Drivers who block yellow boxes at junctions have been handed close to £1million in fines in one year.
Councils were allowed to apply for new enforcement powers back in 2022 which lets them fine drivers who block junctions.
Before this, only London and Cardiff were able to enforce these rules, but last year there were 36 yellow boxes outside these two cities which were enforced.
The Highway Code says drivers must not enter yellow boxes unless they can get through them without stopping. The only exception is if they are waiting to turn right but are blocked by oncoming traffic.
But those 36 yellow boxes saw more than 32,000 fines issued for blocking the junction, adding up to almost £1million.
The RAC, which obtained the figures through Freedom of Information requests, found that Dennis Roundabout in Guildford, Surrey was the single biggest revenue generator, with 3,618 fines issued which raised just under £140,000.
Manchester City Council handed out the equivalent of 36 fines for flouting yellow box rules every day in 2024, while Medway council handed out the equivalent of 13 per day, and Buckinghamshire council 10 per day.
The breakdown cover and car insurance company warns yellow boxes shouldn’t be seen as a ‘revenue-raising opportunity’ – and claimed 98 out of 100 enforceable yellow boxes in London and Cardiff were larger than they needed to be, which could lead to more drivers being caught out.
RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: ‘Very few people set out to deliberately flout the rules and get fined.
‘The enormously high number of penalty charge notices being raised in just a few council areas suggests things are awry.
‘The large number of penalties being dished out over a small number of locations and in a short space of time should send alarm bells ringing in council offices.
‘It’s vital box junctions are used in the correct places and are only as big as absolutely necessary.
‘They must be fairly set up so that drivers don’t find themselves stranded through no fault of their own.’
The 10 councils making money from yellow box junctions in 2024
- Manchester city council: six yellow boxes enforced, 13,130 fines issued, total revenue £446,706
- Medway council: five yellow boxes enforced, 4,433 fines issued, total revenue £145,162
- Buckinghamshire county council: four yellow boxes enforced, 3,618 issued, total revenue £139,798
- Liverpool city council: four yellow boxes enforced, 3,376 fines issued, total revenue £92,025
- Surrey county council: one yellow box enforced, 4,250 fines issued, total revenue £81,445
- Reading borough council: eight yellow boxes enforced, 1,638 fines issued, total revenue £40,294
- Hampshire county council: one yellow box enforced, 1,105 fines issued, total revenue £31,675
- Wokingham council: one yellow box enforced, 651 fines issued, total revenue £19,985
- Gloucestershire county council: one yellow box enforced, 30 fines issued, total revenue £945
- Leeds city council: two yellow boxes enforced, 50 fines issued, total revenue £605
Penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued by councils for yellow box blocking are generally £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days.
Only a very small amount of yellow box fines are appealed against by drivers – the highest proportion of appeals is in Manchester, where 18% appealed.
Alex Paterson from Medway Council said its enforcement of yellow boxes is ‘not about catching people out’, adding that road markings were updated so ‘nobody could reasonably claim not to have seen them’.
Buckinghamshire Council deputy leader Thomas Broom said the area suffers from ‘a lot of congestion’ and the amount of yellow box fines issued ‘directly relates to the number of people who commit these traffic offences’.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said: ‘All councils follow guidance to ensure motorists are treated fairly.
‘There are processes for appeal if anyone believes they have been unfairly fined.’
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