Luke Alsford
Published November 25, 2025 7:00am
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Sam Wright is leading the charge against yellow box junction enforcement (Picture: w8media)
They are the ‘lean mean money making machines’ which strike fear in the heart of even the most cautious driver.
Pesky yellow boxes see tens of thousands of motorists fined every year – but what if you’ve actually done nothing wrong?
One man is fighting back against councils he claims are wrongly issuing penalty charge notices to scores of law-abiding citizens.
Sam Wright, 48, says authorities are misleading some road users into thinking they’ve broken the law at a box junction, when actually it’s the rules that aren’t clear enough.
His TikTok videos are followed by thousands, where he names and shames unjust fines and helps followers to appeal their tickets.
@yellowboxguruYellow box PCN appeal luckily won by driver who stopped for 2 seconds with back wheel in box in Greenwich. Should such minor mistakes be punished with a £160 fine?#yellowbox #parkingticket #drivinglessons #yellowboxjunctions #penaltychargenotices #pcn #parking #driving #parkingenforcement #pcnappeal #penaltycharge #ukdrivingtest #yellowboxjunction #roads
♬ original sound – Yellow Box Guru – Yellow Box Guru
Sam, who has secured hundreds of overturned fines in the last 18 months alone, told Metro: ‘At the moment a lot of drivers are being ripped off and it is a very unfair system.
‘A lot of people are getting tickets when they are not guilty. Authorities are misquoting the law to them in a way that makes them think they are.’
Yellow box junctions are designed to stop drivers blocking a junction when traffic ahead isn’t moving, but some of the supposed yellow box offences appear ridiculous.
A motorcyclist who had his wheel just centimetres over the yellow box, or a car that was caught inside one for just seconds.
Both faced £160 fines in London, or reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days.
Sam got the powers that be to backtrack on these fines, but only after the authorities first rejected the appeals with ‘template letters’.
It was only when those cases were appealed further to an adjudicator did the councils pull out, but Sam says these tickets should never have been issued in the first place.
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This yellow box where Hoe St meets Selborne Rd is 50 per cent to big, Sam argues (Picture: w8media)
He added: ‘It is to make money. If people appeal to the adjudicator the fine doubles.
‘A council is aware that not many people are willing to take that risk.
‘I see councils using template letters all the time and not considering the points that are not in the appeal.
‘Nobody is listening and nobody is helping. When you are facing a potential £160 fine people worry about money.’
More than 32,000 PCNs were issued last year for yellow box junctions, and Sam argues many motorists pay up without realising they are in the clear.
Metro met the chartered engineer, who used to work on yellow boxes design approval for Transport for London, at a thorny junction in Walthamstow Town Centre, which he says is 50 per cent larger than it needs to be.
In fact, a study he completed for the RAC last year shows that almost every yellow box junction of 100 analysed in London and Cardiff is bigger than it needs to be, either by extending beyond a junction, being in a non-permitted location or covering the far side of a T junction.
These lead to countless unnecessary fines, but only occasionally to drivers successfully challenging these tickets.
Where Sam has far more success with appeals is by looking at the letter of the law.
This one driver was fined because their back wheels were over the yellow box, but the appeal was ultimately successful because of the space in front of them (Picture: @yellowboxguru)
The highway code, which tells drivers ‘you MUST NOT enter the box until your exit road or lane is clear’, is not actually the law.
The actual law states that drivers must not enter a yellow box ‘so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due to the presence of stationary vehicles.’
Sam argues this means it is only an offence when you come to a halt because of ‘stationary vehicles’ and that offence also only commences when you enter the box.
So if you drive into the box lawfully but then circumstances change, for example a vehicle suddenly changes lanes and blocks your exit, you have not committed an offence, the former TfL employee insists.
@yellowboxguruYellow box junction PCN appeal won in Waltham Forest Lea Bridge Road after the council pulled out before the tribunal hearing#parkingticket #penaltychargenotices #parking #yellowbox #drivinglessons #yellowboxjunctions #driving #pcn #parkingenforcement #pcnappeal #penaltycharge #ukdrivingtest #yellowboxjunction #roads
♬ original sound – Yellow Box Guru – Yellow Box Guru
This driver was fined after stopping in a box junction on the Lea Bridge road in order to keep a pedestrian crossing clear.
Sam challenged the ticket on the grounds it was not an illegal stop, because the car had space in front to exit the box.
The TikToker argues that the law would judge that the driver stopped there ‘by choice’, not because stationary vehicles prevented him from moving.
Although Waltham Forest Council first sent a ‘template’ rejection letter, Sam claims, they then accepted the appeal before an adjudicator hearing.
‘What a lot of authorities do in their notice is they quote the highway code as if they are guilty,’ Sam bemoans, ‘It is really sneaky.’
While councils and TfL have long been responsible for administering fines in London and Cardiff, cash-strapped councils outside of those cities were given the power from 2021.
The chartered engineer is now spearheading a petition calling for a law change around box junctions.
Sam has become a saviour to hundreds looking to appeal their yellow box PCNs (Picture: w8media)
Among other demands, he is calling for the highway code to replicate the law and a 10-second grace period inside a yellow box before a PCN is issued.
He is calling for government to stop ‘washing their hands’ of the problem and to fix the issues affecting hundreds of drivers.
But a TfL spokesperson said yellow box junctions play a vital role in keeping traffic in London moving.
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‘Penalty charge notices are issued in line with all relevant legislation when people break the rules and are issued to keep people safe and reduce congestion, rather than simply to raise revenue.’
A spokesperson for Waltham Forest Council said: ‘The council is responsible for enforcing yellow box junctions in the borough. The law is set by the UK Government, and any discrepancy between the Highway Code and legislation is a matter for central government. The yellow box junctions in Waltham Forest all adhere to national regulations.
‘Drivers who believe they have been wrongfully fined are welcome to challenge the council’s decision.’
A Department for Transport spokesperson told Metro: ‘Local councils are responsible for implementing all road markings, and statutory guidance makes clear that yellow box junctions should only be used to manage traffic – not to raise revenue.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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