To think yellow box fines are f***ed up

[Stickystitch]

I have to pay Merton council £65 for stopping in a yellow box for 4 seconds because a lorry ahead of me broke suddenly - a car ahead of them randomly stopped dead in flowing traffic, waited, then took a sharp (and illegal) u-turn at the junction. I assume this car and the lorry also got fined. I was doing max 20mph (local speed limit) and there was plenty of room between me and the lorry when the traffic was moving.

The council has rejected my appeal and said I should have waited for all traffic ahead of me to exit the yellow box before entering it. The yellow box in this case is HUGE, maybe 5 car lengths. Who stops dead at a traffic junction, in full flowing traffic, to wait for all the cars ahead to cross? I have never been fined for anything in my life, never even had a parking ticket and I'm absolutely furious. Fining people £65 for shit like this needs to stop. That's more than my weekly budget gone.. and for what?

The council are right you shouldn’t enter until you know you can exit. People who go in the yellow box too soon are a major cause of congestion.

You very clearly broke the box junction rule.
I have some sympathy for that - I’ve done it.
But you can’t complain about the ticket, as this rule is totally unambiguous.

it's worse when some dick cuts you up by lane changing and moves into the space you were driving into, leaving you stranded

...the rule literally is "don't enter the box unless your exit is clear". You broke the rule. You get a ticket. Not sure why you think you shouldn't have one?

The council is correct to tell you you shouldn't have entered the box until you were sure you could exit it without stopping ie when there's nothing in it and there's at least a car's length of empty road beyond it.

£65 is a lot of money, but this is the risk some drivers take. My husband received a fine about 10 years ago for driving in a bus lane to save himself a couple of minutes - more fool him, and he hasn't done it since.

Annoying because, let's be right, we all do it. (Like speeding)

BUT we all know we shouldn't so if we get caught, tough shit, you take the consequences.

Something similar happened to me.

The council is right - you are meant to wait until you can go straight over the yellow box before you move off.

In my case, the car in the other (wrong) lane cut in front of me, so what was a clear exit suddenly wasn't.

I was annoyed, but coughed up. And now wait until there are two car lengths worth of space, which I know pisses off the beepers behind me, but there we are.

Most drivers don't block box junctions - the embarrassment of sitting there when you can't move out of the way of furious drivers coming from all directions is not a situation most people would put themselves in.

Genuinely never heard of a yellow box junction are they everywhere or just big cities?

You're not supposed to enter the box until you see that there's space to leave it at the other side.

You should have covered it when studying the Highway Code. They are yellow boxes on the road at junctions. You should not enter them until thee is space the other side for you to go into.

They're really common in the UK, in small or large places in my experience! It's a yellow hashed area normally at a junction / traffic light area.



In London they are a pain in the arse as often it's impossible to wait for traffic to clear because invariably this only happens when your lights turn red & then more cars join the clear bit from another bit. Yours go green & it's congested again.

I think I’m due a fine for this. I was only half on the box and not blocking any exit.

I would have thought you would get off on appeal in this instance?

Your exit was clear when entered the box. Not your fault that a vehicle moved to block your exit?

They are everywhere.

You are allowed to stop in the box junction if you are turning right and can’t turn right due to oncoming traffic

Most people call them box junctions, I’ve never heard “yellow” box junction though it’s obvious what it means. If you’ve never heard of a box junction, you didn’t bother to learn/retain your Highway Code and I wonder what other rules you don’t know!

Seriously? I guess you might not drive though, so you wouldn't really notice them or need to be aware of them. They're a standard feature on all sorts of roads, to stop traffic snarling up junctions and blocking entrances/exits. You'll see them outside fire stations and hospitals for unhindered emergency vehicle access, and often over entrances to things like petrol stations so vehicles don't stop the flow of traffic while they wait to turn.

I knew MNers would be waving their rule books at me lol. In this case, it was about 8pm, there was no congestion at all, a clear road ahead.

What you're saying is cars are expected to slam their breaks on in free flowing traffic to wait for the car/s ahead to clear the junction/yellow box before proceeding? I don't think so. Who does that? Could cause an accident.

YANBU. This is frustrating and grabby frustrating from the council.

Ds is learning to drive and is watching videos on all highway code rules. I have never seen anyone in real life in free flowing traffic have every car stop before the box and waits for it to become clear before proceeding when you can clearly see there is no obstruction. You usually enter if you can see that the box will clear.

You can get fined if you enter a box turning right and then your exit suddenly becomes blocked. So legally using it but then cannot exit, even if you move your car to try to clear the blockage. The driving instructor suggests dash cam footage can help you appeal fines. Here is an example

Ok so I've just read up on it. It's the middle bit of four way traffic lights? Which you wouldn't block due to oncoming traffic. It seems the fines are new apart from London and Cardiff.

@LubaLuca I've been driving 25 years! I also did a speed awareness course a couple of years ago. Never got mentioned on that either.

No-ones saying that you are to ‘slam your brakes on’ in free flowing traffic.
What you are meant to do is to keep an eye ahead, drive at the appropriate speed, with suitable distance and slow down/brake appropriately. If there isn’t space all
of the way through a box junction then you aren’t meant to be in it, and therefore won’t be stuck inside it when another driver ahead stops.

Slamming your brakes is reserved for an emergency stop.

(Bearing i