Haringey Council is cracking down on staff who are allegedly misusing parking permits to leave their cars in residential streets.

The council has told its employees to use a nearby multi-storey car park instead of leaving their vehicles in the Wood Green inner controlled parking zone (CPZ) following complaints from people living in the area.

Further measures could include tougher penalties for employees caught parking in the wrong place following a councillor’s meeting with a residents’ association.

Cranbrook Park Residents Association (CPRA) wrote to the council in May claiming it was becoming “impossible” for locals to park in four streets in Wood Green because its employees were leaving their cars there all day – and often well into the evening.

The CPRA said most of the offending vehicles displayed the council’s essential service permit (ESP), which allows employees providing services such as healthcare and counselling to park in a CPZ.

These are only issued to people who provide essential services to residents and are required to work extended, unsociable hours or are on 24-hour call out.

In a letter to the council, the residents’ association said the permits were instead being used “for the daily commute” and their streets were becoming a “council car park”.

CPRA chair Francesca Zeeman said a councillor told attendees of their last meeting on July 28 that the local authority was considering tougher enforcement measures so people misusing ESPs would be subject to the same fines as other people caught parking in the wrong place.

While there was recently a dip in the number of vehicles being left on the streets by the council and Homes for Haringey, the CPRA claims the problem has not gone away entirely.

The affected streets are Cranbrook Park, St Albans Crescent, Gathorne Road and Berners Road.

A spokeswoman for Haringey Council said: “As with the rest of London, there is huge demand for parking in Haringey, which can put pressure on our roads.

“In order to relieve the pressure in the Wood Green CPZ, people with essential service permits should now use Bury Road Car Park instead.”