Rat-running drivers caught flouting bus gate rules face being slapped with a £70 fine as new cameras are switched on today.

Sections of Beaver Road and Sackville Crescent in Ashford have long been out of bounds to motorists.

Both routes feature a bus gate zone prohibiting anything other than public transport and taxis from entering the area.

Access to the prohibited part of Beaver Road was previously blocked by a retractable bollard which only allowed access to designated vehicles.

But with the protective post inactive for years, motorists have been flouting the rules and using the route as a shortcut into town, avoiding having to take a 1.4-mile diversion down Norman Road and past the Ashford Designer Outlet on the A2042.

Meanwhile, the second area, a bridge connecting Sackville Crescent and Carlton Road, has long had no access signs in place to stop motorists cheating their journeys across the town.

Yet almost a year after Kent County Council (KCC) announced new automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras would be installed to crack down on the issue, the detection system has been activated in both roads today (Monday).

Those caught unlawfully using the route will be slapped with a £70 penalty charge notice (PCN), reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days.

If the charge is not paid within 56 days a driver’s case will then be passed to a debt collection agency.

Sackville Crescent resident Steven Siegert says action has been long overdue in the area.

The retiree, who has lived in the street for eight years, says he is “in complete agreement with cameras and fines being dished out”.

"We live down the road from St Mary's Primary School and that is the biggest thing people need to take into consideration with all of this,” he said.

"The road is a complete rat-run every day, especially at peak hours.

"When people say about opening the road up to all traffic I don't think they realise how much mayhem that would create.

"So a fine means they can't zip across and drive like a maniac while thinking they'll get away with it.

"If it were up to me, it would be for emergency vehicles only anyway and not even buses or taxis."

Debbie Honeysett, who is based less than a mile away in Beaver Road, has also welcomed action being taken in her street.

The 39-year-old has lived in the road for more than two years and says people have never been more at risk of suffering an accident.

"I have been wanting for cameras for a long time," she said.

"It's not just the extra traffic which is a problem but the fact there are so many near-misses at the junction where the shop is [Store 93] when cars shouldn't be coming down here.

"Drivers try and nip through but end up nearly colliding with those of us who live here, so there's always horns blaring.

"So I'm really chuffed something proper is being done because it will hopefully prevent a serious accident from happening.

"It should be quieter too with only buses and taxis in what is a really tight residential area."

Joanne Lambert, 54, has lived in Beaver Road for 34 years.

Echoing Miss Honeysett's views, she added: "Everyone just wants to live in peace and quiet and when you have cars whizzing up the road it is dangerous.

"People drive through the area when they shouldn't to get to the station and things like that, so I completely agree with the decision."

In February, emergency services were forced to respond to an accident on the stretch involving a cyclist and car at the junction with Torrington Road.

Although both walked away without any injuries, former councillor and Ashford Mayor, Jenny Webb, previously said she feared

it was only a matter of time before a serious incident occurred on the stretch without any action being taken.

"Speeding along Beaver Road has become an even more unacceptable danger to pedestrians and cyclists, and also for the drivers who are not reckless," she said.

“We have roads that are one-way but constantly - despite adequate signage - used as two-way.

“The pedestrian crossing outside of KFC has become a serious hazard for pedestrians.

"Drivers ignore the fact it is a pedestrian crossing."

KCC's parking and enforcement manager, Lorna Day, has played down claims the camera technology is being used to help the cash-strapped local authority generate extra income.

"Making money is not an aim of enforcing moving traffic violations,” she noted in council documents ahead of a meeting of Ashford Borough Council’s (ABC) joint transportation board tomorrow (Tuesday).

"We have taken on these powers to make a difference to the highway network and not as a source of financial income.

"We hope better enforcement will help improve the compliance at these sites to make the necessary safety, congestion and public transport improvements.

"As compliance improves, the number of PCNs will hopefully fall."

Ms Day says the Bluebell Road bridge, on the Bridgefield estate in Kingsnorth, will become the third bus gate zone in Ashford to see ANPR cameras installed.

However, she says no timeframe is on the cards for the route connecting to Finn Farm Road yet.

"[It] has not yet been adopted as a public highway,” she said.

"KCC is doing everything in its power to contact, and work with, the developer of the site (Taylor Wimpey) to ensure this process is fulfilled with no further delay, but, unfortunately, we are struggling to get a response.

"We cannot proceed until the developer gives agreement for cameras to be introduced on this land."

A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: “At our Park Farm development at Bridgefield, there is a bus link which links our development to a neighbouring development. This is currently under construction by Crest Nicholson.

"When the neighbouring development is complete, we will be able to open the bus link from Damara Way.

"We have consistently engaged with KCC and ABC on this matter, and continue to work closely with KCC to achieve adoption of the roads over the coming months.”

Previously, offences such as driving through no entry signs and driving vehicles on routes marked for buses and taxis only could only be enforced by the police.

But new powers given to local authorities across the UK by the government in 2022 - under the Traffic Management Act 2004 - has led to the likes of KCC taking enforcement action against traffic offences.