Father, 39, was fined £650 for driving outside his OWN home after ‘school street zone’ scheme was introduced that bans cars entering during pupil pick-up and drop-off times
- A man has had £650 of fines for driving outside his home revoked by a council
- Abdul Noormohamed, 39, was accused of driving in a restricted school zone
- The Harrow man said he had a permit and now says ‘justice’ has been served
A dad who was fined £650 for driving outside his own home in a new ‘school street zone’ has been celebrating after the penalties he received were revoked.
Abdul Noormohamed, 39, was gobsmacked to discover he had been fined for driving in the restricted zone five times without permission – despite living there.
The school street scheme by his house and Marlborough School bans vehicles without a permit from entering the road in Harrow during pick-up and drop-off times from 8.30am to 9.15am and 3pm to 3.45pm, Monday to Thursday.
However, residents, businesses and carers can apply for a permit to be exempt from the rules.
Despite claiming he had signed up for the virtual permit, Abdul was slapped with the fines which sparked a battle he has now won.
Although he says the council has not accepted any fault in the matter.
Abdul Noormohamed, 39, had £650 worth of fines overturned after he was given five tickets for driving outside his home – a ‘school street’ that has restrictions for vehicles around the start and end of the school day
Mr Noormohamed maintains that he registered his car and van during the initial trial period of the school street in 2020
Initially he tried contacting the council, local politicians, but received little response until he went to the press.
He said: ‘It feels like a huge weight off my shoulders. [The council] still hasn’t accepted any fault, they still made me register even though I’d already done so, but at least they cancelled them.’
Harrow Council have been contacted to find out if Mr Noormohamed did have a valid permit in the first place.
Despite this success, Abdul said his neighbours are facing similar issues and he has called on the council to immediately repay any fines handed out to those in similar positions.
He added: ‘Since this has all come out, people have been coming up telling me they’ve had the same problem.
‘They can’t get through to anyone – it’s as if one department at the council doesn’t know what the others are doing.’
He said he ‘felt like a celebrity’ when he went to pick his three daughters up from Marlborough, with several parents and teachers pointing out that they too had been stung by the cameras.
While he was pleased to see his fines written off, Abdul said there are still a number of outstanding problems with the school streets scheme.
The council began trialling the school street scheme in 2020 for an 18-month trial period, during which they saw an increase in active travel and reported that children felt safer on their journey to school.
Low-traffic neighbourhoods were also experimented with, they stopped cars, vans and other vehicles from using quiet roads as shortcuts.
However the council’s traffic and road safety advisory panel scrapped this idea, saying a consultation ‘made it very clear’ there was no appetite for the measures.
Though, in February this year four school streets were made permanent features of the town.
There are concerns around the signs warning drivers that they cannot use the street by the school at certain times – approaching from the busy Harrow View, they would be unaware until the last minute and could be forced to brake in the middle of the road.
School streets are designed to improve the safety and well-being of children and young people as they travel to school (file photo of a school street)
And those living in the zone still struggle to have visitors round or get deliveries to their door with people fearful of being fined.
Abdul said: ‘My house is usually very active, my door is always open. I’d have people coming and going all day every day, but I can’t anymore.’
He added there is the issue of the restrictions forcing cars onto other nearby roads, which simply shunts pollution onto others.
Harrow Council has been approached for comment.
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