South London drivers are refunded £485,000 in bus lane fines after admin error

Drivers in south London have been handed £485,000 in refunded bus lane fines after a council discovered an administrative error.

Southwark Council said that all those wrongly charged because of the mistake would be reimbursed.

Between February and June, the council handed out 10,422 notices for motorists caught driving in bus lanes by CCTV cameras.

However, the wrong legislation appeared on the notices.

A spokesperson for Southwark Council said: "We will reimburse all motorists and refunds will automatically be applied to the accounts of those affected within the next month."

They added: "We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused."

The Labour-run council was criticised by Liberal Democrats for the mistake.

A spokesperson for the Lib Dem group said it was: "yet another example of incompetence from a council that cannot get the basics right".

The council’s cabinet member for clean air, streets and waste, James McAsh, said: "We have reviewed all other notices and found no further issues.

"We are also strengthening our checks with contractors to make sure this does not happen again. The council will recover the full cost of the refunds from the contractors."