York Bus Lane Fines — PCNs & Income

How many bus lane Penalty Charge Notices City of York Council issues, from which cameras, how much it raises — from data released under Freedom of Information (ref RF-25428).

43,936
PCNs issued in 5 years2021/22–2025/26
£851,000
gross income, 5 years£239,000 net of operating costs
18,001
PCNs in 2025/26across 2 cameras
This page reports data released by City of York Council under the Freedom of Information Act (RF-25428, responded 2026-08-14). 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 year
8,0862021/227,4372022/235,2092023/245,2032024/2518,0012025/26
Gross PCN income per year
£206,0002021/22£197,0002022/23£125,0002023/24£104,0002024/25£219,0002025/26

The headline is what happened when the new cameras switched on. Across the four years to 2024/25 York issued between 5,203 and 8,086 penalties a year, and the number was falling. Then 2025/26 produced 18,001 — more than the previous three years put together — from only eight months of live enforcement. Coppergate went from roughly 364 penalties a month to 1,783, nearly five times as many, and its heaviest single month was its first: 2,269 in August 2025. Low Poppleton Lane rose more modestly to about 467 a month, though October 2025 stands out at 1,660 against 184 to 424 in every other month of that year. Replacement cameras almost always produce a spike like this while drivers relearn a restriction, so 2025/26 should not be read as a permanent new level — but on this scale it is worth heeding at Coppergate in particular. The money moved with it: £219,000 in 2025/26 against £104,000 the year before, and £137,000 of that was kept after operating costs, more than the previous four years combined.

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.

Location2025/26PCNs (2025/26)5-year total
Coppergate14,26331,657
Low Poppleton Lane3,73812,279

York enforces just two bus lanes by camera and has done throughout the period covered here: Coppergate in the city centre, and Low Poppleton Lane on the north-western edge of the city. Coppergate does most of the work — 31,657 penalties over five years against 12,279 at Low Poppleton Lane — and its share has grown rather than shrunk. The council reported income separately for each: Coppergate brought in £641,000 across the five years against £210,000 at Low Poppleton Lane. Both sites had their camera equipment replaced during 2025/26. Enforcement stopped altogether from April 2025, and after commissioning, testing and a period of warning notices rather than penalties, both cameras went live again on 1 August 2025.

The fine itself

A bus lane PCN from City of York 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, as both York lane pages already carry from the council's own bus lane enforcement pages. The FOI response did not restate it. The money reported is consistent with it: across five years the council took £851,000 on 43,936 penalties, an average of £19 each, which sits below the £35 discounted rate as it must when income is banked in the year it arrives and a proportion of penalties are cancelled or never paid.

What the council does not hold or publish

  • PCNs paid at the discounted rate. The council's previous enforcement system cannot produce a five-year breakdown of how many penalties were paid at the discounted rate, and its current system does not cover the whole period consistently. Because the request asked for nothing that would require manual compilation, the council did not review individual penalty records by hand. There is therefore no way to say what share of York drivers paid £35 rather than £70.
  • Challenges, representations and tribunal appeals. Given the same answer: no readily reportable five-year breakdown exists across the council's old and current systems, and producing one would mean interrogating individual case records. Neither the number of drivers who formally challenged a York bus lane penalty nor how many of them won is available. This was not refused under an exemption — the council does not hold it in the form asked for.
  • Three months of 2024/25, and a 1,732-penalty disagreement in the council's own figures. The monthly spreadsheet records January, February and March 2025 as "NC" — not collected — at both cameras, so there is no month-by-month picture of that quarter. That leaves the year's total unresolved. The council's letter puts Low Poppleton Lane at 1,926 penalties in 2024/25, but its own monthly sheet for the same year adds up to 194. Every other year reconciles between letter and spreadsheet to the exact penalty at both sites, so this is a single unexplained cell rather than a pattern. The figure used on this page is the 1,926 from the letter, being the council's direct answer to the question asked, but the true 2024/25 total may be up to 1,732 lower.
  • When enforcement first began at each camera. The council gave only the date live enforcement recommenced after the equipment was replaced — 1 August 2025 at both sites — and no original start date for either. Both cameras were already issuing penalties in April 2021, where this data begins, so both are older than the figures here show.
  • Income to the penny. The council reported income in round thousands — £93k, £113k and so on — rather than exact amounts. Every money figure on this page carries that rounding, so the totals are good to within a few thousand pounds and no closer.

The bus lanes behind these cameras

Each of these locations has a full page with operating hours, permitted vehicles and the governing traffic order: