Olympic sailor wins yellow box appeal

An Olympic gold medallist has accused a council of entrapment after he was fined for blocking a yellow box junction.

Yachtsman Rodney Pattisson had his £120 fine overturned at an independent appeal.

He says more than 30 drivers a day are still being caught at the west London junction because traffic light timings make it "impossible" to clear the yellow grid in one go.

Drivers caught in the box are tracked by a bank of CCTV cameras.

Mr Pattisson, who won gold medals in Mexico in 1968 and Munich in 1972, says Hammersmith and Fulham council is making at least £2,000 in "unfair" fines every day.

Despite his protests, the council has refused to remodel the junction between New King's Road and Bagley's Road. He said: "It's a trap because the second set of lights, which are part of a separate junction further down the road, create a tailback."

Mr Pattisson won his appeal after the adjudicator said the evidential photograph issued by the council, together with the fine, was misleading. It did not show his car on the yellow box junction but further along the road.