Performing a prohibited turnThe official national descriptor for code 50, as published in the Department for Transport statutory guidance list.
The letter after the number on your ticket
Codes are often written with a suffix: 50j rather than just 50. The letter narrows the allegation, and it tells you what the council actually says went wrong. These are the suffixes code 50 can carry:
| j | camera enforcement |
What the council has to be able to show
An appeal is not an apology, it is a challenge to the council’s case. For code 50 that case rests on:
- A traffic order prohibiting the turn, and the prescribed sign to convey it.
- The sign sited where a driver can see and act on it before committing.
- That the manoeuvre the camera recorded is the one the order prohibits.
Where code 50 tickets go wrong
The single most productive line. If the sign sits at the junction mouth rather than on the approach, a driver in the turning lane has already committed. Photograph from the lane, at the distance you would first see it.
Many banned turns apply at peak hours only. Compare the plate with the timestamp.
Diversions, works traffic management and police direction all defeat the allegation.
Outside London, the first six months at a camera location should bring a warning notice rather than a penalty for a first contravention. Ask the council for the date enforcement began there and whether a warning was sent.
What to gather before you write
- Photographs of the sign taken from the approach lane, showing how much warning a driver actually gets.
- The full video rather than the still.
- The works notice or diversion signs if you were sent that way.
Code 50 questions, answered
The no right turn sign was right at the junction. Does the position matter?
It matters a great deal and it is the usual ground on this code. A sign has to be sited where a driver can see it and still act on it. If it appears only at the junction mouth, someone already in the right-hand turning lane has committed. Photograph the approach from that lane, from the distance the sign first becomes readable, and put the two pictures side by side.
What does contravention code 50 mean?
Performing a prohibited turn. In plain terms: A no-left-turn, no-right-turn or no-U-turn sign, enforced by camera. Along with bus gates and box junctions, this is one of the three codes that produced most of the new penalties when English councils outside London took on these powers.
How much is a code 50 penalty?
Code 50 is a moving traffic or bus lane contravention, so it is not banded higher and lower the way parking codes are. In London the charge is £160 across the board. Outside London it is set at the higher level, commonly around £70. Half is normally taken off for early payment, and because these notices are usually issued from a camera rather than by an officer at the roadside, that discount period is often 21 days rather than 14. Your notice states the actual figures and the actual deadline, and it is the notice that governs.
Your notice is definitive. This page explains the national code. Councils use extra codes and local suffixes, and the wording printed on your own notice always takes precedence. Check the deadline on the notice before you do anything else, because the discount usually runs out after 14 days.
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