Vandals who target bus lane cameras cost Edinburgh Council around £300,000 last year

Vandals who target bus lane cameras cost Edinburgh Council around £300,000 last year, new figures show.

It comes following a string of incidents which saw traffic enforcement cameras cut down or otherwise damaged.

Council officials said it was an “ongoing problem” which they are working with the police to try and resolve.

The local authority expected bus lane fines to generate around £600k in the 2023-24 financial year, however only half that was actually collected.

A new finance report blamed “camera vandalism,” while problems with energy networks also led to there being periods of non-enforcement and fewer notices being issued.

The camera monitoring the controversial ‘bus gate’ in Corstorphine’s low traffic neighbourhood has been targeted three times. Since being installed last year to reduce the volume of general traffic on Manse Road vandals have cut down the pole it’s mounted on twice, and last September the camera’s wires were snipped.

Furthermore two bus lane cameras were targeted in one night in February, as similar incidents saw poles sawed down at Murrayfield Gardens and South Gyle Broadway.

Following this the council reached out to the Metropolitan Police in London, where there have been around 1,000 attacks on cameras used to enforce the controversial Ultra Low Emission Zone, for advice on “how to deal with this kind of situation,” former transport convener Scott Arthur said.

One way the council responded was to cover the Manse Road camera pole with anti-climb paint – a thick, greasy substance also known anti-vandal paint – and it set up CCTV will to monitor the spot.

As the issue was discussed at Thursday’s transport committee, SNP councillor Danny Aston asked: “On the bus lane cameras, can I just ask, for that to result in £300,000 less revenue than was expected, how many instances of vandalism to bus lane cameras have we had?”

Council officer Gavin Graham replied: “It’s an ongoing problem, we’re looking for trends etcetera and have alerted the police but I’m afraid we don’t have any figures at the moment to identify how many cameras are actually down.”

The council has been asked to provide data on the number of times traffic enforcement cameras vandalised in recent years and how many are not currently operational as a result.

By Donald Turvill Local Democracy Reporter