FURIOUS traders have launched a petition to get rid of the notorious bus lane which runs in front of their shops.

The shopkeepers, in Welling High Street, say trade has dropped dramatically and they are fed up with their staff and delivery drivers getting penalty tickets for infringing the lane.

Now they are appealing to their customers and the general public to support their campaign to have the bus lane scrapped.

Unlike other bus lanes in the borough, the one is supported by six CCTV cameras which automatically catch anyone driving in the bus lane between 8am and 10am and between 4pm and 7pm.

Since enforcement via the cameras began in May 2003, Bexley Council has issued more than 15,000 tickets and collected more than £800,000 in fines.

Gary Voak, owner of Direct Windows, which has had more than 50 tickets, said: "We have still got four fines outstanding from staff loading and unloading who have to cross the bus lane to get into the service alley behind the shop.

"We cannot walk sheets of glass down the street, it is too dangerous.

"We have tried to talk to the council. We want to have our say but no- one will listen to us."

He claims the bus lane has put a video shop out of business and a handyman has had to lay off staff.

"People want to be able to use their local shops but they are too frightened. The cameras are only there to get the money," he added.

Nicole Coupland from the High Flying Balloons and Party Shop in Embassy Court claims her father's car was hit by a bus as he turned into Embassy Court from the outside lane. "The buses fly up the bus lane," she said.

She has received three penalty notices since she opened her shop last year.

Sah Gazilev, who owns Worths bakery, claims his takings have gone down £2,500 thanks to the bus lane outside his shop.

"My business is going down and down. I get new customers who come for seven or eight days then as soon as they get a ticket, they don't come again."

In the first week after he bought the shop, he received two tickets.

He said a workman moving the shop's refrigeration equipment got three tickets in half an hour. "There are no signs indicating the bus lane when you are driving from Shooters Hill," he claimed.

Following the outcry in 2003, Bexley Council's transport Cabinet member Councillor Daniel Francis reviewed the bus lane but decided only minor changes were needed to the lane.

But the shopkeepers say it is damaging the town for the sake of saving one minute on the 89 bus journey.

"The council is not listening to us, so it is time to move this protest on.

"We want people in Bexley to stand up and speak up," said Mr Voak.

Copies of the petition are in all the shops on the bus lane side of the High Street. You can also email your views to News Shopper at lpiper@london.newsquest.co.uk