FAQs

A school street is an active travel initiative that reduces the volume of traffic outside a school at school drop-off and pick-up times. The result is a safer and healthier environment for everyone and encourages walking and cycling to school.

School streets is a part of our safe streets policy in our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP), (Local Transport and Connectivity Plan) and is in our Active Travel Strategy (Active travel Strategy) 

The aim is to create a safer, healthier, and more welcoming environment where pupils, parents and carers, and staff can walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or park and walk to school whilst benefiting from better air quality and less traffic congestion. Getting to school without a car | Oxfordshire County Council

School streets encourage parents and carers to choose active travel modes for the school journey. This is further helped by Living Streets and Active Oxfordshire initiatives, Walk to School Week and using Park and Stride – parking away from the school site and encouraging parents to complete some of the school journey on foot.  

Our Local Transport and Connectivity Plan policy 10 states that we will:

1. Support the creation of safe streets through traffic measures, particularly where they support the creation of strategic safe walking and cycling routes. Safe street locations will be identified when developing Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan networks. 
2. Encourage the use of filtered permeability in new developments to create safe streets and strategic walking and cycling routes. (p53 Local Transport and Connectivity Plan 2022-2050, Oxfordshire County Council).

During the school’s morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up periods, roads around the school site will only be open to people walking, cycling, wheeling or scooting and those in a vehicle with a valid exemption for that school street.  

School streets operate Monday to Friday, during term-time only. The school street operational times vary depending on the needs of each school but typically fit the school’s usual pick-up and drop-off times with approximately 15 minutes extra time before and after.

School streets create places where children can thrive, be healthier and happier because they are: 

• being more active 
• enjoying improved air quality 
• getting a boost to confidence from active travel 
• getting more chances to be sociable. 

Creating a car-free environment makes it easier and safer for children and their families to travel by walking, cycling, or scooting to school and means that they can leave the car at home. 

Oxfordshire County Council has been awarded £350,000 from Active Travel England to deliver these school streets proposals, including the installation and implementation of the ANPR cameras should the scheme be approved. The funding is only allowed to be spent on school streets.

A school street helps to improve safety for vulnerable road users, improve air quality, encourage healthier school travel, and reduce traffic impacts on the school’s local community and residents by reducing traffic congestion and unsafe parking from parents/carers driving to the school gates.  

By creating a safer street environment, children can boost their confidence in walking/wheeling cycling, scooting or other active travel options without relying on a motor vehicle. The increase in physical activity levels can improve physical health and reduce obesity rates, whilst helping pupils to feel more energised in the mornings and more ready to focus on their studies. There is also the opportunity for parents/carers and children to socialise on the school run, boosting wellbeing and sense of community.

All children in Oxfordshire schools are offered the Footsteps Road Safety training. Footsteps is designed to help parents and carers teach their children the road safety skills they will need to become safe independent travellers and road users. We will work with schools to carry out road safety and Bikeability training as part of implementing a school street. 

Year Five/Six children in Oxfordshire can have free Bikeability cycle training sessions at school to help build their cycling confidence and improve on-road cycling safety skills. The Bikeability training is run by Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. Sessions are coordinated directly with schools. Schools will let families know ahead of the sessions so children can register to join them.

Both Footsteps and Bikeability emphasise the need for children to make their active travel journeys sensibly, remaining aware and alert of their surroundings and mindful of other road users.  

We expect cyclists and scooter/trial e-scooter riders to conduct themselves responsibly, and travel slowly in the school street zone. Please be considerate of other road users. School gates restrictions will be set by the school. Cyclists and scooter riders must dismount and walk at the school gates and on school property. 

Please note all trial e-scooters in Oxford have their speed capped at 12mph (equivalent to a very brisk walking pace).  

There are now nine permanent school streets operating in Oxfordshire:

• Phase 1 Permanent School Streets 
  • Windmill Primary School - Oxford 
  • St Nicolas C of E Primary School - Abingdon 
  • Larkrise Primary School – Oxford 
  • St Ebbe’s C of E Primary School – Oxford
• Phase 2  School Street enforceable by an Experimental Traffic Order to be made permanent in October 2025
  • Manor Primary School, Didcot       
  • New Hinksey CE Primary School, Oxford    
  • St Mary and St John CE Primary School, Oxford    
  • Sandhills Community Primary School, Oxford
  • Tyndale Community School, Oxford    

You can read more about them here: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/school-streets/location-school-streets

Advanced warning road signs are installed on the roads near the schools to show road users and drivers details about the location of a school street. They are placed in positions to allow drivers and road users to make alternative journeys and avoid the school street during its operational times.

We also write to residents, local business and other stakeholders and people in the immediate school street area to let them know about the school streets proposals and update them on the location of the school street and the start date of the school street.   Information is also provided on our website, in social media posts and through notices in local press and on lighting columns. Schools participating in the programme will update their school community, and local councillors will also be aware. 

We will monitor traffic flows and parking outside the school street area to see if there is an impact on traffic or parking displacement elsewhere. If you are concerned about displaced parking/parking on your school street, please let Oxfordshire County Council’s parking team know.

Park & stride locations allow you to drive part of the journey, park your car and then walk the remainder of the journey to the school. These are agreed between a school, the county council, and a nearby location which has suitable parking space available during school start and finish times.

The designated park and stride locations for the schools we are proposing new school streets for are:

• Banbury – Harriers Banbury Academy: Horton Tennis Club 
• Carterton – Edith Moorhouse Primary School and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School: Black Bourton Road car park 
• Didcot – Willowcroft Community Primary School and St Birinus Boys School:  Didcot Wave Leisure Centre car park 

A school street and a low traffic neighbourhood are two different traffic management schemes:

• A school street is a scheme to reduce the volume of motorised traffic during times agreed with the school (usually the school drop-off and pick-up times) and operates on the street the school is on and potentially surrounding streets that the school is on. It is implemented as one of several active travel measures that can be put in place for a school. It is an active travel scheme aimed at reducing the volume of traffic. It is implemented using a co-production approach with schools.  
• A low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) is an area where motor traffic is prevented from taking shortcuts through a specific residential area. Traffic is restricted either by a bollard, a planter tub, or a camera-enforced restriction. These prevent all motor traffic (including cars, vans, lorries and motorcycles) from driving through. Emergency services, cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchairs, the trial e-scooters and those using mobility scooters will all have free access. More about LTNs is here. 

For future school streets there may be occasions where a school street’s location may overlap with an LTN. This would usually depend upon whether the school is situated within or near an LTN.  

None of our current permanent school streets are within an LTN. However, one of them, Larkrise Primary School is near to both the east Oxford St Mary’s LTN and the Cowley Florence Park LTN.

When the county council proposes a school street it is discussed in detail with the relevant schools to help understand the school’s needs and what would be expected to work best to meet those school street needs. 

When a draft plan has been prepared based on site monitoring and those discussions it will be shared publicly so that everyone who would like to can see the draft plan and share their thoughts and feedback on it. 

As part of the consultation process, we place notices in local press. Information is also provided on our website, in social media posts and in local libraries. Schools participating in the programme will update parents, and their school community, and local councillors will also be aware.

We also contact statutory stakeholders, including but not limited to emergency services, county councillors, council highway officers, bus service providers, and other affected schools in the area and local businesses to gather their views and feedback. 

We contact all residents who live on the proposed school street in writing and invite them to share their feedback through the survey and/or by contacting us by letter or by email.   

We also work with the school to inform school staff and the wider school community including parents and carers about the proposed school street. Schools are also encouraged to make visitors aware of the school street and other road restrictions ahead of any planned school meetings and events. 

Any school in Oxfordshire that is interested in having a school street, or developing their travel plan or active travel options are invited to contact us at: schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk . We will review all school street and active travel requests with the schools directly. All requests are considered in line with funding availability.

Any school can contact the council to ask to be considered for a school street. There is a 5-step programme the school will need to engage with to implement a permanent school street, and this process can take around a year before a school street is made permanent.

• Review of the school's location and road safety data to determine suitability and location of a potential School Street – OCC lead, agreed by school. 
• Develop the school’s travel plan and plan for a school street trial (ETRO) – OCC and school jointly working together. 
• Formal consultation of school street. 
• School street infrastructure (ANPR cameras and signage) installed. 
• Monitor and review the school street.

School streets are legal. Local authorities can implement temporary 18-month Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) and permanent Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) to control traffic in an area.

The Department for Transport has devolved powers to a number of local authorities to use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to enforce permanent school streets.  The Secretary of State for Transport has published the following guidance about moving traffic contraventions, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-lane-and-moving-traffic-enforcement-outside-london/traffic-management-act-2004-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities-outside-london-on-civil-enforcement-of-bus-lane-and-moving-traffic-contravention 

The county council holds a public consultation to ask for the public’s views and feedback on proposals being made. 

If further monitoring and/or feedback indicate a need for significant changes to what has been proposed, or external circumstances changes which would necessitate a full review of, and/or significant changes to be made what has been proposed, then a further consultation is held so people have the opportunity to comment again, taking the changes into consideration (as the changes might affect how people feel about the proposals and there may be new or different points that may be flagged for the council to consider).

A report is prepared presenting the proposal to a Cabinet Member for Decision meeting. The relevant Cabinet Member for school streets is the Cabinet Member for Transport Management. This report includes the results of the public consultation and other information that is pertinent to making an informed decision. At the meeting a decision will be made on whether to implement the proposals, reject the proposals, or implement them subject to particular conditions, having considered all the results.
The report is published publicly within the week before the meeting is held. Anyone can attend the meeting or view it online. If you wish to speak publicly at the meeting you can apply to do so.

The results that are considered include, not exhaustively, a detailed analysis of survey responses, correspondence received in relation to the proposals, and site monitoring and reporting.

It is important to remember that a consultation is not a vote, but an opportunity to gather views and feedback on proposals before any decisions are made. All of the objections, concerns and recommendations raised during the public consultation are reviewed by officers and discussed with the cabinet member so that the Cabinet Member has a full and detailed view of the results to help them make a decision. 

No, it doesn’t. Officers work closely with the schools and review the site, its current arrangements and traffic patterns, how the road works as part of the wider road network, and monitor the location to make sure the resulting proposals are sensible and well-informed.
Monitoring and close discussion with the schools continues beyond the school streets being implemented to make sure that the school street is continuing to work as it should for the school, the school community, and residents within the school street. If something is not working right then we will review it with the affected parties and may make changes. 

We are permitted to make certain, limited changes within the boundaries of the traffic orders created for that school street. Bigger changes may require the council to run another public consultation exercise to seek feedback and then approval to implement those changes.

School streets trials are set up and operated under Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETRO). An ETRO is introduced by the county council as Highway Authority, and legally sets traffic and parking restrictions such as road closures. An ETRO is made under Sections 9 and 10 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and stays in force for a maximum of 18 months while its effects are monitored and assessed.  

We use ETROs to see how a traffic or parking restriction scheme works in practice as it generally has more flexibility for making adjustments than a permanent Traffic Regulation Order (TRO).

We receive feedback throughout the  school streets programme in the following ways:  

• completing the school streets consultation survey (online/on paper)  
• writing to the school streets team by email, or at County Hall  
• public feedback to councillors  

Any formal objections to the school streets programme and proposals must be made in the first six months from the date that the ETRO is active. It is not possible to lodge a formal objection to an ETRO until this date.   

All feedback, together with ongoing engagement with schools and school street benefits monitoring, contributes to evaluation of a school street and decision on whether to make it permanent. Oxfordshire County Council works closely with schools to decide whether the schools wish to make their school streets permanent.   

In order to make a school street scheme permanent, Oxfordshire County Council must report the proposal to a Cabinet Member for Decision meeting. This will typically include information from monitoring and site surveys, and feedback received through consultation (such as survey results, summaries of engagement events and letters written to the council about the proposals).  If the proposal is approved, or approved subject to specific actions being taken once it is approved, then the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO), can legally become a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). 

A Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) is a legal document that allows a local authority to enforce traffic or highways measures. They can be used to set particular rules for a public road, or part of a public road – such as: parking restrictions, speed limits, making a street one-way, setting width and weight limits (e.g., on a narrow, historic street where heavier vehicles might damage the road and/or wider vehicles that may get stuck.  TROs are permanent legal documents and can be enforced by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.

An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) lasts for up to 18 months. It helps identify whether any adjustments are recommended to be made to a proposal should a scheme be made permanent.  

Should an amendment be made to the ETRO during the 18-month period that would make a noticeable change to how the scheme being trialled operates, it would be necessary to re-start a new six-month consultation period.

For example, an amendment that would re-start a consultation period might be needing to relocate the entrance point to a school street or changing the operating times of the school street.  If an amendment was very minor - such as a sign needing to be installed a few centimetres forward of where it was planned to be installed, this would not normally mean a need to re-start consultation (because the amendment would not make a material change to how the scheme trial was working).

The benefits of the school street are monitored through several factors:

•   Air quality on the school street is monitored to check for improved air quality.  We monitor air quality using diffusion tubes, which measure the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air. An external laboratory analyses the air samples. The results are processed as per LAQM TG16 requirements. More information and air quality data can be found on this public website: https://oxfordshire.air-quality.info/.
• The use of active travel methods such as walking and cycling is monitored to record increases in active travel. This is usually done via child, school staff and parent/carer surveys.  
• Qualitive data (such as data from feedback and personal accounts rather than numbers) from the schools will also be monitored to ensure students are benefitting from the school street.  
• Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) enforcement will be monitored by our parking team.   

We use a combination of data collection and different surveys to monitor and evaluate the school street benefits and understand how school streets are working including:

• air quality monitoring data collection to understand the air quality improvements. 
• collating information about how pupils travelled to school before the scheme became permanent, and during the scheme to monitor active travel improvements. This can be from informal accounts from the school and school community; and/or short-term traffic counts; and/or ongoing monitoring of traffic reporting from our parking team.
• engaging with parents/carers, residents and school staff e.g., through surveys to monitor active travel improvements; i.e., reduced car journeys to and from the school. 
• looking at reports on numbers of children meeting physical activity guidelines and any impact on their wellbeing. 

We will share feedback through annual reviews on how well the school streets are performing – and note the benefits, impacts and any follow up actions raised.    

We will also engage with the wider school community including parents/carers, school street residents and businesses, and with the school directly to help ensure the school streets continue to benefit Oxfordshire. 

Using ANPR cameras reduces the need for school street volunteers which makes them more suitable for long-term schemes. It also means the school street scheme can continue without safety risks to volunteers, and in periods of bad weather. 

In phase one and phase two, the schools’ circumstances and physical locations made it more possible to begin the school streets using human volunteers using temporary barriers before we consulted on operating the school streets using ANPR cameras. We are extremely grateful to the volunteers who operated the temporary school street ‘gates’ at all the schools who take part in those trials but appreciate that it is not sustainable or always practicable for managing a school street consistently on a long-term basis.

While the school street is in operation, the ANPR cameras check the number plates of vehicles entering the school street against the exemptions list for that school street . They are not CCTV cameras and do not serve for any other traffic management or parking scheme except their designated school street.

The ANPR cameras are only used to check the number plates of vehicles entering the school street. If a vehicle is not on the exemptions list, the owner of the vehicle will be issued an automatic Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). 

The ANPR cameras are not operational outside the designated operating times for that school street, during weekends, or when the school is closed during its holidays or ‘inset’ days.

A permanent school street operates using a legal traffic regulation order process, so any vehicle entering a school street while the school street is operating that is not, at that time, registered as exempt for that school street will be contravening the traffic regulation order.  An automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) camera will be in operation and will take your vehicle’s registration plate details, and you will receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). 

You will not be fined if you are walking, wheeling, using a mobility scooter, cycling, using a manual scooter or an e-scooter that is registered under the government e-scooter trial (and permitted to enter the street under that trial), or driving an exempt vehicle in a school street.   

Traffic enforcement warning signs will be clearly displayed at the entrance point of each school street to mark where a school street starts and tell you its operating times.  

A legal permission is granted by the Department for Transport. The order that allows this is called a 'prohibition of motor vehicles' restriction. It allows the council to close the roads accessing the school gates at specified times. 

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras would be used to enforce motor vehicle restrictions during those specified closure times. The cameras would either be a fixed ANPR camera or an ANPR equipped car positioned at access points to the school street and fixed-penalty notices would be issued for vehicles breaking the restrictions.

The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras record vehicles entering the school street while the school street is in operation. Vehicles that are already parked in the school street can drive out of the school street during its operating times without receiving a PCN. However, if the vehicle is not exempt and then re-enters the school street during operating times it will receive a PCN.  

If you feel you have been issued a PCN in error, please contact us at schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk , or contact us via the Contact us about School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council. You will need to explain why you think you have received the PCN in error. Our parking team will check the vehicle’s exemption status and review your case.

The Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will always be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle.

Some vehicles are allowed to travel through the school street while it is in operation by having a school street exemption, such as residents and local businesses. Residents, local businesses, and others such as specific private car drivers who require an exemption (e.g., blue badge holders, carers and residents’ regular visitors) will need to register for exemption online. Please see Apply for a School Street exemption | Oxfordshire County Council.  See Q.19 for more information. Some vehicles are automatically exempt such as emergency services, and council waste collection vehicles, and do not need to apply. 

Once a vehicle is granted a school street exemption, the vehicle number plate is added to the exemption list and is permitted to enter the school street during the school street’s operational times, and will not be issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for doing so.

Please note the following:

• Please allow up to 48 hours for a vehicle to be added to the exemption list and wait for confirmation email to be sent to you. We do not issue physical permits. 
• Applying for an exemption does not guarantee the exemption will be granted – each application is reviewed individually and must meet the school street exemption criteria. 

The following vehicles qualify for exemption. Please check if you would need to apply to be added to the school streets exemption list:  

• Emergency service vehicles and other public service vehicles such as waste collection.
• Hackney carriages and public hire vehicles (taxis)
• Public buses
• School transport vehicles
• Dial-a-Ride
• Specialist public passenger transport services
• Branded/liveried delivery vans registered as commercial vehicles such as Royal Mail, UPS and DPD
• Road works and utility vehicles undertaking works (including inspection) i.e., street lighting, gas, electricity, water, drainage, and communication services in or adjoining that road.

The following vehicles should apply to be added to the school street exemption list. Please be aware that there is an exemption list for each school street, so you need to submit separate applications if you need access in more than one school street:  

• Services contracted directly by a school in a school street that cannot attend the school site in a vehicle outside of school street operational times. These vehicles need to be registered for an exemption 48 hours before attending the school site (e.g., plumbers, school maintenance teams).  
• Addresses registered in the school street. 

• Residents and businesses in the school street area (comprising actual school streets  and streets whose only access is via a school street) need to provide their own vehicle registrations. Those residents and business that have addresses on the school street will also receive a letter inviting them to apply for an exemption online or in writing.
• If you are a resident or business in a school street and you have regular visitors who need to arrive during the school street’s operational times for special circumstances such as providing care or childcare support (e.g., a carer, a health visitor, a district or community nurse/therapist or a family member or those supporting with childcare) must also apply for a school street exemption with the vehicles details for these visitors.
• People providing emergency services who may not be driving a branded emergency services vehicle (e.g., emergency doctor on call or plain-clothes law enforcement). Your healthcare/medical provider or police body will need to apply for exemption on your behalf.  

• People providing emergency services who may not be driving a branded emergency services vehicle (e.g., emergency doctor on call or plain-clothes law enforcement). Your healthcare/medical provider or police body will need to apply for exemption on your behalf.  
• Blue Badge holders who need to drive into the school street while it is operating will need to register for an exemption. 

Each school agrees their own exemption list, which is managed directly with the parking team. It is at the school’s discretion, who is on their exemption list.  We would expect each school that has a school street to consider the following applications for their school’s exemptions:

• Children on the school SEN register or those with behavioural or mobility issues that the school agrees requires them to be driven to school, 
• School staff and regular school visitors, including school transport vehicles,  
• Incidents of short-term illness or injury may also be covered at the school’s discretion. Example scenarios include (but are not limited to), a parent needing to pick up a sick child from school, or if a child or parent/carer suffers an injury which would make walking even the short distance from the edge of the school street to the school difficult. 

Since our parking team requires 48 hours’ notice to update the system, it is possible a PCN may be issued in the meantime. If so, please refer to Q. 31 – What if I receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) in error?

Anyone driving a vehicle passing through the school street during its operational times who is not registered for an exemption.  (i.e., when the school street closure applies – times will be shown clearly on road signs ahead of the school street).

This includes non-licensed taxis, delivery drivers and couriers and general service providers (as not exempt) – excepting utilities vehicles and public waste collection vehicles. 

School street residents must apply to have their vehicles added to the school street exemptions list. All residents exempt vehicles may come and go freely during the school street operational times. 

To apply for an exemption, and to ensure you have your vehicle added to the exemptions list, please see the details for how to apply for exemption in a school street on our webpage: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/active-travel/school-streets. 

If you do not apply for your vehicle’s exemption, you will receive a PCN fine. If you feel you have been issued a PCN in error, please contact us at schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk, or contact us via the Contact us about School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council.

Children with SEN, behavioural or mobility issues that the school agrees requires them to be driven to school will need to be added to their school’s exemption list. Please discuss any concerns you have about your child’s access to the school during the school street operational times with your school directly, and to arrange an exemption via your school’s exemption list. If there are any concerns regarding your child’s access to the school, you must discuss this with your school. You may be asked by the school to provide evidence of your child’s SEN, behavioural or mobility issues.

There are no physical exemption permits. The exemption list is digital, and you will be emailed to confirm your exemption after your application for a school street exemption has been approved. All exemptions are linked to the registered owner of the vehicle. 

If you change vehicles, or get a new vehicle, from the one that is registered with us on an exemption list, you will need to update your application with your new vehicle details with us so that the new vehicle can be considered for exemption. You can do this by emailing us at schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk  or contacting our parking team: Contact us about School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council with the details of the vehicle currently on the list and the new vehicle’s details together with registered owner details and dates of vehicle change. You will also need to do this if there is a change for a visitor’s vehicle you have registered with us for a school street exemption, in the event of them getting a new vehicle.

Blue Badge holders are exempt, but you will still need to register the Blue Badge vehicle for the school street exemption to ensure you are not issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). You will be asked for evidence of your Blue Badge details. Although the DVLA  holds a full list of blue badges and license plates associated with those badges, the information cannot just be accessed by our ANPR system for data protection reasons.

It is at the school’s discretion to determine which of their school staff are exempt for their school street, so please discuss with your school directly. We will support schools to set up and maintain their exemptions lists. We encourage all school staff who need to drive to the school, to do so outside of the school street operating times if/where this is possible.

If you have a carer or healthcare supplier who needs to visit you at home, they will need to register their vehicle so that it is be added onto the exemption list. The carers, or their care or health supplier agency will have to register the vehicle on your behalf and get them to the exemption list.

They will need to apply for a school street exemption through the ‘Apply for a School Street exemption’ section of our website and have their vehicle(s) added to the exemption list for that school street. 

If a carer or health care supplier is issued a PCN in error, they, or their agency on your behalf, can challenge the PCN and explain they were visiting you as a resident. They will need to write to: schoolsactivetravel@oxfordshire.gov.uk   or contact us via the Contact us about School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council.

Details for how to apply for an exemption in a school street can be found on our webpage: Apply for a School Street exemption | Oxfordshire County Council  

There is no charge or cost for having a school street exemption. It is free to have an exemption.

Incidents of a child’s short-term illness or injury may be covered for an exemption, but this is at the school’s discretion. You will need to discuss this directly with your school. 

Example scenarios include (but are not limited to):

• a parent needing to pick up a sick child from school, 
• a child or parent/carer suffers an injury which would make walking even the short distance from the edge of the school street to the school difficult. 

Since our parking team requires 48 hours’ notice to update the system, it is possible a PCN may be issued in the meantime. If so, please refer to What if I receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) in error?

Delivery vehicles are not exempt, and you are encouraged to schedule deliveries outside of school streets operational times if you can. The delivery driver, or their company, will be responsible for paying the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) if driving through the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras during a school street’s operational times.

It can take up to 48 hours for a vehicle to be added to a school street exemption list. If you are issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) during this time and you are waiting for your exemption to take effect, you can contact us to challenge the PCN by contacting our parking team: Contact us about School Streets | Oxfordshire County Council