Hackney Council to pay back £268k to motorists caught out by unlawful road closure

More than 3,000 fines were found to be unlawful

Hackney Council is paying back £268,000 to motorists who were unlawfully fined on a road where it was trying to control traffic.

The Town Hall launched an experimental traffic order (ETO) in 2020 covering an area in Springfield that included Mount Pleasant Lane, Southwold Road and Springfield Gardens.

The move was part of its rollout of low traffic neighbourhoods.

However, a member of the public challenged the order, arguing it was unlawful as it did not stop vehicles moving along Mount Pleasant Lane as intended.

The contested area is near the junction with Springfield Lane and Harrington Hill primary school.

The objector asked the council’s independent auditor Mazars to have a look at the traffic order and issue a public interest notice about it.

The audit team, headed by Suresh Patel, “found that the wording of the Springfield ETO (effective from November 2020) contained an error and, instead of creating the intended road closure, created a road closure which was not possible to implement”.

They said the 3,242 fines dished out by the council on Mount Pleasant Lane between April 2021 and March 24 2022 were unlawful.

The auditors recommended the council apologise for its mistake, which it corrected in March 2022.

They said it should also set up a scheme for motorists to claim refunds if they drove through Mount Pleasant Lane and got a fine.

The council said it slipped up as “the temporary traffic management order incorrectly described the scheme’s location as being five metres west of the junction with Springfield Gardens rather than five metres south”.

Last year, the council said the majority of motorists fined in the area did not live in Hackney.

A Town Hall spokesman said: “When this was raised with us, we made the decision to refund the fines that were issued between April 2021 and 24 March 2022, when a new traffic order was introduced.”

So far, the council has refunded £166,000 to people who paid fines by card, and is paying back the rest as cheques.

The council said it has successfully fought 76 per cent of fines taken to adjudication this year, “showing that traffic restrictions in Hackney are implemented in line with best practice”.

Government rules mean traffic fines have to be used for transport projects and cannot be used for other council services.