Drivers who veered into bus lanes or stopped in box junctions paid nearly £890,000 to Kingston Council in 12 weeks this spring.

New council leader Kevin Davis has promised to review the fines regime which is now catching an average of 72 drivers daily in bus lanes alone.

Surbiton van driver Daniel Wiggins was fined when he pulled into a bus lane to allow police motorbikes to pass him in Ewell Road.

Painter and decorator Mr Wiggins, 34, said: "The first I heard of it was when they clamped me. They weren't going to pay up.

"I think [the £890,000 figure] is quite high. How many of those tickets are really worth giving out? It's just a money-making scheme at the end of the day."

The council finally relented after reviewing the CCTV.

Council leader Councillor Kevin Davis said: "That’s just idiotic. We shouldn’t have been issuing the fine in the first place.

"We will be reviewing all sorts of aspects of traffic fines, and that includes parking. Often we are too quick to impose that for what are incredibly minor infringements."

Conservative London Assembly member Tony Arbour said: "It’s quite clear that the previous administration [in Kingston] used the motorists as a milch cow. The chances are that once you have been fined you will say, ‘I’m not coming back to Kingston.’"

But Liberal Democrat former council leader Coun Liz Green said: "I would want [the figure] to be reducing over time as people comply with the regulations.

"A lot of these things are about safety as well as keeping traffic moving."

In March, April and May, 6,505 bus lane fines were paid, totalling £422,028.

Yellow box junctions brought in a quarter-of-a-million pounds in the same period.

Other contraventions, which can include making banned turns and driving the wrong way, raised £225,328.

Neighbouring Richmond Council has yet to provide its figures for box junctions or bus lanes but raised just £9,750 in the same period from 'other' moving traffic contraventions.

The total paid to Kingston Council by drivers breaking the law on Kingston’s roads came to £889,600.

It earned more than £800,000 between September and March last year after enforcement of moving violations was handed over by police.

How the fines added up:

  • Box junctions: £242,243.84
  • Bus lanes: £422,028.44
  • Other violations: £225,328.27