MORE than 700 motorists sent penalty notices for driving in bus lanes will have their fines wiped because of a "timing" fault on the detection cameras.
An independent review is to be set up by transport minister Danny Kennedy after the fault was discovered last week by NSL, the operators of the scheme.
The six bus lane cameras and a mobile detection unit were only introduced to Belfast at the start of last month. Any driver caught in a bus lane was issued a £90 penalty notice, reduced to £45 if the fine was paid within a fortnight.
But within a few weeks, several motorists queried the times listed on their penalty notice.
An NSL spokeswoman last night blamed the fault on "human error".
Mr Kennedy apologised to the motorists affected and said the fault was "unacceptable".
"Firstly, I want to apologise to those motorists who were incorrectly issued with a penalty charge notice and want to assure them that their ticket will be cancelled and any monies already paid will be refunded," he said.
"All motorists involved will be notified in writing in the next week."
Mr Kennedy said NSL and Zenco will carry out extra checks to make sure the error does not happen again.
“I have initiated an independent audit of the NSL process and an external review which will examine the handling of this matter by my Department," he said.
In a statement, NSL said it became aware of the error after it asked Zenco, the company who provided the enforcement cameras, to investigate why some motorists may have been given penalty notices in error.
NSL said the review found that 118 notices were issued in error between June 22 and July 21.
A further 612 legitimate penalty notices were cancelled because the time listed was incorrect.
Nigel Coltman, from NSL, said: "This is a vitally important scheme to ensure that Belfast’s buses and other public transportation is as efficient as it can be".
"We know that this error with the timing settings on the enforcement cameras should not have happened, and because of the measures we have taken, we are now sure that it will never happen again," he said.
"We are very sorry for any distress this timing issue has caused to those motorists who have received a PCN (penalty charge notice) in error, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with DRD (Department for Regional Development) in order to maintain the full confidence in this system."
