Thinking of driving up Coppergate? Be warned, you’re being watched…

Motorists be warned: Coppergate is out of bounds.

Traffic restrictions will come into force on the street from Monday (January 9), which will ban all but the select few from the street during the daytime (8am-6pm).

However you are allowed one transgression.

Drivers who wrongly enter the street in the first two weeks will be get nothing more than a warning letter.

And for the first six months motorists who drive along Coppergate during the restricted times will be issued with a warning letter – for their first offence.

If further offences occur – and for all offences after the first six months – the driver will be issued with a penalty charge notice.

The number of letters and penalties issued will be published on the council’s website after three months of operation and updated monthly for the first year of enforcement.

Eye in the sky

Enforcement will be by automatic number plate recognition cameras.

Signs have been placed around the city centre for the last few weeks warning all that Coppergate will be covered by a new traffic regulation order come January.

City of York Council has taken pains to get everything right after 12,000 motorists were found to have been wrongly fined for driving along Coppergate previously. This meant the council had to refund them to the tune of £387,000.

Now the council is confident that the scheme is “fully compliant with the new 2016 Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions that came into force in April 2016”.

Executive member for transport and planning Cllr Ian Gillies said: “Traffic restrictions have been in place on Coppergate since the 1960s, but only enforced infrequently.

“The reintroduction of the restriction along with a substantial amount of clearer and more robust signage will hopefully help to reduce the number of people wrongly entering the street and help traffic to flow better in the area.”