: "I clearly didn't know about the bus lane so I appealed the fourth one. As soon as I worked it out, I stopped. But WNC said, 'no, you were in the bus lane, you have got to pay'.

"I had a lot going on at the time, I was trying to work, it was Covid, everyone's mental health was struggling, I didn't have much spare capacity to deal with this. I got myself totally confused with how many I paid and how many I hadn't."

WNC refused Rebecca's appeal and she was made to pay around £100.

And then more than a year after her original offences, bailiffs turned up at her door over the fifth offence which had not been settled.

She said: "Times are hard, the council needs money, but it's not the way to do it. You can't just trick people into paying fines. I've heard other councils just send a warning letter for first time bus lane infringements. That's someone being a human considering another human.

"I just feel there's a real human element missing, that WNC does not consider people in its constituency. From now on, I'm not going to be happy to volunteer to give anything to the council. It makes you feel completely helpless because there's nothing I can do about this."

Rebecca, who has previously volunteered at council-run night shelters, has paid off all of her fines now but says does not trust the council "at all" and would like to be compensated for her fifth fine.

WNC has been contacted for comment.

The bus lane times are set to change back to between 7.30am and 9.30am but the council has not yet implemented the traffic regulation order despite promising the change back in December.

The camera outside Westbridge Garage was switched off back in December.