A London council has issued more than £1 million worth of fines to drivers at a single School Street in less than two years, prompting fresh questions about whether the signs warning motorists are clear enough.

Brent Council has issued penalty charge notices totalling £1.15 million since the scheme outside Manor School in Kensal Rise was introduced in November 2024 to improve road safety and the environment. In the 21 months the scheme has been in place, fines have averaged £54,799 a month, with the restrictions operating only during school term time.

School Streets are timed road closures outside schools during drop-off and pick-up hours, enforced by CCTV cameras and mobile enforcement teams. Drivers caught entering a restricted area face a penalty charge notice of £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days.

The figures have been raised repeatedly by the local ward councillor, Barbara Want of the Liberal Democrats, who has questioned whether the signs at the Manor School site give drivers fair warning. She has said the signs are too high and not properly visible, and that many drivers simply do not see them and are unaware of the restrictions.

“For months I have been highlighting the huge volume of PCNs issued to drivers on the Manor School Street, which the Labour-run council had continued to dismiss,” Cllr Want said. “The fact that it has raked in more than £1m in two years should have told them something wasn’t right.”

She added that she was initially told the signs were compliant with regulations, but that the number of fines suggested the scheme was not working. “Nobody wants to get a PCN, so clearly compliant is not enough; it is failing children’s safety if drivers are still using the road,” she said.

Brent Council has said the signs in place comply with Department for Transport guidelines, but has accepted that compliance is too low and has decided to install extra lower-level signs and gateway features to make the School Street clearer for drivers.

Cllr Promise Knight, the council’s cabinet member for cleaner streets, transport and public realm, defended the scheme, saying School Streets exist to make the journey to and from school safer for children and families. She said that was particularly important at Manor School, which supports children with complex special educational needs, including pupils who may have limited awareness of road danger.

“The current signage complies with Department for Transport requirements and is supported by additional advance warning signs,” Cllr Knight said. “However, compliance remains too low, so we are installing further lower-level warning signs and trialling gateway features to make the School Street even clearer to motorists.”

She added: “The purpose of the scheme is to protect children by reducing congestion and improving air quality. We will continue to review the scheme and make practical improvements where they can help drivers comply.”

The scale of enforcement at the site is striking. The two cameras enforcing the scheme outside Manor School, at the junctions of Hanover Road and Okehampton Road and of Chamberlayne Road and Okehampton Road, generated more than £107,000 in a single month in July 2025, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Across the borough, Brent operates more than 30 active School Street locations. Between April 2025 and March 2026 the council issued 73,018 penalty charge notices across 33 school zones, an average of about 384 notices for every school day. Earlier reporting found that 70,000 penalty charge notices were issued in 12 months, and that the fines, if paid, would have raised £11 million in a year from School Streets across the borough.

Cllr Want said she was pleased the council had finally agreed to trial new gateway features, but argued that would be of little consolation to drivers already fined, and said she feared the scheme was more about revenue generation than improving road safety or air quality. The council maintains the scheme is a safety measure, not a way of raising money, and says it will keep reviewing it and making practical improvements where they can help drivers comply.