Are AT taking the piss with this Bus Lane fine?
Just received a $150 infringement notice in the mail for this Offence: “While driving, used a special vehicle lane reserved for specific classes of vehicle, when the vehicle being driven was not one of those classes or an emergency vehicle.”
The location is on K Rd at the intersection prior to Howe Street as per photo above (NB. this is a screenshot from Google maps), where a bus lane doubles as a left turning lane. I use this route frequently on my drive home from work when I was pinged for this offence around 5:30 on a Wednesday.
However, they’ve provided no photo whatsoever to show how I’ve entered the lane incorrectly, and based on where I usually enter it from, I can’t see for myself how I supposedly infringed that day (by potentially entering it early?) to turn left with all the other vehicles that were likely doing the same at the green traffic light, PLUS outside of the designated 7-10 am bus lane operating hours as per the sign in the pic?? (Also, the straight through traffic in the next lane over are often sitting in a long queue at a red light, while the left turn is green with only access via entering that left ‘bus lane’.)
Have I got grounds to dispute this and get the fine waived?? Particularly with no photo evidence provided to support? Anyone succeeded before?
Based on their T&Cs on the back, reads like I’ve got no option for ‘defence’ unless I can prove I wasn’t the person driving the vehicle that day (and essentially dob in who that hypothetical person was instead).