Drivers illegally using a single bus lane in a Staffordshire village were caught 80 times this year, figures revealed today. Across the rest of the county just four people were fined for using other bus lanes – prompting questions about whether they are really necessary.

Figures released to the Express & Star show most drivers who violate bus lanes in the county never get caught. But in the village of Perton it’s a different story as drivers face a zero tolerance approach from the local beat bobby Pc Duncan Lampitt.

He maintains a daily presence in Gainsborough Drive, where drivers regularly flout restrictions of a single bus lane to get in and out of the village quicker.

A bollard was installed to rise up and stop any cars coming through, but Pc Lampitt said today: “It kept breaking down so some years ago Staffordshire County Council stopped repairing it.

“People in Gainsborough Drive were telling me they were concerned about speeding drivers.

“To be fair to everyone I issue a fixed penalty to everyone I see using it, unless they can give me a very good reason why.”

He said examples of where he had let people off were if their sat nav systems had sent them the wrong way.

“But I’ve caught one person four times”, he added. The fines are £30 a time.

Last year Pc Lampitt and his colleagues caught 99 drivers and the year before 29. Wolverhampton City Council used to have a camera and electronic sign that flashed up the number plates of anyone using a bus lane in Stafford Street. But it was not connected to any enforcement and no-one was fined as a result.

A warning sign in Willenhall Road, where long queues build up on a daily basis during rush hour, is also in operation next to the bus lane.

West Midlands Police could not reveal how many fines had been handed out for bus lane use.

Henry Carver, chairman of the Wolverhampton Business Group, said: “You have to question whether we need half the bus lanes.

“The Willenhall Road is a mess. Half the road is taken up with the bus lane. But the buses only make up a small percentage of the traffic.”