Motorists last year were fined almost £1million for one type of road traffic offence that’s only been enforced outside of London and Cardiff for the last three years under new rules to extend the war on drivers.
A staggering £998,640 of penalty charge notices (PCNs) were issued to drivers in 2024 for one specific infringement.
Local authorities hit them with penalty charges for breaching rules at just 36 different yellow box junctions across England.
It comes after the Government in May 2022 allowed councils to apply for the right to enforce this type of moving traffic offence, essentially giving power to local authorities to treat motorists like cash cows.
It includes taking over enforcement powers from police for a number of different moving traffic violations, such as ignoring no entry signs and driving in designated cycle lanes.
The RAC, which obtained the statistics through Freedom of Information requests, said the ‘enormously high number’ of PCNs should ‘send alarm bells ringing in council offices’.
Below is a list of the local authorities issuing the most yellow box junction fines. Click the links to see where these box junctions are located.
Yellow boxes are used in an attempt to ensure traffic flows smoothly through busy junctions.
Motorists should not enter them unless their exit is clear or they are waiting to turn right.
London and Cardiff were the only parts of the UK where drivers could be fined for yellow box offences until the Government introduced new legislation in 2022, which enables all councils across England to apply for enforcement powers.
Data provided by English councils in response to FoI requests by the motoring organisation showed that just 36 yellow boxes outside London and Cardiff were enforced last year.
However, these locations triggered 32,748 PCNs.
Penalty charges for these types of infringements are generally £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days.
The RAC analysis found Manchester City Council issued the most box junction-related PCNs, with 13,130 for six box junctions across its network.
This brought in £446,706 which was nearly half of all yellow box-related revenue outside London and Cardiff.
Kent’s Medway Council raised the second highest amount at £145,162 after handing out 4,433 PCNs for the five yellow boxes it enforced.
It was followed by Buckinghamshire Council, which received £139,798 for 3,618 fines.
But the single junction that generated the largest revenue was at Dennis Roundabout in Guildford, Surrey, which cost drivers £81,445 as 4,250 PCNs were issued.
At the other end of the scale, Gloucestershire County Council issued just 30 yellow box PCNs, raising £945, while Leeds City Council handed out 50 fines, resulting in £605 being paid.
Only a fraction of yellow box fines are appealed by drivers, but the proportion of attempts that are successful can be as high as 87 per cent in the case of Medway Council.
RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said a yellow box which generates a small number of fines indicates it is ‘working as it should’, which must be the ambition for councils rather than using them as a ‘revenue-raising opportunity’.
He went on: ‘Very few people set out to deliberately flout the rules and get fined.
‘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.’
Chartered engineer Sam Wright was commissioned by the RAC to analyse the 100 boxes across London and Cardiff which were responsible for generating the most fines in 2019.
A report published last year showed he found 98 were larger than necessary for their role in preventing queuing vehicles blocking the path of crossing traffic.
The average box was 50 per cent bigger than needed, according to the research.
The Local Government Association, Manchester City Council, Medway Council and Buckinghamshire Council have been approached for comment.
