A FURIOUS motorist is campaigning for the council to change the signage for the Penzance Drive bus lane after data revealed more than 10,000 drivers have been fined there in just six months.

Diane Cross, from High Wycombe, was en-route to a pre-Christmas shopping trip in the Great Western Designer Outlet when she accidentally turned into a bus lane in Penzance Drive.

“There was a sign saying turn ahead into the car park for the outlet centre, but when I turned I realised I was in a bus lane,” she said.

“It ruined the whole day because I think the signage was very misleading”

The 56-year-old, along with her nephew who was following behind her, was issued with a £30 fine.

“I paid the fine but I enclosed a note saying I was not happy to pay. I thought, I can’t be the only one this happened to," she said.

So Diane submitted a Freedom of Information request to Swindon Borough Council, asking for the exact number of motorists fined for going into the bus lane near the outlet centre, which came back with startling results.

Between July 1 2015 and December 31 2015, 10, 221 motorists received penalty charges for driving in the Penzance Drive bus lane.

“I was shocked when I saw the number 10,000, I thought maybe 800 at the most. These must all be new offences as when you are caught once you wouldn’t make the same mistake again,” Diane said.

“You can say that I’m stupid or a bad driver but what about the other 10,000 who have also been fined? They can’t all be bad drivers, something needs to be done about this.

Diane said Swindon Borough Council must improve signage to the bus lane where cameras have been in operation since June 2014.

“ I don’t think it started off that way but I do think that that this lane has become a nice little money spinner for the council.

“I've worked out that’s 55 cars a day that are getting caught doing this, that’s more than £300,000 the council are making in just six months. You can’t say it’s clearly signposted with that amount of drivers all going into the lane.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said the bus lane met with all required specifications.

“The number of people who are caught driving into the bus gate illustrates the extent of the problem that we’re trying to tackle. There are several clear signs on the approach to warn drivers not to enter, and these all meet the appropriate national regulations for visibility and frequency. There have been 17 challenges to tickets we have issued that have been taken to the national independent adjudicator, and all of these were unsuccessful. We are not trying to trap people – we’re simply trying to make public transport work efficiently in this area.”

Diane responded: “People, like me get caught because they don’t realise and when they do it’s too late. 10,000 drivers can’t all be missing this sign. Something needs to change. It has put me off coming back to Swindon.”