First Essex 42928 (SN05 EAG) in Chelmsford - 6 Dec 2019 (P1060182)

Friday 6 December 2019 (1028) – First Essex Buses 42928 (SN05 EAG), an Alexander Pointer bodied Dennis Dart new to First Devon & Cornwall in April 2005, seen in Chelmsford.

The London-Norwich railway line bisects the town centre and with a height clearance of 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 metres) the arch on Duke Street is an obvious impediment to the operation of double deckers on cross city bus services.

For some time now access under the arch has been restricted to buses, taxis, motor cycles and cycles – with signs referring to it as a ‘bus gate’. In February 2019 following a legal challenge by a car driver regarding the confusing warning signs on the approaches to and at the arch the topic achieved BBC Television news coverage. The report stated that in the previous 18 months Essex County Council had fined 54,000 drivers and yielded £1.5 million in fines from drivers passing errantly under the arch. (That’s around £27 a time).