Sheffield Council broke speeding, bus lane and parking rules hundreds of times in recent years

The council’s driving record was revealed through Freedom of Information requests by the local democracy reporting service.

It comes amid council crackdowns on speeding and parking across the city and controversy over plans to extend bus lanes on two of the city’s busiest roads.

The investigation found the council was caught misusing bus lanes 349 times since 2018, and that its number of recorded bus lane blunders had increased in recent years with last year being the worst at 180 fines.

The top three most common places council drivers were caught was: Langsett Road, in Hillsborough; Mansfield Road, in Intake; and Boston Street, near London Road.

It was also issued 96 parking fines and council vehicles were seen speeding on 42 occasions since 2019.

The most common place the employees were found exceeding the speed limit in council vehicles was Penistone Road.

Responding to the revelations, councillor Cate McDonald, executive member for finance and resources, said: “All employees carrying out duties in a council vehicle are required to behave in a responsible and professional manner and meet the requirements of the law, health and safety policies and the council’s code of conduct.

“Vehicle tracking equipment is fitted to council vehicles for safety and monitoring purposes, this includes driver behaviour which is monitored by transport and section managers.

“Individual drivers are responsible for acting upon all traffic violations they incur. Sheffield City Council does not pay fines incurred by employees driving council vehicles.”

How much has it cost?

The council said it does not know the cost of the offences as all fines were paid personally by the drivers of the vehicles.

Considering the minimum cost for bus lane fines is £30, the most basic fine for parking is £50 and the minimum fine for speeding is £100, the total cost of the offences revealed is likely to have been at least £19,470.

Crackdown on parking and speeding

Poor parking, speeding and bus lanes have all been particularly hot topics in recent years.

The authority is in the process of implementing a traffic regulation order to ban all pavement parking in the city centre, with a view to eventually rolling this out across the whole city, following a spate of complaints.

It has also introduced dozens of new 20 mph zones throughout residential areas as part of its road safety strategy.

MORE ROADS: More 20mph zones to be rolled out to large parts of Sheffield - find out here if your neighbourhood is affected

The council is planning to extend bus lane operation times to 12 hours a day, remove parking and create a red route on Ecclesall Road and Abbeydale Road with the aim of improving bus services and encouraging people to ditch their cars.

More than 7,500 people have signed a petition opposing the bus lane plans, saying it will ‘butcher’ small businesses which have already suffered as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.