How we boxed clever to get off the hook

Everyone has to stick to the rules of the road – even Auto Express! But when our road tester Ross Pinnock was fined for obstructing a junction, even though the camera footage showed that he clearly wasn’t, we stepped in.

Traffic enforcement measures are meant to stop inconsiderate motorists jamming up the roads. But Ross argued that’s not what he was doing when his VW Golf was caught stationary in a yellow box junction for only 13 seconds in Lambeth, London.

The Highway Code says: “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 Ross was fined £60. Fair enough, you might think. But the photo included with his penalty clearly showed he was not obstructing any other cars. He explained: “Traffic ahead of me bunched up so I momentarily stopped, with the front of the car in the hatched area of the junction. I thought nothing of it, as a traffic island in the centre of the road prevented cars from turning across the junction where I was parked anyway.”

He appealed, but Transport for London (TfL) rejected the claim. “I thought it was petty, but paid up,” he said. We weren’t ready to give up without a fight, though, and called TfL to ask why Ross’s appeal was rejected, when he had not blocked the road.

After careful consideration, a TfL spokeswoman admitted it had made a mistake, and agreed to lift the charge. She said: “Our aim is to keep red routes moving safely. We do not want to catch motorists out.

“In this case, the vehicle was technically in contravention of these rules, but TfL’s aim is not to enforce them to the letter of the law, but to keep these busy roads moving for everyone’s benefit. In this instance, we were not quick enough to spot our own mistake, and we will work with our service providers to improve our handling of such cases in the future.”