How many bus lane Penalty Charge Notices London Borough of Merton issues, from which cameras, how much it raises, and how often challenges succeed — from data released under Freedom of Information (ref F776).
12,855
PCNs issued in 2 years2024/25–2025/26
£783,923
gross income, 2 yearsnet of costs not held
8,378
PCNs in 2025/26across 14 cameras
60%
paid at the £80 discount2025/26
15%
of challenges upheld2025/26
This page reports data released by London Borough of Merton under the Freedom of Information Act (F776, responded 2026-08-04). Figures are the council's own. BusLaneCheck is independent and not affiliated with the council. The source documents are linked at the foot of this page. Compare every UK authority →
Bus lane PCNs issued per yearGross PCN income per year
Bus lane PCNs rose from 4,477 in the nine months to March 2025 to 8,378 in 2025/26, and income from £255,220 to £528,702 — most of it new cameras coming on stream rather than existing ones catching more drivers. Upper Green East is the busiest bus lane site at 1,591 PCNs in 2025/26, followed by Hartfield Road's three cameras at 2,465 between them. Merton is one of the few councils in this dataset to record how many PCNs were paid at the discount: 5,044 of 8,378 in 2025/26, or 60%. The first four months of 2026/27, which the council also supplied, run at 3,228 bus lane PCNs and £144,685 — ahead of the same point the year before.
Which cameras issue the most fines
Camera-enforced bus lane locations ranked by PCNs issued in 2025/26. The last column is the 2-year total.
Merton gave a camera-by-camera, month-by-month table, and the rows here group its 14 bus lane cameras onto the eight roads that have a lane page on this site — Hartfield Road carries three cameras and London Road in Mitcham four. Four cameras only start issuing during 2025/26 (London Road at Crescent Grove, Morden Road, Pepys Road and The Broadway at Palmerston Road), which is most of the year-on-year rise. Two further camera sites in the same response are excluded from every figure on this page because they are not bus lanes: London Road at St Marks Road (contravention 33H, a restricted route — 3,531 PCNs in 2024/25 and 7,932 in 2025/26) and Queens Road at The Broadway (33J — 341 and 502). Both have their own pages on this site. Counting them would have raised the 2025/26 headline from 8,378 to 16,812 — the London Road restricted route alone issues more PCNs than any bus lane in the borough.
Challenges & appeals — do they work?
Formal representations to the council, and appeals to the independent London Tribunals (the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators). Drivers made 1,887 formal challenges over 2 years.
Year
Challenges
Upheld
Rejected
Success rate
To tribunal
2024/25
656
106
387
16%
12 (3 allowed / 6 dismissed)
2025/26
1,231
188
1,015
15%
31 (2 allowed / 15 dismissed)
The council's own figures show the share of challenges upheld went from 16% in 2024/25 to 15% in 2025/26 — so a well-grounded challenge is worth making. See our guide to appealing a bus lane PCN for the grounds that win.
The fine itself
A bus lane PCN from London Borough of Merton is £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days. It is a civil penalty — there are no licence points. The FOI response did not restate the penalty. £160, halved to £80 within 14 days, is the London bus lane penalty already recorded on all ten Merton lane pages, and it is consistent with the money reported: £528,702 across 8,378 PCNs in 2025/26, with 5,044 of them paid at the £80 discount.
What the council does not hold or publish
Anything before July 2024. Merton's PCN records are purged under its retention policy, so the response starts at July 2024: the 2024/25 figures here cover nine months (July 2024 to March 2025), not a full year. Earlier years are not held.
The bus lanes behind these cameras
Each of these locations has a full page with operating hours, permitted vehicles and the governing traffic order: