COUNCIL bosses have installed number plate reading technology at a revamped town centre junction.

New restrictions imposed on Penny Street, Blackburn, from its junction with Brown Street, have made the road a bus-only stretch.

The measures have been introduced as part of the ongoing regeneration of the town centre.

Last Monday, police were working with Blackburn with Darwen Council to implement the changes by ‘educating motorists’. Nobody was fined.

However, an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera has now been installed by the council as part of a two-week pilot to monitor how many people are still not adhering to the new signage.

A council spokesman claimed the camera had not cost the authority anything and that it was in place strictly to observe the number of motorists using the prohibited road.

At the end of the pilot, the council will decide whether to keep the camera on a monitoring basis or use it for enforcement.

The road-policing unit said it was a council only scheme.

Coun Dave Harling, executive member for regeneration said: “At the moment there are a large number of vehicles driving straight on through the traffic lights.

“It is clearly signed as a bus-only lane and the camera is currently there just to monitor the amount of traffic that is misusing the lane.

“This is a recent change to this busy junction but motorists must realise that they cannot continue to drive down Penny Street from Larkhill.”

The ANPR technology reads number plates and using the DVLA database can be used to send out an automatic fine.

The council wants to encourage cars to use the ‘orbital route’ around town, but critics say it just discourages people from visiting Blackburn because of the limited access to the centre.

But local shops have told the Lancashire Telegraph that there is still ‘confusion’ affecting passing trade.

In a Lancashire Telegraph online poll 88% of people said the changes had not improved the flow of traffic.