Tailgating blamed as vehicles hit by rising bollards

New rising automatic bollards in Leicester city centre have hit 24 vehicles since they were installed last year, new figures have shown.

The city council upgraded existing bollards at 19 locations surrounding the pedestrian zone in the city in May 2025.

The authority said in each case CCTV footage showed the vehicles hit had tailgated others and the system's warning lights were on red.

In three of the 24 cases, the collision caused damage to the bollard system, landing the council with a £22,000 repair bill which is due to be recovered from the drivers' insurance.

A Leicester City Council spokesperson said the new automatic bollards were designed to let one vehicle to pass at a time and prevent unauthorised access to keep the public safe.

"We are content that the new system is working as intended," they said.

"Clear signage is in place warning drivers to be careful and avoid tailgating at each of the sites, along with stop-and-go lights and audio warnings."

In May 2025, the council issued a warning to drivers after six vehicles were hit in the space of a fortnight by the new bollards in the city centre.

On 22 May, two vehicles collided with the bollards in High Street in quick succession of each other.

The first, a silver Mitsubishi SUV was left with a blown out tyre, while the second, an Audi A6, appeared to be more seriously damaged, with debris and electrical wires left on the road after the impact.

An eyewitness at the time told the BBC: "A lot of people don't know what to do when they drive up to them.

"[Also] when a car is already going through, they don't realise they need to stop."

In the most recent incident on 22 April, a lorry hit the High Street bollards, which were repaired the next day.

The council spokesperson said: "Since the introduction of new automatic security bollards in May 2025, there have been 24 incidents of vehicles colliding with the bollards.

"This is across all 19 sites where automatic bollards are in operation."

They said an estimated 800 to 900 vehicles enter the city centre pedestrian zone through the new automatic bollards on a typical weekday.

"In each case where a vehicle has collided with an automatic bollard, CCTV evidence shows that the driver was at fault by tailgating and that the system's warning lights were on red," they said.

"In three cases, collisions have caused damage to the automatic bollards system.

"Cost of repairing the system to date is around £22,000 and this will be recovered from the drivers' insurance companies."

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