Reading the announcement that new portable traffic cameras will be used on Bradford’s bus lanes later this month, it is difficult to avoid the notion that these are being seen as a money-making opportunity.

The Telegraph & Argus reported last month that Bradford Council has received £2.3 million in paid fines over two and a half years since switching on cameras to catch motorists who misuse bus lanes – hardly a sum to be sniffed at.

Fining drivers who use bus lanes would seem to be a lucrative pursuit for the Council, but of all the enforcement activities on the roads, there will probably be little that annoys motorists as much as this.

Let us be clear, no-one would want to advocate breaking the rules of the road. But the simple fact is that bus lanes are not as frequently used as they might be, and drivers will rankle at having to queue in slow-moving single lanes along the city’s main routes while an empty bus lane runs beside them.

It is, of course, a laudable ambition to get more people out of their cars and using public transport for environmental reasons, but the reality of the situation is that reducing the number of lanes available to cars means that motorists crawl along with their vehicles pumping out emissions and effectively are forced to participate in queues that are far more damaging to the environment.

The majority of motorists will abide by the rules but this will doubtless appear to many to be more of a money-making exercise rather than an attempt to ease congestion on the roads.