How many bus lane Penalty Charge Notices Brent Council issues, how much it raises, and how often challenges succeed — from data released under Freedom of Information (ref IRC-89009-Y4Q4G3).
61,296
PCNs issued in 5 years2021/22–2025/26
£2.96m
gross income, 5 yearsnet of costs not held
15,026
PCNs in 2025/26
39%
paid at the £80 discount2025/26
25%
of challenges upheld2025/26
This page reports data released by Brent Council under the Freedom of Information Act (IRC-89009-Y4Q4G3, responded 2026-08-18). Figures are the council's own. BusLaneCheck is independent and not affiliated with the council. Compare every UK authority →
Bus lane PCNs issued per yearGross PCN income per year
Brent's bus lane penalties have risen every year, from 10,548 in 2021/22 to 15,026 in 2025/26 — up 42% over five years, with the sharpest jump in the last year. Income has not followed: it peaked at £629,951 in 2023/24 and fell to £578,960 in 2025/26 even as the penalty rate rose from £130 to £160 in April 2025, so the borough issued its most penalties and collected less money for them than in any year since 2021/22. The count paid at the discounted rate tells the same story, drifting from 6,197 in 2023/24 down to 5,844 while penalties issued rose by 3,055.
Where the cameras are
Brent enforces around 86 camera sites and named them all, among them Cricklewood Broadway, Dudden Hill Lane, High Road at Lancelot Road, Empire Way, Neasden Lane, Blackbird Hill, Kingsbury Road, Harrow Road, Kilburn High Road, Chamberlayne Road, Preston Road, Wembley Park Drive and Stag Lane. No camera-by-camera table is shown on this page, and the reason is worth stating plainly: the per-location breakdown the council released is a dump of every location code its penalty system carries, so alongside genuine camera sites carrying thousands of penalties it lists dozens of controlled-parking-zone rows with one to three penalties each. Those rows sum into the bus lane totals above. Site names also drift from year to year — Empire Way appears four different ways across the five years — so any league table built from the file as supplied would both mis-rank the cameras and present parking rows as bus lane cameras. A follow-up request has gone to the council asking it to confirm which rows are inside the bus lane totals. The authority-level figures on this page are unaffected: they come from the response's summary sheet, and the monthly and per-location breakdowns each add back to them exactly.
Challenges & appeals — do they work?
Formal representations to the council, and appeals to the independent London Tribunals (Environment and Traffic Adjudicators). Drivers made 8,013 formal challenges over 5 years.
Year
Challenges
Upheld
Rejected
Success rate
To tribunal
2021/22
1,338
373
965
28%
78
2022/23
1,382
387
995
28%
91
2023/24
1,568
298
1,270
19%
91
2024/25
1,451
304
1,147
21%
78
2025/26
2,274
566
1,708
25%
142
The council's own figures show the share of challenges upheld went from 28% in 2021/22 to 25% in 2025/26 — so a well-grounded challenge is worth making. Challenging a Brent bus lane PCN is worth doing but the odds are poor and getting worse. The council accepted 28% of the formal representations it received in 2021/22 and 25% in 2025/26, with a low of 19% in 2023/24 — so roughly one challenge in four succeeds. Appeals that go on to the independent adjudicator are rare: 142 in 2025/26 against 15,026 penalties issued, or fewer than one in a hundred. See our guide to appealing a bus lane PCN for the grounds that win.
The fine itself
A bus lane PCN from Brent Council is £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days. It is a civil penalty — there are no licence points. The penalty changed part-way through these figures. A bus lane PCN in a London borough was £130, halved to £65, until 7 April 2025, when the higher band rose to £160 and £80. Four of the five years below therefore ran at the old rate and only 2025/26 ran at the new one, so do not divide the income by £160 to estimate how many drivers paid — the yield works out at £52.92 per penalty in 2021/22 and £38.53 in 2025/26.
What the council does not hold or publish
Income net of operating costs. The council gave gross penalty income only. It was asked for a figure net of the cost of running the cameras and did not provide one, so there is no way to say from this response what Brent clears after enforcement costs.
When each camera started enforcing. The request asked for the date enforcement began at each location. The council supplied a list of camera sites with no dates against them, so the age of any individual camera is not known.
A reliable split by camera. Brent did supply penalties broken down by location, but in a form that cannot be published — see the note under "Where the cameras are" below.