Money boxes! Fines for stopping in yellow boxes

A question about : Money boxes! Fines for stopping in yellow boxes

Hi - I'm getting really frustrated with the London yellow boxes on the road (aka Money Boxes!). In particular the one outside the fire station from Wandsworth to West Hill.

Each time the fine is Ј130 and the way the traffic lights are set up it's impossible not to get stuck behind a car and therefore trapped within the box.

There a quite a few people online saying that you should appeal but I'm not sure on what grounds, the likelihood of it working, or even if it's worth the time and effort. Particularly as they increase the fine after a time period.

Has anyone been caught out by this? Have you appealed?

It would be good to get your advice. In an ideal world, this money making scheme by the local council needs to be stopped!

Best answers:

• 174
  Box junctions. These have criss-cross yellow lines painted on the road. You MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear. However, you may enter the box and wait when you want to turn right, and are only stopped from doing so by oncoming traffic, or by other vehicles waiting to turn right
  So you just wait until it's clear.
• Also: Is this the box in question: https://goo.gl/maps/S1w7L
  If so, I don't see how you can get stuck here?
• Interesting tyre marks on the road on google maps
  And looks easy to avoid the yellow box
• Great news, I wish they would install yellow box cameras around these parts as plenty of motorists seem clueless of their meaning, causing delays for other motorists.
• Waiting for the exit to be clear is BS harped on by people who never used a box junction in Central London during busy hours. You just have to take your chances and look forward at the flow of traffic and estimate whether by the time you get to the other side whether there will be any space for you.
  Most of the time if you literally stop and wait for clear space on the other side what will happen is that the idiot on the lanes beside you will change lanes in the box junction and take your spot. Technically if someone changes lanes on a box junction and prevents you from clearing the box junction they will get fined and not you.
  It can depend on circumstance. There are times when people aren't in a rush and drive a bity more civilised and you can stop and wait for clear space. Other times if cars have been stuck in traffic and crawling forward at rush hour rates people just do anything to get by and that includes blidly entering a box junction and hoping the exit will be clear. If the driver on the lane beside happens to be stationary before the box the driver will change lanes if the exit of that lane happens to be clear.
  The problem is the vast majority of box junction are not monitored at all. I reckon if the box junction is broken and faded and not maintained at all it probably means the penalties are not enforced. There are a few in my area where school run commuters just stop in the box and do not clear - past experience probably tells them there is no CCTV enforcement on it.
• Here's some ideas:
  https://www.ticketfighter.co.uk/yellow.htm
  https://yellowboxjunction.co.uk/How-t...ion-ticket.htm
• I wish there were cameras on the ones in Stoke-on-Trent. The amount of people who clearly don't understand how they work is ridiculous and they always cause blockages and increase congestion.
• If you are very good with the clutch & brakes it is possible to keep creeping forwards so that you don't actually stop moving whilst in the box, then there is no offence, provided that you were completely over the stopline before the red light.
• The offence is not "Entering when your exit is not clear" it is stopping within the box due to stationary traffic. It may be stretching a point, but if you don't actually stop, you can argue that you didn't have to stop.
  
  The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002
  7. (1) Except when placed in the circumstances described in paragraph 8, the road markings shown in diagrams 1043 and 1044 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.
  Prohibition conveyed when markings are placed in conjunction with signs in diagrams 615 and 811
  8. When the road marking shown in diagram 1043 or 1044 is placed in conjunction with the signs shown in diagrams 615 and 811 on an area of carriageway which is less than 4.5 metres wide at its narrowest point, the road marking shall 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 oncoming vehicles or other stationary vehicles beyond the box junction.
  (I can't fix the fonts, something happened when I cut & pasted)