Glencoe Road in Chatham is part of a School Streets scheme, where vehicles are not allowed to go during certain hours during term time. Drivers who flout the rules are fined.
Local Democracy Reporter Gabriel Morris reports.
Local Democracy Reporter Gabriel Morris reports.
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NewsTranscript
00:00It's the scheme designed to get children to school more safely by closing roads
00:05but some drivers say school streets in Medway are testing their patience. Take a
00:12turn into the enforcement area at the wrong time and you'll be given a fine of
00:16up to £70. Now every school street in Medway has different restricted hours
00:23however during the school holidays well there is no enforcement in place so in
00:28theory if I was to drive down this road during the restricted hours I shouldn't
00:32receive a fine. It's emerged that's not quite the case. Gary drove down Glencoe
00:39Road when the children were off for the half term. A few days later he received
00:44this fine. He presumed it was a mistake but council officers told him there was
00:50a teacher training day at Phoenix Junior Academy that means the enforcement came
00:55back in even though it was during the school holidays. Really angry to be
01:00honest frustrated as well because the council should really take into
01:06account that the information isn't there and the whole idea was to protect
01:10children and obviously no children there so there was no need for them to issue
01:14the ticket. Do you think most people living around here would actually know
01:17when it's a teacher training day? No they're not going to know when the teacher
01:20training day of course not unless you happen to be one of the children
01:25parents and that was sent directly to them but when you check the website it's
01:30not on there. The restrictions are currently around seven Medway schools
01:34but there are plans to continue rolling out more in the next academic year. Well
01:39for me personally they need a refund of the money I've paid it up
01:43front because I didn't want to get the fine to be doubled or go to the county
01:48court or make the signage better on the entrance to the roads you know so
01:53explain it is for schools or make sure that the schools have got the information
01:57on the website for people to see. The council says keeping school children
02:01safe is their priority and they say they won't be excluding the enforcement
02:06anytime soon but for Gary he hopes this will teach the authority a lesson in
02:11fairness. Gabriel Morris in Chatham