How many bus lane Penalty Charge Notices Southampton City Council issues, from which cameras, how much it raises — from data released under Freedom of Information (ref SCC-107517).
167,854
PCNs issued in 5 years2021/22–2025/26
£1.22m
gross income, 5 yearsnet of costs not held
78,028
PCNs in 2025/26across 9 cameras
This page reports data released by Southampton City Council under the Freedom of Information Act (SCC-107517, 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
Southampton's bus lane penalties have grown fivefold in five years, from 15,681 in 2021/22 to 78,028 in 2025/26, and almost all of that growth is new cameras rather than worse driving at the old ones. The income the council reports moves the other way, peaking at £286,356 in 2023/24 and falling to £207,495 in 2025/26 — but the two are not measuring the same thing at the same moment. The council confirmed that each year's income figure is the money attached to the penalties issued in that year rather than the cash it took in that year, so the newest years are still being collected and will rise. Treat the recent figures as incomplete rather than as a fall in revenue, and treat all of them as gross: the council holds no figure net of what the cameras cost to run.
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.
Location
2025/26
PCNs (2025/26)
5-year total
Enforced since
Castle Way camera (enforces the Portland Terrace bus gate)
Nine cameras, and almost the whole of the last two years is two places. The Portland Terrace bus gate is watched by two of them — the second sits on Castle Way and is named after it, which is why the council's own tables report Portland Terrace penalties under two headings — and between them they issued 47,603 penalties in 2025/26. Add East Park Terrace, which opened in April 2025 and issued 11,135 in its first year, and two locations account for 58,738 of the city's 78,028 penalties: three quarters of the total, from cameras that did not exist three years ago. The four oldest sites moved the other way, Shirley Road, New Road, Vincents Walk and Northam Road between them issuing fewer penalties in 2025/26 than in 2021/22. Two school-street gates, Honeysuckle Road and Violet Road, were left out of the council's first answer altogether and only confirmed as camera sites when it was asked again. Castle Way itself does not appear here at all: the council confirmed it has never issued a penalty at the Castle Way school street, which the police enforce.
Challenges & appeals — do they work?
The council does not record whether it accepts or rejects formal challenges, so there is no success rate to report. It did give the outcomes of appeals to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal, and those have turned sharply against drivers as the new cameras came on: in 2022/23 the tribunal allowed 34 appeals and dismissed 28, while in 2025/26 it allowed 32 and dismissed 134. Across the five years drivers won 132 appeals outright, a further 95 were not contested by the council, and 304 were dismissed. See our guide to appealing a bus lane PCN for the grounds that win.
The fine itself
A bus lane PCN from Southampton City Council is £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days. It is a civil penalty — there are no licence points. The freedom of information response did not restate the penalty. £70, halved to £35 if paid within 21 days, is the amount already recorded on all ten Southampton lane pages from the council's own traffic orders.
What the council does not hold or publish
Penalties paid at the discounted rate. The council does not hold this. In its words, paid penalties are grouped together and there is no way for it to separate the ones paid at the discounted rate.
The outcome of formal challenges. Also not held: the council said its system does not allow it to keep track of whether challenges were accepted or rejected. Tribunal appeal outcomes were supplied and are described below.
Monthly penalties for bus lanes only. The first monthly series the council supplied covers every kind of penalty, parking included — it confirmed as much when asked, saying the figures cover all PCNs including parking. It totals between 2.6 and 5.9 times the bus lane counts above in every year and is not used on this page. A genuine bus-lane-only monthly series was supplied alongside the clarification and is held in the response archive.
Income net of what enforcement costs. The council gave gross penalty income only. There is no figure here for what running the cameras costs, so nothing on this page is a profit figure.
The bus lanes behind these cameras
Each of these locations has a full page with operating hours, permitted vehicles and the governing traffic order: