A frustrated driver says he plans to take legal action over the enforcement of two yellow box junctions in south London, which raked in more than £450,000 in eight months.

Phillip Morgan, 72, wants Kingston Council to scrap or shorten the yellow boxes on Kingston Road, in New Malden, which have been labelled a "cash cow".

Phillip, of Claygate, is among drivers who have repeatedly raised concerns about the layout and enforcement of the controversial yellow boxes on Kingston Road, which sit next to each other at its junctions with Elm Road and Westbury Road. They said motorists get trapped in the yellow boxes and are unfairly fined as they extend well beyond the junctions themselves.

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.

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.

Despite this, council officers ruled in a report, ahead of a meeting to consider the junctions in January, that the layout and enforcement of the yellow boxes were "legally compliant and proportionate".

Independent councillors James Giles, Yvonne Tracey and Kamala Kugan 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.

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 at the meeting on January 22.

Resident Julian McCarthy told the meeting the yellow boxes extended beyond the junctions and "any application of justice for people who are caught in there needs to be reviewed and people should be treated fairly".

Phillip has also sent a pre-action protocol letter to the council, seen by the LDRS, as he is seeking a judicial review of the layout and enforcement of the yellow boxes at the High Court.

Phillip, who helps drivers challenge fines as part of Free Traffic Legal Advice, disputed that the yellow boxes were legally compliant due to the volume of appeals allowed by adjudicators and concerns their findings had raised. He claimed there was inconsistency in which appeals had been allowed or refused, as drivers had seen different outcomes for very similar contraventions.

"I've now issued [the council] with a pre-action protocol letter to get the matter resolved at the High Court because of the inconsistency among adjudicators," he told the LDRS.

Phillip wants the authority to stop issuing fines at the yellow boxes until it has made a decision on whether to change their layout. He is waiting for the council to respond to his letter.

Regarding the council's decision to investigate shortening the yellow box at Elm Road, Councillor James Giles told the LDRS: "I was delighted that the Lib Dems had a Damascene conversion to supporting our point of view on this yellow box, having for months suggested there were no issues there.

"Clearly, with 40,000 PCNs issued in the last five years, there is an issue here. It's a cash cow, and I'm delighted that the council have now committed to both reviewing the junction and, subject to legal advice, recommending we shorten the length of the yellow box."

A Kingston Council spokesperson told the LDRS the outcome of the review would be reported to the committee as soon as possible.

The spokesperson said: "Yellow boxes are used across the country to improve traffic flow and provide safe environments for all road users, including motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The council uses its enforcement powers to ensure compliance. We do not, and by law are not permitted to, use enforcement with the objective of raising revenue.

"These box junctions have been in place for a considerable time and both comply with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016. Our data shows a noticeable decrease in the annual volume of PCNs issued across the last four complete financial years indicating that they are improving compliance."

Any extra income generated by enforcing yellow boxes and other traffic offences must be ringfenced for certain uses, including highways maintenance. The spokesperson added: "We will of course be dealing with any pre-action protocol letter appropriately in line with our legal obligations."