Complaint
During an interview with Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, Nick Robinson said “more and more councils are doing these low traffic neighbourhoods where you don’t even have those exemptions do you? You cannot use your carâ€. A listener complained that it was untrue to suggest that cars were excluded from low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s editorial standards of due accuracy.
Outcome
Although LTNs restrict the use of cars, they do not exclude them, and the statement “You cannot use your car†did not meet the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s standards of accuracy as they apply to news programmes of this kind. However, the ECU noted that Â鶹ԼÅÄ News had posted the following on the Corrections and Clarifications page of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ website:
In a reference to the introduction by some councils of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) we said that ‘you cannot use your car’.
While LTNs do restrict access to stop through traffic, vehicles can still be used, though some journeys will be less direct and may take longer.
In the ECU’s judgement, this sufficed to resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved