Fines-hit trader insists bus gate camera is 'out of sync'

A Leeds market trader has called for an investigation into a bus gate camera after he was hit with 11 fines in the space of a single month - despite arguing he wasn't in the area at the times listed.

- by James Connolly

Sengy Tang, who owns popular Vietnamese street kitchen Banh & Mee, was left perplexed by a sudden wave of penalty charge notices (PCNs) that were sent to him by Leeds City Council in May - all alleging he had breached restrictions in Vicar Lane.

Since 2021, access to a stretch of the city-centre road has been restricted, with only buses, hackney carriages and cyclists permitted during peak hours - between 7am and 10am, and again from 4pm to 7pm.

Sengy explained: “Since the bus gate has been there, I’ve never had a ticket.

“But, suddenly, I was given 11 tickets in one month. The CCTV must be using the wrong time, because this has never happened before - we know the rules.”