School parking enforcement - The school street scheme
A school street is a road outside a school with a temporary restriction on motorised traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times.
Vehicles are not allowed to enter the zone between these times unless they have been granted an exemption.
The aim is to improve local safety and air quality and make it easier for children and their parents to walk and cycle to school.
Less vehicles on the school run will reduce anti-social behaviour and thoughtless parking on the streets and residents’ driveways as well as creating a healthier environment for all the street users while promoting active travel.
If you can travel sustainably by walking or cycling, you can help to keep space on public transport and roads free for those who need it most.
Our school travel plan pages have some details to help you switch to more sustainable modes of travel.
Enforcing school street schemes
All of the schemes are enforced using CCTV cameras with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) positioned at the entry and exit points of the zone.
Entering a school street zone during the times of prohibition is an offence under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and may incur a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) if the vehicles are not granted an exemption permit.
The cost of the PCN will be £130, which will be reduced to £65 if paid within 14 days.
School streets are enforced only during Havering school term dates and cameras are operational during the morning and afternoon school run times.
Outside of this period no permit is required to enter the area.
Leaving the school street area is allowed to everyone during camera operational times.
View the full details of the restricted zones in Havering
Exemptions to the school scheme
Exemption permits are free of charge and the following are exempt in the school street zones.
- Residents.
- School staff with a requirement to park onsite.
- Local business staff within the school street area with a requirement to park onsite.
- Disabled Blue Badge holders whether pupils, parents, carers, teachers and other staff at the school where the restriction is present.
- Registered healthcare workers and NHS staff attending patients whom reside in the school street zone.
- Emergency service vehicles and other public service vehicles such as waste collection.
- Hackney Carriage taxis, School Transport Vehicles, Dial-a-Ride and other specialist public passenger transport services.
- Marked delivery vans registered as commercial vehicles such as Royal Mail, UPS and DPD.
Because children and families may be using the space in the road, we encourage eligible vehicles to enter and exit school streets with caution and only where absolutely necessary to maintain safety, ensuring that vehicle volume and speed is kept to a minimum.
How to get an exemption permit
- Please have any documents you may need to support your application ready.
- Go to our parking permits page and select ‘Go to the MiPermit page to see all virtual permit types available to buy’.
- Scroll down to ‘School Street Access Virtual Permits’ and select what is appropriate to you.
- Read all the relevant information and then press ‘Continue’.
- Enter all your details.
You'll be asked to create an account during the process of buying your first permit (not before) which you can then login to for further permits and to make changes.
Please note that once you make an account with MiPermit this will be a new account with MiPermit only and it is not your My Havering account login, or other Havering account login you may have with us.
There will be no charge for adding your vehicle to an exemption list, but it will remain your responsibility to keep your details up to date in the event your circumstances change.
Please also take time to read the permit terms and conditions.
Our parking permits are virtual which means you do not get a paper permit to display on your vehicle.
Documents you will need ready to apply for an exemption
When applying for an exemption permit online via MiPermit you will need to provide proof of vehicle ownership such as the V5 Vehicle Log Book, lease agreement or allocation from your company showing your name and the vehicle registration number.
| Applicant | Additional documents required |
|---|---|
| Resident | Council Tax reference number or recent utility bill or bank statement in your name and address. |
| School staff | School letter to confirm that you are an employee with a special requirement to park onsite. School should keep these exemptions to the minimum and only up to their car park capacity. |
| Blue Badge holders | Blue Badge details together with a supporting letter from the school whether to staff, pupils or parents. |
| Business staff | Company letter to confirm that you are an employee with a requirement to park onsite. |
| Registered Health carers or NHS Staff attending patients | Evidence of your employment with your duty towards a patient\client living in a school street area. |
| Emergency services Waste collection Hackney carriage taxis Other public transport services Marked delivery vans |
Will be automatically exempt. |
Examples of where exemptions will not be granted
The following will not be granted exemptions for their vehicle to arrive at the times of the school street and may be issued a PCN if entering the area during the operational times.
- Residents living outside the school street.
- Parents/carers dropping off/collecting children at the school. (A person providing childcare, similar to that of a childminder - whether it’s a family member or a paid person/organisation, is deemed as visitor and will not be eligible to apply).
- Friends and relatives of residents in the school street (visitors).
- Tradespeople.
- Unmarked delivery vehicles.
Instead, it is advised that any planned visitor either chooses to walk or cycle their journey, park their car in a nearby street and walk the short distance to the school, or arrive outside of the hours of the school street zone.
Challenging a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) in special circumstances
A visitor or a taxi taking a resident to a doctor appointment sporadically or as an emergency, will receive a PCN which will be able to be challenged providing evidence of the doctor appointment as a mitigating reason.
Tradespeople attending emergency call-outs during the camera operating times may be issued a PCN but will be able to challenge it upon receipt providing evidence of the emergency call-out attendance showing date, time and address.
Parents collecting sick children from school would require evidence to be provided by the school in the event of a PCN being issued.
Breakdown/recovery vehicles attending an incident during the hours of operation would require evidence to be provided in the event of a PCN being issued.
Professionals and other school visitors should try to arrive outside of the restricted period, or risk a PCN and have to make representation, providing proof of their visit.