How many bus lane Penalty Charge Notices City of Doncaster Council issues, from which cameras, how much it raises, and how often challenges succeed — from data released under Freedom of Information (ref 71622).
92,837
PCNs issued in 5 years2021/22–2025/26
£2.98m
gross income, 5 yearsnet of costs not held
16,347
PCNs in 2025/26across 7 cameras
41%
of challenges upheld2025/26
This page reports data released by City of Doncaster Council under the Freedom of Information Act (71622, responded 2026-09-03). 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
Doncaster issued 92,837 bus lane penalties in the five years to March 2026 and collected just under £3m. The trend is strongly downward: 24,892 penalties in 2021/22 fell to 15,039 by 2023/24 and has since settled around 16,000 a year, a third below where it started. Almost all of that fall came from one road — Cleveland Street dropped from 8,998 penalties to 1,645 in two years — while Waterdale, the busiest camera, has stayed close to 7,000 every single year.
Which cameras issue the most fines
Camera-enforced bus lane locations ranked by PCNs issued in 2025/26. The last column is the 5-year total.
Eight locations appear in the council's figures. Seven still have a working camera and have a page on this site; the eighth, Bennetthorpe, issued 144 penalties in 2021/22 and 21 in 2022/23 and has issued none since, which is consistent with the camera having been taken out. Bennetthorpe's own page on this site records that Doncaster's current published camera list does not include it, and these figures do not change that — they show what the road used to do, not what it does now. Two of the seven started during the period rather than at the beginning of it: South Parade issued nothing in 2021/22 and 2,110 the following year, and Powerhouse Lane issued 49 in 2023/24 before rising to 1,104 the year after.
Challenges & appeals — do they work?
Formal representations to the council, and appeals to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Drivers made 14,609 formal challenges over 5 years.
Year
Challenges
Upheld
Rejected
Success rate
To tribunal
2021/22
3,855
1,157
383
30%
18
2022/23
3,071
1,543
400
50%
24
2023/24
2,309
940
285
41%
10
2024/25
2,690
1,060
241
39%
13
2025/26
2,684
1,109
200
41%
11
The council's own figures show the share of challenges upheld went from 30% in 2021/22 to 41% in 2025/26 — so a well-grounded challenge is worth making. Doncaster accepts a large share of the challenges it receives. Across the five years, 5,809 representations were accepted against 1,509 rejected — roughly four accepted for every one turned down, which is an unusually generous ratio. Very few cases go further: 76 appeals reached the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in five years, out of more than 92,000 penalties. Of those, the council did not contest 19, and the tribunal allowed 10 and rejected 43. One caveat on reading the representation figures: accepted and rejected together come to well short of the number received in every year — 1,540 of 3,855 in 2021/22, for instance — so a large share of representations are recorded under neither outcome. The council did not explain the gap and we have not assumed one. See our guide to appealing a bus lane PCN for the grounds that win.
The fine itself
A bus lane PCN from City of Doncaster Council is £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days. It is a civil penalty — there are no licence points. £70, halved to £35 if paid within 21 days — the standard English rate and the standard 21-day window, both stated on the council's own bus lane enforcement page.
What the council does not hold or publish
Penalties paid at the discounted rate. How many of these penalties were paid at the £35 rate rather than £70 is not shown here. Doncaster refused the first version of this request under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act — the cost limit — and the narrowed request that produced the figures on this page dropped the discount question along with the month-by-month split in order to come in under that limit. The council did give the number of payment transactions each year, which is a different thing: it counts payments received, not the rate they were paid at.
Month-by-month penalties. The figures here are annual. The monthly breakdown was dropped from the request for the same cost reason as the discount question, so seasonal patterns and the exact month a camera switched on are not shown.
Income net of the cost of running the cameras. The income below is the money collected. Doncaster has not been asked for, and has not given, what the enforcement operation costs to run, so no net figure is shown.
The bus lanes behind these cameras
Each of these locations has a full page with operating hours, permitted vehicles and the governing traffic order: