NEARLY 7,000 people were handed fines for illegally using a notorious Colchester bus lane.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed 6,758 people were handed penalty charge notices for using North Hill in the year to July.

The bus lane was put in place back in 2013 with thousands of people being fined in the last nine years.

It has proved controversial over the years and back in 2014, £1million in fines were waived due to problems with the North Hill and Queen Street bus lanes.

It comes as the Gazette revealed eight people a day are being handed parking fines on the high street.

Richard Kirkby-Taylor, whose ward covers North Hill, said he would like to see residents in the area given exemptions to allow them to navigate the town more easily.

The move was backed by follow Castle ward councillor Mark Goacher.

Mr Goacher said: “People using the bus lane are breaking the law. They know it is a bus lane and they took that risk.

“Maybe the way in which it is enforced is not working. Maybe the law needs to change they get points on their licence.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “Bus gates are necessary to improve the journeys and travel time of buses, encouraging the people of Essex to use this important transport which, by taking cars off the road, improves air quality and the environment, key aims of ECC’s Safer, Greener, Healthier campaign.

“Significant work has taken place to increase signage at all junctions leading to bus gates in Essex.

“For ECC, bus gates are about compliance rather than income and success for the Council would be to issue no fines at all, because then people were not contravening the restrictions but instead being more thoughtful about their journeys and the routes they take.

“All money generated by PCNs is ring-fenced and reinvested to help improve public transport, roads and the transport network across Essex.”