Box Junction Cunningly Disguised as Tiles

It seems that 10 local authorities are now enforcing yellow box junctions and raking in a combined £998,640 in fines from hapless riders and even the odd motorcyclist who gets caught. This has emerged from RAC data analysis.

The rules changed in May 2022, allowing more councils to charge for this traffic infringement – previously it had only been chargeable in London and Cardiff. Now there are 36 boxes outside these two cities which are being enforced. A staggering 32,748 penalty charge notices issued in 2024 alone. PCNs are generally £70 reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days of the notice being issued.

It seems that the issuing of these fines is very random with different numbers of PCNs (Penalty Charge Notices) being issued in different council areas, with one authority bringing in almost half (49%) of all yellow box revenue in the newly chargeable areas.

The league table of councils sending out box junction fines is: Manchester Manchester City Council with 36 a day, Medway Council 13 a day and Buckinghamshire Council with 10 a day. Quite a high tally bringing in quite a tidy sum for each of those councils.
These three councils have issued more than 6-in-10 of all box PCNs outside London and Cardiff but the highest score is from one in Surrey at Dennis Roundabout in Guildford which has issued 4,250 notices and creamed off £81,445 in fines.

It seems odd that so few councils are responsible for so many fines, leading to the thought that perhaps the boxes themselves are in the wrong locations or are designed so that it is difficult for drivers to avoid them. This is borne out by the fact that some councils are issuing a very small number of fines which implies that their box junctions are working as they should be to keep traffic flowing and not as revenue generators. For example Gloucestershire City Council only issued 30 between May and December 2024 with only a resulting £945 from one yellow box.

In the Highway code it says that drivers shouldn't enter a yellow box unless they can see that they can get out of it again and won't have to stop inside it. However some of them are painted in such a way that they don't make this easy – for example drivers can't always see where the box ends, some boxes are unnecessarily large and some extend beyond T junctions. 

During the first six month of enforcing a yellow box, councils are told that they should issue warning notices for drivers who infringe the boxes rather than fining them straight away. Any subsequent box junction mistakes can then be issued with a penalty charge.

Obviously yellow boxes are important to help traffic flow but the high number of penalty charge notices suggests that something is wrong with the way they are being enforced. A small number of fines and a small number of appeals indicates that a yellow box is working well and as it should be, and that most drivers are able to use it correctly. Nobody actually wants to block traffic flow or get fined so they should be able to use them correctly and not be seen as a council revenue generator. It isn't right if drivers find themselves stuck in a yellow box which is too big and they can't get out of despite their best efforts.

RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: 
“We’ve previously expressed concern that drivers would get fined unnecessarily without the Government updating its box junction design guidance. This must clearly set out the locations where they can be used and, crucially, ensure they are sized correctly so as not to trap drivers unwittingly. With more local authorities likely to enforce yellow boxes in the coming months and years, it’s vitally important this happens.”

Ever been caught out by a box junction? Let us know at: [email protected] or on Facebook