Parking · rights · charges

Bus lanes and bus gates

A bus lane ticket is a council penalty charge notice: same Act, same tribunal and same money as a parking ticket. It arrives by post from a camera, the discount period is 21 days rather than 14, and there is no warning for a first offence.

UK-specific guidanceSources shown on every guideReviewed 14 September 2026

A bus lane ticket is a council penalty charge notice. It comes from the same council, under the same Act, with the same money and the same tribunal as a parking ticket — the only difference is that you were moving at the time.

That matters more than it sounds. People appeal to the wrong place, or assume the deadline they remember from a windscreen ticket applies here. It does not: these arrive by post from a camera, so you get longer to take the discount — and you get no warning for a first offence.

Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 6
Schedule 7 to the Traffic Management Act 2004 lists the signs and road markings that can be enforced this way. It has separate tables for England and for Wales.
Traffic Management Act 2004: statutory guidance for local authorities outside London on civil enforcement of bus lane and moving traffic contraventions

What counts as a bus lane contravention

A bus lane or bus gate is a length of road reserved for buses, and often for cycles and taxis as well. Which vehicles are allowed varies from lane to lane, and the sign is what decides it — a bus-and-cycle route in one town is not a bus, cycle and taxi route in the next.

A bus gate is a short section, often in the middle of a junction, with no way out once you are in it. That is the expensive version of the same mistake: by the time the sign registers, there is no turning.

Schedule 7 lists diagram 952 (buses prohibited), 953 (route for buses, pedal cycles and taxis only) and 953.1 (tramcars). The Wales table adds bus lane diagrams 958, 959 and 960.

The hours are on the sign, and they are not standard

The restriction applies during the hours the traffic order sets, and the statutory guidance encourages authorities to consider whether restrictions should apply beyond the normal working day, during the small hours, and at weekends. So the hours are not standard, and «it was the evening» is not an answer on its own — it is a question about what the sign said.

There is no warning for a first offence

There is no warning for a first bus lane contravention.
The statutory guidance sets out a warning notice for a driver's first moving traffic contravention, for six months at each new camera site. It says nothing of the kind about bus lanes, and no other provision supplies one.

A first trip through a bus gate is a charge. A first trip through a box junction may be a warning. Same council, same camera technology, different answer.

Box junctions and banned turns, where a first offence may get a warning →

What it costs

The charge is set at the same level as a higher-level parking contravention — the amounts already given on this site for council penalty charge notices. The Secretary of State sets them in regulations; the council does not pick a figure.

BandChargeIf paid early
Band 1 £60 £30
Band 2 £70 £35

These are the higher-level council penalty charges — the same figures that apply to the more serious parking contraventions.

21 days, not fourteen. These notices are almost always served by post from camera evidence, so the discount period is the camera one — longer than the fourteen days people expect from a windscreen ticket. The discount is half the charge.

Who has to pay it

The person liable is the registered keeper. The person liable is the vehicle owner, which the guidance presumes to be the person in whose name the vehicle is registered with the DVLA.

This is worth holding next to the private track. A council does not have to identify the driver — it goes to the registered keeper as a matter of course. A private operator has to satisfy the four conditions in Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 before it can do the same. Same acronym on the envelope, completely different starting position.

How keeper liability works on private land →

How to challenge it

Representations to the council first. If the council rejects them it must issue a notice of rejection, and that is what opens the appeal to an independent adjudicator.

The adjudicator is the same one that hears parking cases: London Tribunals for notices issued in London, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for England outside London and for Wales. Free to use, and no solicitor needed.

Both tribunals are free to use, and you do not need a solicitor.

The full council appeal process, stage by stage →

What decides these cases

What decides these cases is usually the same handful of things.

  • Whether the camera enforcement sign (diagram 878) was present.
  • Whether the sign permitted your class of vehicle — taxis and cycles are not automatically included.
  • Whether the restriction was in force at the time of day you drove through.
  • Whether the sign or marking is the one Schedule 7 allows to be enforced, and whether it was there, visible and lit as required.
  • Whether the traffic order behind the sign was validly made — the same two-part question that applies to a yellow line.
  • For a box junction, whether the exit was genuinely clear when you entered, and whether you stopped because of circumstances beyond your control.
  • Whether you were within the six-month warning period at that camera site.
  • Whether the notice reached the registered keeper within the statutory deadlines.

Camera enforcement requires a sign complying with Schedule 11, Part 2, Item 63 of the traffic signs regulations — diagram 878. Whether that sign was present is one of the first things to check on a bus lane notice.

Why the traffic order behind a sign is a separate question →

Common questions

Is a bus lane ticket the same as a parking ticket?
In every way that affects you, yes. It is a council penalty charge notice issued under the Traffic Management Act 2004, it costs the same as a higher-level parking contravention, and it is heard by the same tribunal. The only difference is that you were moving when it was issued.
How long do I have to pay the reduced amount?
You have 21 days from the date the notice is served, and the reduction is half the charge. That is longer than the fourteen days people remember from a ticket stuck to a windscreen, because these are served by post from camera evidence.
Do I get a warning the first time?
No. The statutory guidance sets out a warning notice for a driver's first moving traffic contravention, for six months at each new camera site. It says nothing of the kind about bus lanes, and no other provision supplies one. A first trip through a bus gate is a charge, not a warning.
Can taxis and cycles use bus lanes?
Sometimes, and the sign is what decides it. Some lanes are for buses and cycles; others add taxis; others are buses only. A lane you use lawfully in one town tells you nothing about the next one, so the sign at the entry is the thing to read.
What is a bus gate?
A bus gate is a short section, often in the middle of a junction, with no way out once you are in it. That is the expensive version of the same mistake: by the time the sign registers, there is no turning.
Who is liable — me or whoever was driving?
The registered keeper. A council does not have to identify the driver: the notice goes to the person in whose name the vehicle is registered with the DVLA, as a matter of course. That is the opposite of a private parking charge, where the operator has to satisfy four statutory conditions before it can pursue the keeper.
Where do I appeal a bus lane PCN?
To the council first, by making representations. Only if the council rejects them and issues a notice of rejection does the appeal open to an independent adjudicator — London Tribunals for notices issued in London, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for England outside London and for Wales. Both are free and you do not need a solicitor.

Sources

Figures last checked 8 September 2026