Bus Lane Camera — Approval or Calibration Certificate Absent

CCTV cameras used for bus lane enforcement must be type-approved by the Secretary of State and kept in calibrated working order. Operators must be able to produce evidence of the camera's type approval and current calibration certificate. Absence of either renders the footage legally inadmissible as evidence for enforcement purposes.

Legal basis

Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71); Secretary of State type-approval conditions

How to identify this in your case

Challenge was issued based on CCTV footage. Submit a Subject Access Request and an informal request for: (a) the camera's Secretary of State approval reference, (b) the current calibration certificate, (c) the maintenance log for the 30 days prior to the contravention date. Failure to produce any of these is grounds for cancellation.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

Dear Representations Team, Re: PCN [NUMBER] — Vehicle [REG] I write to formally challenge this bus lane PCN and to make a disclosure request. The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices) Regulations require that cameras used for civil parking/bus lane enforcement are type-approved and properly maintained. I formally request: 1. The Secretary of State approval reference for the camera that captured the alleged contravention 2. The current calibration certificate valid at the date of the alleged contravention 3. The camera maintenance log for the 30 days preceding the contravention If the council is unable to produce these documents, the footage cannot be relied upon as evidence and the PCN must be cancelled. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Bus Lane Camera — Approval or Calibration Certificate Absent

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps