The Bank of England may know how to make money – but now traffic cameras located outside its historic HQ are coining it in too.
A traffic-management scheme by the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has generated £28million in fines in just five years.
The CCTV-controlled scheme was brought in after a spate of accidents in 2017, including the death of a 26-year-old cyclist.
It has issued more than 600,000 tickets to
drivers breaching regulations.
It means every day the scheme snares more than 300 motorists who then face a £135 fine, reduced by half if they pay up within 14 days.
The startling figures are revealed in the official records of The City of London Corporation, which governs the Square Mile.
Bank Junction has been closed to traffic on weekdays from 7am to 7pm, except for cyclists and buses, since 2017.
The Corporation said as well as improving safety the traffic controls have also boosted air quality in the streets outside the Bank of England.
But taxi drivers, hit by hundreds of fines, have been upset by the weekday closure of the junction and have campaigned to regain access to it.
The Licensed Taxi Driver Association said its analysis found the junction closure had caused longer journey times, higher fares and knock-on effects on traffic flow in the area.
The Corporation said: “Bank Junction was among the busiest road traffic areas across the Square Mile and had seen a high number of collisions prior to the restrictions being introduced in 2017.
“The traffic scheme was introduced to improve safety and we have since seen a 27 per cent reduction in collisions during the restricted times.”
