Out of tune Musician slams council for heavy-handed bus gate threats

A PIANIST who was given an exemption to drive his music gear into Bristol city centre through a bus gate every Sunday said he was shocked and intimidated when the council sent bailiffs to his house twice to clamp his car, saying he owed £425 in fines - for driving through a bus gate.

- Tristan CORK

In the end, Jack Baldus paid the money but told the Bristol City Council and the bailiffs he was going to appeal, and report what had happened to the Bristol Post - and within days he got his money back and an apology from the city council.

Mr Baldus, a piano teacher and musician, who is a member of the popular Bristol band Soul Strutters, is the live music promoter at The Raven pub in Clare Street, in the recently pedestrianised part of Bristol's 'Old City' area, and has a weekly Sunday evening residency at the venue.

To get all his kit there from his home in South Bristol, he has to negotiate the bus gates and one-way systems around Baldwin Street, Bristol Bridge and around the St Nicks Market area, so for the last couple of years, the city council issued him with an exemption which only applies on Sundays for the bus gates in that area.

But one Sunday in March 2024, Mr Baldus said both Bristol Bridge and the Redcliffe Bascule Bridge were closed for roadworks, leaving him struggling to work out how to get to work.