A furious family could face a £3,500 fine for dropping their child off outside school.
Parents were reportedly warned about the new parking changes at James Oglethorpe Primary School in Cranham, East London, with the fines forming part of a School Streets initiative.
It's a scheme that imposes temporary restrictions on traffic at school drop-off and pick-up times.
Martin Stevens, 63, said his wife Steph, 53, and daughter Abbie, 25, drive their four-year-old granddaughter to and from the school every day.
However, because they live in South Okenden, Essex, which is outside the school's borough, Mr Stevens claims that when Havering Council introduced the School Streets scheme last month, he and his family were left oblivious of the new rules and potential fines.
He also claims that the School Street signs are poorly visible to those driving into the area, hence the family being caught out.
"The way that we come into this junction is you come into this side road, [meaning] the signs are facing away from you," he told the Romford Recorder.
The first time the family were aware of any issue is when Ms Stevens received an email from Tusker, the company she leases her vehicle from through her employer Queen’s Hospital, on October 10.
It said she had driven through a restricted zone on September 15, which immediately got them thinking about where they had been driving.
Over the next couple of weeks, more and more letters and emails came in, and their daughter also started receiving parking fines.
Mr Stevens claims they have now received more than 10 penalty charge notices (PCNs) and are bracing themselves for more.
He estimates they could end up with 28, meaning costs of potentially more than £3,500, but until all the PCNs have come through the final total is unconfirmed.
And because Ms Stevens has been leasing her car from Tusker, the fines have resulted in deductions from her wages and have totalled £455 so far.
Mr Stevens says he spoke to the team at Tusker who have since agreed to ask Queen's to withhold any further deductions because the family intends on appealing the fines.
“The problem we have got in this is we had not been notified,” Mr Stevens said.
Abbie added: “If I had known I was doing wrong, would I have continually committed all these offences?"
Cllr Ray Morgon, leader of Havering Council, said: “The driver can appeal through the council’s appeal process against any PCNs if he feels they have been given in error and our parking enforcement team will look into that appeal.
“There are signs at the entrance to the restricted zone. The council also notified both residents and the school by letter ahead of the scheme being in operation, with the school notifying and reminding parents and guardians of the scheme, ahead of the summer break.”
The Mirror has contacted Havering Council for further comment.
