GLASGOW’S council workers have racked-up thousands of pounds worth of bus lane fines.

But bosses have warned that staff won’t be given special treatment when it comes to paying penalty charge notices.

The local authority issued 284 fines to its workers between 2014 and 2017, with more than half being handed out last year.

And £5310 has been collected – with at least 107 fines not having been paid by February this year.

It comes after figures published by the AA in January revealed that the bus lane at Nelson Mandela Place in the city centre attracted 22,317 fines, worth more than £1.3 million to the council.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA said: “The number of council vehicles caught in bus lanes shows just how easy it is for drivers to make a mistake. A mistake, however, which carries some embarrassment and pain to the wallet.

“The AA believes that first time offenders should be issued a warning letter instead of a fine as people do not generally drive into bus lanes on purpose.

“Bus lanes should be easy to understand, so we believe a threshold on each lane should be introduced.

“Once met, no further fines should be issued until a full review has taken place to see what improvements for compliance can be made. This could be improved signage or more paint on the road.”

Mr Cousens also called the council’s decision-making into question, adding: “In times of harsh cuts and dwindling budgets, councils are slow to redress income streams like bus lanes.

“Residents may wonder that if the chief executive or the leader of the council got caught however, it might make them consider some changes to bus lanes across the city.”

A Freedom of Information request found that last year alone, council workers were caught driving in bus lanes on 156 occasions, with fines totalling more than £9,000.

June was when most fines – 21 – were given to council staff last year with the lowest amount – six – being issued in November. Two fines were also given out on Christmas Eve.

Despite catching less drivers than in 2016, the bus lane camera at Nelson Mandela Place snared almost as many drivers as all the cameras in Edinburgh last year.

And the camera on Cathedral Street amassed 17,308 fines while more than 27,000 penalties were handed out for lanes in North Hanover Street, Glassford Street, West George Street and Hope Street.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “The council has a clear policy when it comes to bus lanes.

“All offences are the responsibility of the driver of the vehicle at the time of the incident.

“When the vehicle is carrying out necessary operational duties then an appeal must be submitted by a line manager along with any supporting documentation.

“There are no special privileges.”

Last week, statistics released by the RAC have found that Glasgow City Council issued the second highest number of penalty charge notices in all of the UK between 2015 and 2017, with 339,402.