IT’S a tale of two sets of rising bollards that should be moving up Oxfordshire County Council’s agenda, according to a city councillor.

While the rising bollard in Turl Street was fixed earlier this year the set of bollards in Oriel Square are still not working properly.

County council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: “The Turl Street one was fixed some time ago but the Oriel Square one is still down.”

The Oxford Mail reported in June that drivers were taking advantage of broken bollards in the square to avoid paying camera fines if they went through the High Street bus gate.

Camera enforcement was introduced in 2007 to restrict normal traffic from using the High Street between 7.30am and 6.30pm, in a bid to reduce city centre congestion.

But the broken bollards in the square are allowing drivers to bypass the High Street restriction.

Labour city councillor Colin Cook said: “I think the county council should make fixing the bollards in Oriel Square a higher priority.

“Now the Westgate Centre is opening there is likely to be more traffic coming into Oxford and the bus gate is one way of controlling it.

“If drivers are able to head through Oriel Square instead of travelling through the High Street it makes a mockery of enforcement.

“The rat run also means there is more wear and tear on historic cobbles in Merton Street.”

A member of staff at Oriel College said: “The bollards are still not working - I have lost count of the number of times council staff have been down here to fix them.”

Mr Cook added that he was pleased that the bollard in Turl Street had been fixed.

On Saturday one delivery driver for John Lewis got delayed behind the bollard when he took a wrong turning.

Jeremy Mogford, who owns The Old Bank Hotel in High Street, said earlier that the additional traffic now using Merton Street, Oriel Square and King Edward Street as a short cut was damaging historic cobbles in Merton Street.

Oxfordshire County Council admitted in June the bollards, which cost £12,500 each in 1999, had not been working properly and said the highways authority was seeking a reliable solution.