Recently many London authorities have started enforcing yellow box junctions. The following points should be noted if you receive a ticket for getting stuck in one. 

The Offence...

• The yellow box regulation only applies to a vehicle which is stopped. A vehicle which is moving slowly cannot be ticketed. Ensure the authority has evidence that your vehicle was stopped. A single still photo does not prove the vehicle was stopped.

• The offence is committed when you enter the box. Therefore if circumstances afterwards change, such as a vehicle changing lanes and blocking your exit, you can appeal. The authority must have video evidence of your vehicle when it enters the box (as show in this case) and stopped and this evidence must show also that the exit was not clear when you entered.

• As detailed in the regulations below, the offence is stopping in the box due to the presence of stationary vehicles. Therefore stopping for another reason such as a red light is not an offence. The authority must prove there were stationary vehicles in front of the box. See below for two cases won on this point.

The Box...

• A yellow box must have four sides.

• A yellow box must be at the junction of at least two roads. Thus for example a yellow box at a bus garage exit and a road would not be valid.

• The yellow lines must go into at least two corners of the box, as shown in the diagrams below.

• The diagrams below show at least one side of the box should go up to the kerb. There have been several cases won at adjudicator against TfL on this point. Case references 2110069641, 2110138201 and 2110166604 (search for the case number on the PATAS site). The latter included a request for a review which TfL lost. Also the bottom of this page shows a press article for one. However another adjudicator recently contradicted this decision, case reference 2110096757. As is always the case, adjudicators are a law unto themselves. They can decide what they like and there is no guarantee of victory. However I think the lesson is it should come close to the kerb and a small gap would not be worth appealing on as it would come under "de minimis".

• There should be only one yellow box at a junction.

• A yellow box at a T junction should cover only half of the junction (the half next to the side road), as shown in the second picture below. Go to the PATAS site and search case reference 2070406174 for a case in Haringey and 207049423A for a case in Ealing won on this point.

• A box which deviates from the standards requires approval from the Department for Transport (DfT). You may request evidence of this approval when appealing your ticket. If the authority doesn't have DfT approval then the box is invalid. Even if they have approval, get a copy of the drawing and check it matches what is on site. When roads get resurfaced the contractors sometimes put the markings back wrong.

• Yellow boxes do not require a traffic order.

• As for all markings, they must be clearly visible and not worn. Case  211055173A was won at Archway Road / Jacksons Lane against TfL on this basis.

The Legislation...

• Click here for the law on what information a yellow box junction ticket must contain. All of Islington and TfLs tickets were recently deemed invalid for failing to comply with the law. Thousands of people paying up when they need not.

The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) 2002 governs the format that a yellow box junction must take and the information below summarises this legislation. All adjudicator decisions are interpretations of this.

Previous Cases

Jennings v Transport for London (PATAS case no. MV0285GT01)

Page 11 from the link details this case:

"The local authority issued a Penalty Charge Notice, asserting that the vehicle entered and stopped in a yellow box junction when prohibited. The local authority relied on contemporaneous videotape, which did show the vehicle approaching the box junction and substantially crossing it, so that the vehicle could draw up at the lights beyond the box as the first vehicle in the queue. However, because of the length of the vehicle, part of it was left in the yellow box.

The Regulations provided 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”. The contravention is only established when the subject vehicle stops due to the presence of stationary vehicles. In this case the vehicle stopped in order to comply with a red light. The contravention was therefore not established.

The Adjudicator was not satisfied that the local authority had accurately asserted in the Penalty Charge Notice the contravention. The function of a Penalty Charge Notice was to make an allegation so that the recipient was aware of the allegation against them and in a position to deny or accept it. Here the local authority failed to assert an essential element of the allegation, namely that the vehicle stopped due to the presence of stationary vehicles. Where there are other reasons for stopping (as here) the allegation was not made out. It was vital that an allegation was correctly stated – otherwise a recipient might well concede an allegation where an essential element was not made out"

Sheikh v London Borough of Newham (PATAS Case no. MV0071NE02)

In this case Mr Sheikh was in the right hand lane which was blocked by stationary vehicles. However the left hand lane was free and he could've moved over, but chose not to therefore his appeal was successful.

Ealing Council's Illegal Yellow Boxes   Six box junctions in Ealing were deemed illegal by the DfT and Parking And Traffic Appeals Service. Yet still the arrogant officals at Ealing carried on enforcing them. Now they have been forced to remove them and repay some motorists. More information here

Ticketfighter helps reveal illegal box junction in Leytonstone   "THOUSANDS of pounds in traffic fines will be refunded by Waltham Forest Council after the Government said a controversial box junction may have broken official guidelines." "A DfT spokesman said: "We have offered a view that the road marking may not meet the Traffic Signs and General Directions 2002 because it appears to overlap a cycle lane."

Place Invaders Ltd v Transport for London (Parking and Traffic Appeals Service ruling against TfL)

"The terms of the prohibition refer to causing the vehicle to enter the box. The evidence produced by Transport for London in support of its case does not, however, show the entry of the vehicle into the box; it commences later, when the vehicle is already stopped in the box. It seems to me that in order properly to consider whether the contravention has occurred the video recording needs to show the entry of the vehicle into the box since that is the start of the events that will or will not lead to there being a contravention. In the absence of this evidence, bearing in mind that the burden is on Transport for London to prove the contravention, I cannot find that it has discharged this burden of proof. I accordingly allow this appeal."

Driver wins yellow box junction challenge "Dr Fielden, who works at the Department of Health, said it was impossible to negotiate the crossing in one manoeuvre because the phasing of traffic lights forced drivers into the junction. She also said the lines marking out the junction were faded and difficult to see. This week, the adjudicator agreed with Dr Fielden, 46, of Cheshunt, and quashed one of her fines. After studying photographs of the scene, he also said the yellow box junction was painted incorrectly as it did not run right up to the kerb."