I avoid driving in Newcastle mostly because of the bus lanes. I'm sure they've intentionally been set up in a way that maximises revenue. They usually only exist for short stretches of road, but often the different stretches alternate sides of the road, so unless you know where they all are, it's difficult to stay out of them.
On this occasion, I waited at the lights in the picture below. I didn't know a bus lane was coming up until I got there, and I had to stop where the green mark is. The issue is though, the other lane was totally gridlocked, where I've marked red. I waited a bit and the traffic didn't budge. By then, I had a queue of vehicles behind me that had started beeping and flashing their lights because I was blocking them all. With the other lane showing no sign of starting to move, I just had to drive through the bus lane.
In the council's picture you can see the traffic in the other lane, but I can't prove I got stuck, not able to move over. I might have dash cam footage, but will the council care about this? The street view image below is from 2021 which shows the road marking are very faint, but I'm not sure what they're like now as it was dark when I was there.
I'm not sure if I have any case, but thought it might be worth asking.
Thanks
other thread -
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