More than 700 drivers have ignored the city centre ban on daytime traffic in Oxford.

Surveillance cameras have caught 705 drivers flouting restrictions in the High Street since they went live on February 26.

However, they might have all had a lucky escape because Oxfordshire County Council has insisted on a so-called "grace period" until the new law is fully understood by everyone. And when it is, drivers face a £60 fine if they are caught using the central area between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

Worryingly for the county council, which as the highways authority is responsible for policing the restrictions, the number of drivers ignoring the ban increased last week and reached a peak on Thursday, the day for which figures were last available, when 222 were caught.

The restrictions have been in place for eight years, but a legal loophole meant drivers could not be prosecuted using CCTV footage from enforcement cameras.

Bus gates in High Street, Castle Street, George Street and Magdalen Street are also being monitored.

As with ordinary parking fines, the £60 penalties will be reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days. County councillor David Robertson, cabinet member for transport, said the cameras would act as a "pretty effective deterrent" to those motorists flouting the restrictions.

Dog fouling, litter dropping and fly-tipping are already offences that constitute fixed penalties and soon other environmental "crimes" like dumping rubbish on the pavement will become punishable under Oxford City Council's authority's first clean neighbourhood enforcement protocol. This is the latest "crime" to attract a fixed penalty from a local council.