HUNDREDS of motorists who beat peak-hour gridlock by using bus lanes are to face prosecution for the first time in Liverpool.
It could mean on-the-spot £100 fines for lawbreaking drivers.
The area's biggest operator Arriva, is spending millions of pounds fitting closed circuit television systems to its fleet in readiness for the crack-down on drivers using bus lanes.
The move comes as Arriva revealed it is talking to city council transport officials about a 65-mile network of bus-only lanes along every major transport corridor into the city centre.
The company's regional managing director, Bob Hinds, said Arriva sees priority lanes as a major weapon in persuading city centre work-ers and visitors to leave their cars at home.
"We are already talking to Merseytravel and Merseyside Police about prosecuting people who park in bus lanes, or hop into the lanes to dodge traffic jams. Once our buses are all equipped with CCTV equipment we will be in a position to prosecute.
"We are not anti-car, but the whole point of bus lanes is to enable buses to keep on moving. There is no point in a crowded bus stuck in a queue behind a car with a single occupant."
The first culprits could be taken to court later this year for either parking or stopping in bus lanes or cutting into the lanes to beat a traffic queue in the main lane.
Liverpool already has bus lanes, usually operational during peak periods for inward and outward bound traffic.
Arriva's proposals would see more extensive use of 24-hour bus-only lanes on large stretches of city centre dual carriageways.
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