Yellow box: waiting to turn right is allowed

Yellow box junctions have an exception for drivers turning right. At a box where two or more roads meet, you may enter the box to turn right and wait in it for as long as oncoming traffic, or another vehicle that has stopped while waiting to turn right, stops you completing the turn. The exception does not apply to a box on a roundabout or gyratory, a box along a narrow two-way road away from any junction, or a box beside the entrance to a fire, police or ambulance station. Ordinary queuing traffic in the road you are turning into is not covered. It comes from the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016, and this part of them extends to England, Wales and Scotland.

Legal basis

Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (SI 2016/362), Schedule 9, Part 7, paragraph 11(3) (extent: England, Wales and Scotland): the prohibition in paragraph 11(1) does not, in respect of a box junction within sub-paragraph (6)(a) — one at a junction between two or more roads — apply to a person who causes a vehicle to enter the box junction for the purpose of turning right and stops the vehicle within the box junction for so long as it is prevented from completing the right turn by an oncoming vehicle or other vehicle which is stationary whilst waiting to complete a right turn. It does not extend to a box at a gyratory system or roundabout (6)(b), a box along a length of a two-way road, other than at a junction, no wider than 4.5 metres at its narrowest point (6)(c), or a box beside the vehicular entrance to a fire, police or ambulance station (6)(d). Highway Code rule 174 describes the same exception but is guidance, not the source of the right.

How to identify this in your case

Check three things. Was the box where two or more roads meet (not on a roundabout or gyratory, not along a narrow road away from a junction, and not beside a fire, police or ambulance station entrance)? Had you entered it to turn right? And while you were stopped in the box, was the only thing preventing the turn oncoming traffic, or a vehicle ahead that had stopped while waiting to turn right? Ordinary queuing traffic in the road you were turning into is not covered. The council's footage should show all three.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

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Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

Dear Sir/Madam, Re: PCN [NUMBER] — Yellow box junction — [DATE] I challenge this PCN. [Confirm each point only if it is true: the box junction at [LOCATION] is at a junction between roads; I entered it for the purpose of turning right into [STREET]; and I stopped within it only for as long as [oncoming traffic / a vehicle ahead that was stationary while waiting to turn right] prevented me from completing the turn.] The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016, Schedule 9, Part 7, paragraph 11(3), provide that, at a box junction at a junction between two or more roads, the prohibition does not apply to a person who enters it for the purpose of turning right and stops within it for so long as the vehicle is prevented from completing the right turn by an oncoming vehicle or other vehicle which is stationary whilst waiting to complete a right turn. In those circumstances the contravention did not occur. I ask the authority to review its footage of the whole event, including my entry into the box, and to cancel the PCN. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Yellow box: waiting to turn right is allowed

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps