Bus Lane and Yellow Box Fines: When You Can Appeal

What this ticket is

A camera caught your car, and the council has posted you a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). It's a civil penalty, not a conviction. You can challenge it, the clock starts when the notice is served, and outside London the half-price period is usually 21 days.

That makes it a different animal from a windscreen parking ticket. In England outside London there's no informal challenge stage and no Notice to Owner. The first letter you get is the one you answer. London works a little differently, which the London section covers.

Three things decide whether it's worth fighting. Did the contravention happen as the law defines it? Was the notice issued properly and on time? And does one of the statutory grounds fit your facts?

Check which ticket you're holding

• A PCN that arrived by post, from a council or Transport for London, with a still image or a link to footage. That's the camera route. It's what this page covers.
• A Fixed Penalty Notice or a Notice of Intended Prosecution from the police. Different system, and it can carry penalty points. Our guide to a notice of intended prosecution covers it.
• A "parking charge" from a company. That's a private claim, not a penalty. See how to dispute a parking fine.

Part of our guide to laws and fines.

Yellow box junctions: when stopping in one is a contravention

The rule is narrower than most people remember from their driving test.

The test in the regulations

The law is in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016, Schedule 9, Part 7, paragraph 11. You must not cause a vehicle to enter the box "so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles". A car with only its back end in the box still counts as stopped in it.

So the question is what was in front of you when you entered. If the traffic beyond the box was already stationary or bunching up, driving in was the contravention. Stopping for a red light or a pedestrian isn't covered by those words.

The right-turn exception

At a junction box, you may enter to turn right and wait. That holds for as long as oncoming traffic, or another vehicle waiting to turn right, stops you completing the turn. It doesn't let you sit in the box for any other reason.

The exception is written for boxes at a junction between roads. It doesn't cover a box on a roundabout or gyratory, or one outside the entrance to a fire, police or ambulance station. A box painted along a narrow two-way road, away from a junction, has its own wording. Don't assume the right-turn rule carries over.

Who is exempt

Fire, ambulance and police vehicles are exempt when keeping out of the box would be likely to hinder the job. So are a few others, such as bomb disposal, special forces and the National Crime Agency. Ordinary drivers aren't on the list.

What the Highway Code says that the regulations don't

Rule 174 of the Highway Code says you "MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear". That's stricter than the regulation, which only bites when you stop because of stationary vehicles.

In 2013 a panel of three London adjudicators looked at exactly this gap. Their decision, published by London Tribunals, said the Code "steps rather beyond what is required by the Regulation". They judged the contravention on the driver's choices at the point of entry.

Traffic that stopped after a driver entered was "his risk", and the contravention stood. But a van cutting across the exit was outside the driver's judgment, and that appeal succeeded.

Treat that decision with care. It's London only, it's persuasive rather than binding, and it was decided under the 2002 regulations. The operative words are the same in the 2016 version. I couldn't find an outside-London tribunal decision on the same point, so don't quote it as settled law to a council in Manchester.

Bus lanes: when driving in one is a contravention

A bus lane contravention is breaking the traffic order that reserves that stretch of road for buses, alone or with other named vehicles. The sign and the order decide everything. Hours of operation, which vehicles may use it, and whether a bus gate counts are all set locally.

The Highway Code default

Rule 141 says you "should not drive in a bus lane during its period of operation" unless signs say otherwise. It also says you may enter one to stop, load or unload where that isn't prohibited. The legal duty comes from the council's order, not from the Code.

There's no national list of who may use a bus lane. Taxis, private hire cars, motorbikes and pedal cycles are allowed on some and not others. Read the sign in the still the council sent you.

Stopping in a bus lane is a different ticket

Parking or loading in a bus lane is dealt with under the parking rules, not as a bus lane contravention. That ticket can be put on the windscreen or, where a camera caught it, sent by post. The discount and the steps then follow the parking rules for that route. Don't mix the two up when you read the notice.

Bus gates and bus-only streets

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal describes bus gates as short sections of road closed to everything but buses, taxis, private hire vehicles and cycles.

Depending on how the council has set them up, they're camera-enforced as bus lane or moving traffic contraventions. Moving traffic is the group a yellow box belongs to. In England outside London, the procedure is the same either way. In London it isn't: a bus lane PCN has an Enforcement Notice stage and a moving traffic PCN doesn't, so check which one your notice says it is.

Where to read the order

Ask the council for the traffic order covering the location. It should name the length of the lane and the vehicles allowed to use it. If the hours on the order and the hours on the sign don't match, say so.

Who can fine you, and for how much

Bus lane and moving traffic penalties are "higher level" charges in England. That phrase just means the council must use the top figure in whichever band it has chosen. The amount depends on where you were.

England outside London

A council needs to be designated by the Secretary of State for Transport before it can enforce either. New designations are made by order, and DfT's guidance says the vast majority of councils already hold bus lane powers, some under older orders or notices that still stand. Yellow boxes are different: they come under the moving traffic powers councils have been able to take on since 2022.

The first twelve councils got moving traffic powers in July 2022. There's no single current list I'd trust, so check your council's website for "moving traffic enforcement" before you assume the ticket is valid.

Outside London, a bus lane or moving traffic PCN may only be based on a record from an approved camera device. An officer's say-so isn't enough.

London

London runs its own regime under the London local authorities Acts. The England regulations don't apply there.

The front end differs too. London Tribunals says many London authorities will consider an informal challenge, but it isn't part of the formal process. For a bus lane PCN that's still unpaid after 28 days, the authority can send an Enforcement Notice, and you then have 28 days to pay or make representations. The £160 figure was set by notice in the London Gazette for all 32 boroughs and the City.

The discount period is where sources disagree. London Tribunals' bus lane page says half price "if the authority receives payment within the first 14 days". London Councils' charges page says 14 days, or 21 days if the PCN came from a CCTV operation. Read the dates printed on your own notice and work to those.

Wales

Wales has its own regulations. The 2013 charging order puts bus lane and moving traffic in the higher level, with the same £60 and £70 bands as England. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal hears Welsh appeals. I couldn't source which Welsh councils enforce which restrictions, so again, check your council.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland's council charge notices cover bus lanes only, in three cities. Elsewhere in Scotland, mygov.scot says a bus lane fine will be either a council penalty charge notice or a police fixed penalty. The yellow box rule applies in Scotland, but no source I found says who enforces it by camera.

Northern Ireland's bus lane PCN runs through the Department for Infrastructure. It has a challenge stage and a Notice to Owner, so it's closer to the parking route than the English camera one. Who enforces a yellow box there, and for how much, I couldn't source.

How a camera ticket's clock differs from a windscreen ticket

Our parking fine guide walks the full council route: tribunal, review, charge certificate, Order for Recovery. All of that applies here too. What differs is the front end.

The registered keeper is the person DVLA records as responsible for registering and taxing the vehicle. Not necessarily the owner, and not necessarily the driver.

The 28-day issuing limit has three extensions. The main one runs to six months, where the council asked DVLA for your details within 14 days and DVLA hadn't replied. Don't lean on the 28 days as a defence until you've checked the dates.

The council can set aside representations received after 28 days. "May disregard" isn't "must refuse", and the guidance encourages discretion where there's a good reason. Send them anyway, and say why they're late.

Once your representations are in, the council has 56 days to answer. If it misses that, it's treated as having accepted them. That means the PCN is cancelled, and any money is refunded. A rejection gives you 28 days to appeal to the adjudicator or pay.

What to check on the notice, and the grounds that matter

Nobody remembers an ordinary journey three weeks later. So start with the evidence.

Ask for the footage

For a camera PCN, you're entitled to view the record or to be sent still images, free of charge. The council must comply within a reasonable time. That's regulation 3 of the Representations and Appeals Regulations 2022. The DfT guidance says a clear copy of the still should be sent on request.

Look at four things:

• The exact time against the hours on the sign.
• The sign and road markings as they appear in the frame.
• For a box, what was beyond it as you entered.
• Whether the vehicle in the image is yours.

The statutory grounds, in plain English

If the council accepts that one of these applies, it must cancel the PCN. An adjudicator who finds one applies must allow the appeal.

1. The contravention didn't happen. Wrong hours, a permitted vehicle, markings or signs that didn't convey the restriction, or a box entry that doesn't meet the test above.
2. You weren't the owner. You never were, you'd sold the car before the date, or you bought it after.
3. The car was taken without your consent.
4. You're a hire firm and the hirer signed a statement of liability.
5. The penalty is more than the amount allowed.
6. Procedural impropriety. The council failed to do something the law requires, or did it outside the time allowed.
7. The traffic order itself is invalid.
8. The notice shouldn't have been sent, because you'd already paid, in full or at the discount in time.

Don't pay if you mean to challenge. The right to make representations against a camera PCN applies only while the charge is unpaid. That's regulation 4 of the Representations and Appeals Regulations 2022, which, for bus lane and moving traffic PCNs, apply in England outside London.

What procedural impropriety covers

The regulations define it as a failure to observe any requirement imposed on the council by the Act or the 2022 regulations. That includes doing a step late. A PCN posted outside the 28-day window and its extensions, a notice missing required information, or a council that didn't answer within 56 days are all candidates.

Compelling reasons

Representations can also rest on compelling reasons, even where no ground applies. For a bus lane, the DfT guidance says that generally means entry was unavoidable: to avoid an accident, a medical emergency, or because the restriction wasn't adequately signed.

This is the council's discretion. If you lose at the council and appeal, the adjudicator can't allow the appeal on compelling reasons alone.

Outside London, they can recommend the council cancel it. The council then has 35 days to reconsider, and silence counts as accepting. In London, adjudicators can't allow an appeal for mitigating circumstances at all.

The first-contravention warning

DfT's statutory guidance says councils outside London "should issue warning notices for first-time moving traffic contraventions". That runs for six months at each camera location after enforcement starts, and the guidance names a long-established box junction newly enforced by camera as an example.

It's guidance, not a right. It covers moving traffic, not bus lanes, and it isn't in the regulations. Councils need only have regard to it.

But the guidance also says an adjudicator may treat an unexplained departure from it as a procedural impropriety. So if your PCN came in a camera's first six months, say so, and ask the council to explain.

The police-already-acting rule

No penalty charge is payable where the same conduct is the subject of criminal proceedings or a police fixed penalty notice. If you've already paid the council, it must refund you. That's regulation 8 of the 2022 General Regulations.

The police can still deal with a yellow box or bus lane breach as a criminal offence instead. For a yellow box, that's failing to comply with a traffic sign. The box marking isn't one of the signs that carry penalty points, though, so a police fixed penalty for it doesn't go on your licence. The civil PCN is the alternative, not an addition.

Pay or fight?

If the footage shows you entering a box behind a queue that was already standing, I'd pay at the discount and move on. If the exit was clear when you crossed the line, or the sign hours don't match the timestamp, write it up with the still attached. Outside London, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal describes its appeals as free, and its adjudicators are lawyers independent of the council.

What you risk by challenging is the discount. The tribunal's glossary says councils "will usually hold" a camera PCN at the discounted rate while representations are considered.

Its process page says the full amount applies after a Notice of Rejection. The DfT guidance only says a council "should set out the dates" if it chooses to re-offer. Check your rejection letter for a fresh discount date before you assume one.

If you weren't the driver, or you sold the car

A camera PCN goes to whoever DVLA lists as keeper. Who was driving doesn't change that, which is why the grounds are framed around ownership rather than fault.

• Sold the car before the date? That's a ground. Your representations must give the buyer's name and address if you know them. Evidence of the sale, such as when you told DVLA, will help. Our guides to paperwork when selling and keeping your V5C updated cover what should have happened.
• Hire or lease car? The hire firm can transfer liability where the hirer signed a statement of liability under a qualifying agreement. Expect the notice to be re-served on you.
• Courtesy car from a garage? The same mechanism, with its own wrinkles. See a PCN on a courtesy car.
• Car stolen or taken without consent? That's a ground. A crime reference helps.

Our free car check shows the date the current logbook was issued and the MOT history. The logbook date can help you place a sale in time, though on its own it doesn't prove why a new V5C was issued.

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