Yellow box offences
Contravention code 31:
Entering and stopping in a box junction when prohibited.
The Highway Code clearly states that you must not enter a Yellow Box Junction unless your exit is clear or if you are turning right but need to wait in the box because of oncoming, moving traffic.
Yellow box junctions are being enforced by camera by some of the London boroughs and transport for London and more local authorities nationwide will be enforcing from April 2008.
Above: Here is a yellow box junction outside Marylebone Station in central London. As you can see it is not located at a junction at all. Also there are double yellow lines around it so it is not correctly marked and therefore unenforceable.
Above: This picture is located in Harewood Avenue London NW1. A box junction must meet the kerb on all 4 corners but this one extends along the road beyond the junction for quite a few feet in each direction so it is not enforceable. A yellow box can only be at a junction.
Above: This is the yellow box at the junction of Gloucester Place and Marylebone Road. It is located at a large junction on this very busy 6 lane road. However rather than having one large Yellow Box Transport for London have actually installed 2 Yellow boxes next to each other (one on each carriageway) with a space between them. However adjudicator’s decisions have stated that a yellow box must extend to all 4 corners of a junction and there are no provisions for 2 boxes to be next to each other unless a special permission has been obtained from the secretary of state for transport. Many appeals have been won on this point.
How to have your penalty charge notice (PCN) for this moving traffic contravention cancelled.
Before checking the specific information relating to this offence you will need to check the following general information.
General advice for all moving traffic contraventions
What a penalty charge notice (PCN) must contain
Specific grounds of appeal for this contravention
1.) It is important to remember that this specific offence is not that of causing an obstruction or blocking the yellow box, it is quite simply “entering a box junction when your exit is not clear”. It is possible to stop within a yellow box without committing an offence. For example if at the time you entered the box the exit was clear but then a lorry cut in front of you and stopped, forcing you to stop in the yellow box. In fact the independent adjudicator has upheld appeals against Tfl and other councils on this point. In one case transport for London said the vehicle was obstructing the box but because that is not part of the defined offence and they did not produce evidence of the vehicle actually entering the box when its exit was not clear the appeal against them was upheld.
To prove a contravention the enforcing authority must be able to show that at the time that you entered the box the exit was blocked by stationary traffic.
2.) Was your exit to the box blocked by another car or red traffic lights or a pedestrian crossing or indeed anything else. The law is clear in that your vehicle must not enter the box at the time that the exit is blocked by stationary vehicles (not red traffic lights or a pedestrian or in fact anything else). So if, at the time you entered the box your exit was blocked because of pedestrians or another set of traffic lights caused the traffic to stop or indeed anything else except stationary vehicles then you should appeal. Please see the adjudicators appeal decisions below.
The actual act states:
The contravention alleged is entering and stopping in a box junction when prohibited. The prohibition is contained in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002, Schedule 19 Part 2 paragraph 7. This provides as follows.
"7 (1) Except when placed in the circumstances described in paragraph 8, [box junctions] shall each convey the prohibition that no person shall cause a vehicle to enter the box junction so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles.
(2) The prohibition in sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to any person
(a) who causes a vehicle to enter the box junction (other than a box junction at a roundabout) for the purpose of turning right: and
(b) stops it within the box junction for so long as it is prevented from completing the right turn by oncoming vehicles or other vehicles which are stationary whilst waiting to complete a right turn."
3.) If you were stopped in the box with the intention of turning right although your exit was blocked by oncoming traffic then no offence has been committed. Were you in the right hand lane? Could you have been turning right? It doesn’t matter whether you were signalling or not? If you didn’t actually turn right was this a last second decision after you changed your mind or noticed an obstruction in the road that you were turning into?
4.) It may be that you were travelling at reasonable speed behind a vehicle which suddenly stopped after you had already entered the box. It could have stopped for any reason including traffic in front suddenly stopping because someone ran out in the road for example. If at the time you entered the box the traffic was moving perfectly ok and the exit was not blocked by stationary traffic then you have not committed an offence. It may be that you were behind a high sided vehicle which suddenly stopped without warning and where you had no way of seeing in front of the vehicle. Provided that at the time you entered the box the exit was clear because the traffic was moving we do not believe that you would have committed an offence.
5.) Similarly If another car cut in front of you whilst you were travelling across the box and your exit was impeded as a result then you would not have committed an offence. Remember the offence is entering the box when your exit is not clear and not blocking the box. The exit may well have been clear when you entered the box.
6.) Was the yellow box marked correctly? You will be surprised how often local authorities get it wrong. Worse still when they get it wrong in some instances they carry on enforcing which is a criminal offence. Shown below is the department of transport diagram of the dimensions etc
The regulations which govern the layout of a yellow box junction are contained in the traffic signs regulations guidance document - diagrams 1043 and 1044. Diagram 1043 is used at cross roads and diagram 1044 is used at a T junction.
Some of the rules are as follows: -
A yellow box at a T junction must only cover the side of the main carriageway on the side of the Junction. See the illustration above. The exception is only if the secretary of state for transport has authorised a variation. If you appeal you should request a copy of such special permission. Many boxes at T junctions cover both sides of the carriageway.
A yellow box must be square or rectangular and have four sides. A box in Camden was ruled illegal as it had 5 sides! The box must also extend into all four corners of a road junction and go right up to the kerb. As you will see from the diagrams above it may have corners cut away. However if it is cut away then the maximum cutaway is 10% of the breadth of the box. Some boxes continue along a carriageway for a distance for example to fill in a gap along a carriageway between the junction and a further set of pedestrian lights. This is unlawful. See cases below.
There must only be one box at a junction! Sometimes on busy wide Roads such as the North Circular Road there are 2 yellow boxes next to each other with a gap in between. (one on each side of the carriageway) This is illegal.unless specifically authorised by the secretary of state for Transport. See adjudicators cases below.
The thickness of the yellow line forming the border of the box must be 200 mm and the thickness of the crisscross yellow lines must be 150mm.
The angle from the kerb would normally be around 90 degrees. However the angle at each kerb must be between 60 and 120 degrees.
The detailed diagram above will provide you with other measurements such as the size of the squares. There are no permitted variants. We have seen several yellow boxes with the broken white lines on the centre of the carriageway continue through the box. This is illegal.
7.) We understand that there has been discussion with regard to the definition of stopped. It maybe that you were not stopped but moving very slowly, were your brake lights on in the photograph? And if you had stopped for how long had you stopped for? We understand that you must have stopped for a few seconds. In any event remember the offence is entering the box when your exit is obstructed by stationary traffic.
8.) Was the box clearly visible? Some are quite eroded and may not be visible particularly during rain or when it is dark.
9.) Authorities that we have spoken to such as TFL and Camden state that they will only issue a penalty charge notice if more than 50% of your car is stopped within the box. If less than 50% of your car was in the box then you should write to the authority and whilst it is not certain that they would always cancel a penalty charge notice in such circumstances it would be quite wrong if they were issuing penalty charge notices against their own protocol. .Some local authorities such as Westminster council in London publish their protocol on the internet. Others may provide a copy on request. We do not know whether a request for a copy under the freedom of information act would succeed but we believe a local authority should be open and in any event how would you know whether the parking attendant or enforcement officer acted within their remit without sight of this. We would suggest that you check the website of the enforcing authority and if their protocol is not published request a copy.
10.) It may be difficult for an enforcing authority to prove an offence with a still photograph as how can a still photograph prove that the vehicle was not moving? We hear that one London authority (we believe Islington) has been criticised for this very thing time and time again and appeal against them have been upheld.
11.) Did your car stall? In one case before an adjudicator the motorist said that his car had stalled and that was why he stopped in the yellow box. Even though the exit was blocked! The adjudicator said there was nothing in the video evidence incompatible with a car having stalled and allowed the appeal!
