You entered the bus lane for safety reasons
If your vehicle broke down and you moved into the bus lane to clear a live traffic lane safely, or you briefly moved into the bus lane to let another vehicle — especially a large lorry on a narrow street — pass safely, your ticket may be defensible. Adjudicators accept that short, safety-driven entries into a bus lane can be reasonable.
Legal basis
TMA 2004 s.144; Highway Code rules 277-287 (breakdowns); Bus Lane Regulations 2005
How to identify this in your case
Breakdown receipt (RAC/AA), CCTV showing safety motivation, witness statement. Time spent in lane (ideally minimal).
Sample appeal wording
Dear Sir/Madam, Re: Bus Lane PCN [NUMBER] — [DATE] I challenge this PCN. The brief entry to the bus lane was reasonable and necessary. At [TIME] I [broke down at [LOCATION] and pulled into the bus lane to clear the live lane / pulled briefly into the bus lane to allow an HGV to pass safely on a narrow stretch]. Evidence: - [RAC/AA call-out receipt] - [Witness statement] - CCTV will show duration of [X] seconds and the safety motivation Under Highway Code rules 277-287 a driver who has broken down should clear the live lane. The TPT has accepted reasonable safety-driven brief entry as a defence ground. Please cancel. Yours faithfully, [NAME]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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Related appeal grounds
- Asking the Council to Let You Pay in Instalments
- Bus lane — emergency / unavoidable (giving way to emergency vehicle)
- Compelling reasons to ask Oxfordshire County Council to cancel the Oxford ZEZ penalty
- Council acted unreasonably — claim your appeal costs
- Drove into low-traffic zone during a genuine emergency
- EV bay overstay — TRO max-stay vs reasonable charging time