Forgive my asking, but where is the diagram 959B (start of with-flow bus lane)? I can't see it between the start of diagram 1049A (the thick white line at the outside of the bus lane) and the end of diagram 1049A. Bus lanes are defined by the bundle of diagram 1048 (BUS LANE road marking), diagram 1049A (thick white line) and either diagram 959B (start of with-flow bus lane) or diagram 960 (start of contraflow bus lane). Or am I missing something (as the DfT traffic authorisation is pre-2011, it's not available on-line, so I may be)?
Apart from diagrams 1048 and 1049A, all that I can see are:
- the lead-in taper (diagram 1010);
- a deflection arrow (diagram 1014);
- offside with-flow bus lane ahead (diagram 958).
These are all part of the advance signage and not part of the bus lane. That begins where the thick white line starts. They're advised in the Traffic Sign Manual but aren't legally required (although an adjudicator may take a dim view if they aren't there).
I can also see a diagram 959B for the nearside with-flow bus lane, but that's irrelevant.
If diagram 959B doesn't lie as close as practicable to the start of the bus lane, how is Hammersmith & Fulham able to allege that a contravention has occurred? If appeals have been allowed based on the absence of proper signage and it hasn't remedied the defects, it's abusing the legal system by seeking to enforce that which has been found to be unenforceable.
