Fines for stopping in yellow boxes in Reading have more than tripled in a year as more and more drivers are being caught out.
Moving traffic offences are driving rule breaches which typically involve drivers blocking junctions or going where they should not.
Reading Borough Council won permission from the Conservative government to enforce moving traffic offences in November 2022.
This enforcement is focused on drivers who stop at yellow box junctions, beginning in February 2023 at the King’s Road junction with Eldon Road and Orts Road.
Since then, further Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras have been installed at junctions across Reading to punish drivers who break the rules.
Yellow box junctions are marked criss cross grids that ban drivers from entering them if the way they are trying to go is clear.
They are designed to keep junctions clear, maintain traffic flow and reduce delays.
The amount of fines issued for drivers who stop in these junctions has more than tripled in a year, according to council figures.
According to the latest data, 5,883 fines were issued in 2024/25. That is more than three times the 1,638 issued in 2023/24, with 4,245 additional fines being issued in just a year.
These figures have been published in the council’s Parking Services Annual Report 2024/25.
Not all of the fines that were issued were paid.
Drivers suspected of breaches of moving traffic offences are sent penalty charge notices (PCNs), which can be challenged.
Of the 5,883 PCNs issued, 588 were the subject of a formal representation, with 89 of the fines being cancelled as a result of the representation.
Meanwhile, 165 were written off for other reasons.
Of the 5,256 fines paid, 4,768 were paid by the driver at a discount rate of £35 within 21 days of the PCN being issued.
The remainder either paid £70 within 28 days or the elevated charge of £105.
The figures show 440 fines were registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) in Northampton.
In those cases, the drivers had to pay £115, with a statutory £75 compliance fee if the council had to order bailiffs for the payment.
In 2024/25, enforcement began at four more locations, which can be seen in the table below:
When enforcement does begin, warning notices are issued rather than fines for the first six months of their operation, with a total of 542 notices being issued in 2024/25.
The figures for moving traffic enforcement first featured in the council’s parking services annual report in 2022/23, but the data was limited as only warning notices were issued at that time.
In 2023/24, enforcement left the council with a net cost of £681. In 2024/25, it made a net surplus of £208,999.
