The Bus Lane Contraventions (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2005

Level of penalty charges

4.—(1) An approved local authority shall not impose a penalty charge in accordance with these Regulations unless—

(a) it has first set the level of penalty charge that is to apply within its area;

(b) the Secretary of State has approved that level; and

(c) it has published in at least one local newspaper circulating in its area a notice specifying—

(i) the circumstances in which a penalty charge may be imposed;

(ii) the level of the penalty charge; and

(iii) the date, being a day which falls after the end of the period of 15 days beginning with the day on which the notice is published, on which the authority will start to impose penalty charges at that level,

and no charge shall be imposed before the date so specified.

(2) In setting the level of penalty charge an approved local authority shall have regard to any guidance for the time being issued by the Secretary of State.

(3) Each approved local authority shall make available, at all reasonable times, free of charge and in a form which is readily accessible to any member of the public, information about the level of the penalty charge for the time being in force in its area.

(4) In the circumstances described in regulation 8(5)(f), an authority must accept a sum equivalent to one half of the level of charge approved by the Secretary of State, in full payment of a penalty charge.

(5) In the circumstances described in regulation 8(5)(j), an authority may increase a penalty charge to a sum equivalent to one and a half times the level of charge approved by the Secretary of State.