Consternation at Carlton Colville [3]

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NEWS FROM GLASGOW

Stunned John Henderson, owner of Blantyre-based Henderson Travel, couldn't believe it when he received the penalty charge notice. He was given the £60 fine, which is reduced to £30 if it is paid within 14 days, after a vehicle from his bus fleet drove on a city centre road designated for buses, taxis and cyclists only.

The number 329 bus was travelling from Stobhill Hospital to West Regent Street when one of Glasgow City Council's CCTV cameras snapped the registration plate on Cathedral Street. The 27-seater Henderson-branded bus was 'caught' on February 5 at 7.42am.

As the Evening Times exclusively revealed last month, Cathedral Street is the second most prolific money-generating street in Glasgow as the council clamps down on the illegal use of bus lanes. More than £500,000 in fines has been made after almost 20,000 motorists were caught driving in the bus lane between April 23 – when the council launched its CCTV crackdown on bus lanes – and December 31, last year.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the fine was sent out in error. He said: "Another vehicle was in the lane behind the bus and it was included in the picture taken by the bus lane camera."

Yeah, of course it was!

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Carlton Colville continued ...

Stop Specific Timetable?
Specifically wrong or specifically out of date?

But first, a health warning. The lead time for publishing magazine articles can be quite lengthy. Editors keep a reserve of short items which can be called upon to fill a one-page gap. It is quite possible, therefore, that the Ted Relton article has been around for a month or two, in which case timetables at Secrets Corner may have changed. It is also possible that Suffolk County Council has failed to remove an out-of-date panel from the stop concerned. A final possibility is the editor Alan Millar appended a "stock picture" to Ted's article without checking its authenticity.

So fbb asked Mr Editor Millar.

In the meantime the chubby one investigated further.

Mr Relton's article was accompanied by Suffolk County Council's stop-specific poster for Secrets Corner, Carlton Colville, Lowestoft. This showed departure times and line diagrams for routes :-
 103   558A    603    881    BR001    X22  
whereas Traveline only offered the following:-

From the Suffolk CC panel it can be gleaned that   103   and   603   are/were frequent routes, whereas the rest only operate occasionally.

The current Traveline list shows only the X22 as running every 30 minutes ...

... between Lowestoft, Carlton Colville and Beccles. An evening and Sunday service between Lowestoft and Carton Colville is provided by route 103.

BR001 is a school bus ...

 ... between Kessingland (on the coast, south of Lowestoft), Carlton Colville and the senior school in Beccles. Which leaves the 558. According to Traveline, this is a 558A Thursday only shoppers bus from Lound, Blundeston, Oulton, Carlton Colville and Beccles through to the Market Day delights of Norwich. The route does not serve central Lowestoft and is operated by Belle Coaches ...

... at least it was when the Suffolk CC poster as printed.

Secrets Corner is the road junction at the bottom of the Traveline Map. But Suffolk County Council's timetable page shows the route as 558B by-passing Carlton Colville and just calling at the stop on the main road (top left of the map above).

There is no easy on-line way of telling which is right. Unfortunately Belle Coaches doesn't appear to admit to its existence on their web site! Keen-eyed readers will also have noted that Traveline thinks the route serves Lowestoft ...

... which it doesn't - probably.

But, without a doubt, the information accompanying Ted Relton's article in "Buses" magazine is either completely wrong or hopelessly out of date. Editor Alan Millar replied promptly to fbb's query and avers that the article was received at "Buses" HQ in early November 2012.

So, to be fair to Suffolk County Council, it looks as if Ted's illustration was simply from an old set of timetables, now replaced. Has the information poster also been updated at Secrets Corner?

So fbb has investigated further! He e-mailed First Bus, Anglian (operators of the 603) for timetable information and Suffolk County Council for a copy of the current stop specific timetable for Secrets Corner. the results will be interesting.

Don't miss tomorrow's thrilling installment!

 Next Bus Blog : Wednesday 13th March