A council has scrapped plans to shorten one of a pair of controversial yellow box junctions in South London, which together raked in more than £450,000 in eight months.
The yellow box at the junction of Kingston Road and Elm Road will remain the same, after Kingston Council officers ruled plans to shorten it were legal but would negatively impact cyclist safety.
Drivers have repeatedly raised concerns about the layout and enforcement of the yellow boxes on Kingston Road, in New Malden, which sit next to each other at its junctions with Elm Road and Westbury Road – particularly that motorists get trapped in the yellow boxes and are unfairly fined as they extend well beyond the junctions themselves.
Motorists have seen their fines overturned at tribunal for stopping in the part of the yellow box that extends beyond Elm Road in particular, with independent adjudicators finding this section “non-compliant with the regulations” and “outside the main functional junction area”.
In total, 18 of 36 appeals of fines issued at the Elm Road junction last year were upheld. The Westbury Road junction generated five appeals, with three allowed.
Growing pressure from locals saw the Lib Dem-run authority’s New and Old Malden Neighbourhood Committee agree to review the junctions and investigate shortening the yellow box at Elm Road in January, although officers had deemed their layout and enforcement “legally compliant and proportionate”.
Independent councillors had asked for the meeting after data from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request showed the authority dished out 6,568 penalty charge notices (PCNs) to drivers who had stopped in the yellow boxes from January to August last year. This generated roughly £451,405.
The councillors said residents and businesses were concerned the junctions operated as a “cash cow”, rather than a proportionate traffic measure.
Independent consultants have since reviewed shortening the yellow box at the Elm Road junction, but found the change would negatively impact cyclist safety.
A new report by council officers said: “The existing yellow box marking is optimally configured for the current traffic demands and effectively addresses the safety needs of all road users, and is legally compliant. Any reduction in its size, specifically by the minimum suggested dimension of up to three metres, would remain legal but would demonstrably compromise cyclist safety without offering significant, measurable benefits to vehicle throughput.”
Independent councillor James Giles raised concerns the council had failed to deliver action it had promised at the authority’s Place Committee on Thursday night (June 4).
Councillor Giles said: “Before the election, people in New Malden were given the clear impression their concerns had been heard and that something practical would be done.
“After the election, the recommendation is to keep the box exactly as it is. That is a U-turn.”
Lib Dem councillor Roger Hayes, however, said the decision had to be made based on road safety.
Councillor Hayes said: “The junction needs to be configured in the best possible way and, having looked at it several times, I am willing to confer to the best knowledge of our traffic engineers in making that decision.”
The committee agreed no changes would be made to the layout of the yellow boxes until the wider review had been completed and any decisions made on a future scheme, with 10 councillors voting in favour and two against.
Credit: Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS
Matthew Hill, the council’s Director of Highways, Transport and Regulatory Services, said officers hoped to present the findings of the review by autumn.
While the yellow boxes were installed in 2015, they have only been enforced by cameras since 2020.
Drivers who stop in either yellow grid when their exit is not clear, and they are not waiting to turn right, are automatically slapped with a fine of £160, which is slashed to £80 if it is paid in 14 days.
