PARENTS whose children miss school or turn up late for lessons are facing parking-ticket-style penalties.
Families caught in the truancy trap will be hit with on-the-spot £50 fines.
If they don’t pay up within four weeks, the penalty will dramatically double to £100.
The tough strategy – dubbed ‘Truancy Tickets’ – is set to be rubber-stamped by Camden’s education supremo Councillor Nick Smith at a council meeting tonight (Thursday).
He is due to be briefed by civil servants in the education department who have mapped out how the sanctions, part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, can be phased in.
Camden say the fines are a speedy alternative to taking parents to court over their children’s truancy, a move which officials regard as too long-winded and ultimately ineffective.
Cllr Smith has already indicated his support for the new punishment.
He said yesterday (Wednesday): “It’s essential that pupils go to school regularly. When it comes to education, every day counts. Penalty notices will only be needed in a very small number of cases, where other methods have failed.”

CARJACKERS dragged a Bengali teacher from his car in Somers Town before smashing the vehicle into a wall.
The white, teenage gang’s unprovoked attack on Abdul Hye late on Friday night has sparked concern among Bangladeshi community leaders, who fear racial tensions could boil over.
Mr Hye’s ordeal began shortly after midnight when a group of between seven and 10 youths approached him as he sat in his car outside the Prince Albert pub in Goldington Crescent.
They asked him if he was a minicab driver and when he said he was not, one youth kicked in the driver’s side window, showering Mr Hye with shattered glass.
The youth then reached through the broken window and punched Mr Hye, grabbed the car keys and dragged him from the car with the help of other youths.