Its very easy to take lateral relief from a Red Penalty Area next to where your ball is lying, however your reference point is the point where the ball last crossed in to the penalty area – perhaps a little bit further back as most red penalty areas are to the side.
And don’t forget that you may only take the lateral relief on the side where your ball crossed in to the Penalty Area unless there is a local rule in place to allow opposite side relief.
Golf Rules Guru 