Yellow box junctions and moving traffic penalties

Checked 22 July 2026 · How we check our figures

Jump to: The decision · What next · Numbers · Deadlines · Mistakes

What it is

Since 31 May 2022, councils outside London have been able to take on civil enforcement of moving traffic contraventions under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004, the family that includes yellow box junctions, banned turns and no-entry restrictions; London boroughs and TfL have run it for years. The camera letter that results is usually filed as a yellow box fine. The rule the statutory guidance spells out is narrower than drivers fear: the contravention can only arise from the circumstances present when the vehicle enters the box, not from anything unexpected that happens afterwards, and waiting in the box to turn right, held by oncoming traffic, is expressly within the exemption (gov.uk statutory guidance, checked 2026-07-22).

Reading the notice

The PCN arrives by post to the registered keeper on camera evidence, and on request the authority must send a clear copy of the record, a still showing only the vehicle in question (gov.uk statutory guidance, checked 2026-07-22).

In a site's first 6 months a first contravention draws a warning notice rather than a penalty, and the warning names the period and the camera location it covers (DfT statutory guidance; guidance, not statute).

The representation grounds and windows mirror the parking world's, and the notice lists them; the timeline as a whole runs in the checker at /fines/pcn-deadline-checker.

The decision in front of you

Pay in the discount window and the matter closes at half; outside London the charge is commonly set at 70 pounds, 35 at the discount (council enforcement notices, checked 2026-07-22), with London levels higher and dated in the ladder calculator at /fines/pcn-escalation.

Make representations where the entry was clear: the statutory test looks at the moment of entering, so an exit blocked by something unexpected afterwards is the ground the guidance itself describes (gov.uk statutory guidance).

Appeal a rejection to the adjudicator, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal outside London, London Tribunals inside, within the 28 days the rejection notice states.

Do nothing and the penalty follows the common ladder, charge certificate, 50 per cent uplift and registration, the charge certificate guide's territory.

What happens next

Where the police prosecute or issue a fixed penalty for the same conduct under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, the civil penalty is not payable: the PCN must be cancelled and any payment refunded (gov.uk statutory guidance, checked 2026-07-22).

A warning notice is not a spent matter: a further contravention at the same camera location within the site's first 6 months draws a penalty, and the records of go-live dates are the authority's to keep (DfT statutory guidance).

After the site's opening period the machine runs like any penalty charge, and the shared enforcement road is covered in the charge certificate guide.

The numbers

Outside London the common setting is 70 pounds, 35 in the discount window (council enforcement notices, checked 2026-07-22).

London moving traffic levels are higher and have moved in recent years: see the ladder calculator at /fines/pcn-escalation, figures dated there.

The uplift at charge certificate stage is 50 per cent, the same as the rest of the penalty charge world (Traffic Management Act 2004 scheme).

The deadlines

The discount window and the representation window are printed on the notice, on the parking world's pattern; the full sequence runs in the checker at /fines/pcn-deadline-checker.

The warning phase lasts 6 months per camera site, first contravention only (DfT statutory guidance).

The appeal to the adjudicator runs 28 days from the notice of rejection.

What people get wrong

Reading a green light as permission: the box asks whether the exit is clear, not what the signal shows, and entering on green into a blocked exit is exactly the contravention.

Blaming what happened after entry: the guidance points the other way, the moment of entering decides, so the unexpected blocker that appeared afterwards belongs in your representations, not on your conscience (gov.uk statutory guidance).

Treating one warning as a season ticket: it covers first contraventions at that camera site in its first 6 months, and a second contravention there, or a first at a mature site, is a penalty (DfT statutory guidance).

Authority

Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 6; gov.uk, statutory guidance for local authorities outside London on civil enforcement of bus lane and moving traffic contraventions; DfT designation orders from 31 May 2022; council enforcement notices