EARLIER this month, my wife and I decided to take a day trip to Oxford, a place that I had not visited since my teens, and one which my wife had never visited.

My wife, who was driving was, as I’ve said, unfamiliar with the road plan of the city, accidentally strayed onto a bus lane in Castle Street for just a few moments.

Realising the error, she made haste to get back on track as soon as it was safely possible.

However, unbeknown to us, Camera Operator OX256 of Oxfordshire County Council was on hand to take a a ‘real time’ picture of the heinous crime.

The following Friday saw our local postie bringing us the good news of the £60 fine which, if I coughed up within 14 days, would be reduced to £30 as a reward for prompt payment.

Now, I fully appreciate how important it is for drivers to obey the rules of the road, wherever they are because, after all, they are there in the interests of our own safety. But would it not be sensible for the county council to step back and examine their approach and the damage it is doing to the local tourist trade? Yes, local drivers should be well familiar with the layout and could be considered fair game but a tourist approaching a bus lane that they do not know lies ahead often finds that when that bus lane lurches up on them it is safer to continue and gently drift back out of it rather than swiftly change lanes and risk an accident. A look at where the transgressing vehicles come from and, perhaps, a look at those roadside pictures to confirm that no malice or danger was involved might be a worthwhile exercise for the council.

That way those transgressors could be sent a warning letter stating that, should they do the same when visiting Oxford, a fine will be enforced.

And in this age of computers the records would be there. That way Oxford would stand to earn the respect of its visitors and gain a lot more than it loses – loses by way of all those lost return visits.

I was impressed with the beauty of the city and intended to return for a longer stay – a stay that would have put more than the £30 fine that I am paying back into the economy of the city. However, we consequently cancelled our return trip.

I live in Barry, a town which though far less grand than Oxford, is only a little smaller in population. Yet our council does not indulge in the monitoring of traffic in this way. It rightly leaves the job to the appropriate body – the police.

To an outsider, the whole business of a council of Oxfordshire’s modest size getting involved (whether it has the right to do it or not) in monitoring traffic, smacks of a sideline that is there to earn a fast buck.

However, in the end that fast buck has, in my case, (and I’m sure in many others) lost the traders of Oxford city a lot more.

I’d guess that the figure runs into tens of thousands and possibly more as the years pass.

NEIL WHITE, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan