Yellow box junction and bus lane fines in England: a guide

What you must do

Before you cross the criss cross yellow lines of a box junction, look at your exit, not at the car in front. If there is not enough space on the other side for your whole vehicle, stay behind the box. Before you move into a lane marked with a thick white line, read the blue sign: it tells you who may use the bus lane and when. Both rules are enforced by cameras, and the fine arrives by post as a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

If you get a PCN, decide quickly: pay within the discount period, or challenge it. Ignoring it makes it more expensive.

Yellow box junctions: when you can enter

The rule comes from Rule 174 of the Highway Code: “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. At signalled roundabouts you MUST NOT enter the box unless you can cross over it completely without stopping.”

In practice this means:

• Going straight on or turning left: enter only when the exit is clear and, as TfL puts it, there is enough space on the other side for your vehicle to clear the box completely without stopping.
• Turning right: you may wait in the box for a gap in oncoming traffic, behind other right turning vehicles if there are any. Newham Council stresses that this is only allowed if the right turn exit is clear.
• Signalled roundabouts: no waiting at all. You must be able to cross in one go.

TfL also warns: do not simply follow the vehicle in front, because it may stop and block your exit, and do not let other drivers pressure you into entering when no clear exit is available.

Yellow boxes are usually found where roads meet, and occasionally at roundabouts or outside fire and ambulance stations. They keep junctions clear for through traffic and keep space free for emergency vehicles. TfL says that in 2017/18, 123,071 PCNs were issued across London for stopping in yellow boxes, with 16,707 drivers caught outside Wandsworth Fire Station alone.

On PCNs in London, stopping in a box junction appears as contravention code 31. Newham explains that the suffix J means it was enforced by CCTV.

Bus lanes: when you can drive in them

The Highway Code, quoted by the Mayor of London, says: “you must not drive or stop in a bus lane during its hours of operation unless the signs indicate you may do so”. Bus lane regulations apply at all times except where signs indicate otherwise.

How to read a bus lane, according to TfL:

• The lane is marked on the carriageway by a thick white line.
• A blue sign before the lane shows the times of operation and the permitted vehicles. It is repeated if the lane is long.
• If you want to turn left across a bus lane, an arrow or a dotted white line on the road shows whether this is allowed.
• Some signs show the word ‘local’, meaning only local bus services may use the lane.

Who may use a bus lane

TfL lists the vehicles that may have access to bus lanes or bus gates if the signage shows it:

• licensed taxis (hackney carriages)
• pedal cycles, including electrically assisted cycles, adapted cycles and cargo bikes
• buses built or adapted to carry more than 8 passengers, excluding the driver
• recognised fire, police and ambulance vehicles on core duties, whether or not they use blue lights

TfL adds that motorcyclists can use many bus lanes too, and that veterinary ambulances are not exempt. Outside London, Hertfordshire allows buses with more than 8 passenger seats, cycles, emergency vehicles and approved maintenance vehicles in its bus only lanes. An ordinary private car is not on any of these lists: outside the hours on the sign, keep out.

Who can fine you

In London, TfL enforces bus lanes and yellow boxes on its own network, the red routes (Transport for London Road Network). On all other roads, the London boroughs enforce. Havering, for example, uses CCTV cameras and CCTV vehicles and sends the PCN by post.

Outside London, councils in England can now enforce these moving traffic rules too. Surrey County Council explains that legislation introduced in July 2022 enabled camera enforcement. Buckinghamshire has enforced bus lanes, restricted turns and box junctions with cameras since February 2023. Councils must follow the government’s statutory guidance on bus lane and moving traffic enforcement outside London.

Some councils start gently. Reading Borough Council announced that from 20 February drivers blocking its Kings Road boxes would get one initial warning notice per vehicle, per junction, with a PCN for every later contravention. Its enforcement is being phased in across 15 sites. Do not count on a warning elsewhere.

Hertfordshire says it may use discretion for a very minor contravention that did not affect the junction, but if you receive a PCN the decision not to use discretion has already been made.

Prices and the dates they apply

In London

According to Haringey Council, penalties rose by £30 in all London boroughs after approval by the Mayor of London and the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee:

• bus lane contraventions: £160, up from £130
• moving traffic contraventions, including yellow boxes: £160, up from £130

The 50% discount for early payment and the 50% surcharge for late payment remain. In Haringey the new charges came into force on 14 April. Havering and Lambeth both list £160 for bus lane and moving traffic offences, discounted to £80 if paid within 14 days.

The dates differ between sources. TfL states that its bus lane PCN has been £160, or £80 within 14 days, since 17 January 2022, and was £130, or £65, before that. So on TfL red routes the higher charge applied earlier than in the boroughs. Today both TfL and the boroughs quoted charge £160.

Outside London

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal says councils outside London may issue a PCN of up to £70. Examples:

• Hertfordshire: £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days, increased to £105 if not paid within 28 days.
• Reading: £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days.

Note the different discount window: 14 days in London, 21 days at these councils outside London. Always check the date on your notice.

How to pay

According to GOV.UK, you can pay online for a PCN from a local council and for a red route PCN from TfL. Check the ticket for other ways to pay. London Councils advises paying as instructed on the penalty or the payment slip that comes with it.

The deadlines matter:

• If you do not pay within 28 days, you get a charge certificate and have 14 days to pay the original fine plus 50% more.
• If you do not pay the charge certificate within 14 days, you get a court order demanding payment.

Paying closes the case. If you want to challenge, do not pay first.

How to appeal

The process has the same stages everywhere in England:

1. Representations to the issuing authority. Check the PCN for the contravention you are accused of and write to the address on the back, as London Councils explains. For red route PCNs, TfL has a make a representation page. The authority either cancels the PCN or writes to you with its reasons and tells you how to go further.
2. Independent adjudicator. In London, appeals go to London Tribunals. Outside London, they go to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which runs the whole appeal online, from lodging it and sending evidence to viewing the council’s evidence and taking part in a hearing if you ask for one. The government says the adjudicator’s decision is final.

Appeals do succeed. In its 2024 report, London Tribunals says 1,389 bus lane appeals were decided, of which 759 were allowed, including 426 that the authority did not contest.

Useful grounds to check: was the exit visible, were you turning right and blocked only by oncoming traffic, was the bus lane sign present and showing the hours, and was your vehicle one that the sign allows.

If you never received the notice, London Tribunals explains that you can make a witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. Be aware that the resulting order does not cancel the penalty: it only returns you to the stage where communication broke down.

Exceptions and grey areas

• Right turns: the only legal reason to wait in a yellow box, and only when the right turn exit is clear.
• Emergency vehicles: exempt from bus lanes, and Hertfordshire does not fine exempted vehicles in yellow boxes.
• Blue Badge holders: not automatically exempt. Slough Borough Council says Blue Badge holders are not exempt from its turning, vehicle and width or weight restrictions.
• Taxis and motorcycles: allowed in many bus lanes, but only where the sign says so.

Checklist before the trip

• Remember that cameras enforce boxes and bus lanes in London and in a growing number of English counties.
• At every yellow box, check there is room for your whole vehicle beyond it before moving.
• Never follow the car ahead into a box without seeing your exit.
• Read each blue bus lane sign for hours and permitted vehicles, and treat bank holidays as normal days.
• Turn left across a bus lane only where an arrow or dotted line allows it.
• If a PCN arrives, note the discount deadline: 14 days in London, 21 days at councils such as Hertfordshire and Reading.
• To contest, write to the issuing authority before paying, then go to London Tribunals or the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if refused.