Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello good folk of FTLA, I hope you might share you expertise with me on this one.

This morning I was issued with a yellow ticket and a verbal Notice of Intended Prosecution by two uniformed Police officers for entering into a timed No-Entry road in a residential street in Bristol. I am not local to that area so was unaware of this rule and I also didn't see the signs - but of course these were not good enough reasons to mitigate me from the offence and so a traffic offence report was given to me on the spot.

After been held up for far too long and having now missed my interview    I began heading home - but first decided to double back and check for the road signage as I could not recall seeing even one sign stating no right turn. I found that of the two No-Entry signs at the gateway to the road in question, one is at a 90 degree angle so impossible to see and the other is roughly at 45 degrees so although visible, isn't clear. Neither of the written signs (Mon-Fri 7am-10am) are visible from the approach I was coming from either.


Which leads me to wonder if I have a case to argue?


Here are the visuals:




The map from above - I was travelling from the bottom of the image (6 o'clock) and turned right into Cambridge St where the police were waiting tucked around the corner. Of course...



My view as I approached the Cambridge Rd junction. Notice the lamppost dead-ahead has the No-Entry sign facing at a 90 degree angle from this approach - so impossible to see.




The same viewpoint taken from Google Maps shows it a little more clearly as you can see the shadow cast onto he wall of the house from the sign. It also shows that the sign has been like this for at least 3 years...




As a comparison, if I had been coming from the left hand side (9 o'clock) I would have seen this view, which is undeniably clear - both the No-Entry signs are completely visible as well as the written timings.




Is this a clear enough gateway? Perhaps I should have seen the drivers side No-entry sign, but as I was checking for traffic coming from the left, and then the right, and then making the turn, I simply didn't see it.


It would be great to hear your thoughts on this one. Im sure I'll receive follow up correspondence from the Police fairly soon and am keen to know what the punishment is likely to be - points and a fine perhaps? I am also unsure if I will 1) be offered the chance to dispute it, and 2) if I stand a chance of winning - or will I just dig myself into a nice expensive legal headache of a hole?!

Apart from the signs, it is very obvious from the photos that the give-way lines (double broken white lines) extend across the whole width of the road, indicating that it is a one-way street in the direction towards the junction.

But it isn't, is it? There are parked vehicles facing away from the junction (presumably driven there outside the restricted hours) and it seems perfectly acceptable to enter that road outside those hours. I must say it's a bit of an odd arrangement, but I imagine there is a reason for it.

unsure if I will 1) be offered the chance to dispute it,

You can always dispute it by declining any out-of-court solutions the police offer and pleading not guilty in court

and 2) if I stand a chance of winning -

I think not. In your last photo the No Entry sign on the right (above the "Oxford Street" sign) is quite visible. The restricted hours plate does not seem to be, but in its absence you should assume the No Entry is operative 24/7. Being convicted of this in court following a not guilty plea is likely to cost you something in the order of £1k. I'm not sure I'd be prepared to risk that.

I tend to agree from what you've posted. The restriction does not seem to be very well conveyed. You will want the court to find that it was not "adequately conveyed" and I'm no too sure hey will find that. 

See if you get any other responses.

Does it matter that you can't have time plates paired with a No Entry sign?

The problem is, as a defence you would need to demonstrate this and from your street view pictures posted where we can all clearly see a no entry sign on the lamp post, along with the road markings at the entrance, that is going to take some doing. It would be cheaper to take the hit, learn from it and move on.

Cheers Bertie. I think this is probably what I’ll have to do unfortunately, I’m not up for throwing good money after bad and giving myself court case anxiety in the meantime.

That said I’m still frustrated at this situation. Yes the one sign is visible but it is at a 45 degree angle so not clear until you are much closer. I certainly didn’t see it. And the other sign is impossible to see unless you approach from the other angle, meaning you only really get to see what the instructions are when you’re pretty much on the junction.

I wonder if both signs need to be visible for the entrance of a gateway to be valid?

Yebbut they ran out of low flying motorbike signs...

But seriously, it depends whether the offence is an s. 36 offence (failing to comply with a direction given by a prescribed sign) - in which case, absent special needs permission from the SoS, no prescribed sign means no offence, or whether the offence is breaching the underlying Order, which merely needs to be adequately conveyed.

Thanks Andy
I’ll be honest and say I don’t fully understand this answer, but perhaps I’ll have a clearer idea of what the offence actually is once I get the follow up paperwork from the Police.