DRIVERS caught in bus and tram lanes are paying out more than £1 million to the city council each year.
More than 100 tickets are dished out across the city every day with nearly three in ten at one street in Hockley.
The top three sites accounted for more than 71 per cent of all tickets handed out.
In the 2012-13 financial year, 36,786 fines were handed to motorists – this compares with 35,249 in 2011-12 and 30,922 the year before that.
The top three spots last year were in Carlton Street, where there were 11,151 fines, then Goldsmith Street, where 9,043 were given out, and Milton Street, where 6,110 people were caught flouting the rules. Wollaton Road was a hot spot for fines in previous years, but didn't make the top three last year.
The penalty is £60 if drivers enter a bus lane or tram lane. This is reduced to £30 if they pay within 14 days.
Although Community Protection could not say how much it made in fines, even if all 36,786 fines were paid at the lower rate of £30, it would still mean £1,103,580 went into city coffers last year.
Councillor Jane Urquhart, portfolio holder for transport at Nottingham City Council, said the message about not driving in bus lanes was getting through.
She added: "Reliability of bus services is very important to passengers and enforcing bus lanes helps us to ensure that buses get to passengers on time."
Ms Urquhart added that the increase in numbers of tickets is down to new cameras being removed or repaired.
Anthony Carver-Smith, marketing manager of bus firm Nottingham City Transport (NCT), said enforcement of bus lanes was important and added: "Bus lanes are one of a number of factors that keep NCT buses running efficiently."
But Keith Peat, East Midlands co-ordinator of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: "Anyone who suggests that traffic flow is improved by cutting half the road off to regular drivers must be mad.
"It's unbelievable the amount of money that councils get from bus lane fines. It's essentially using public money to ensure private bus firms provide a good service."
