Parents fears over 'dangerous' parking at school (From Bucks Free Press)

Parents fears over 'dangerous' parking at school

8:00am Saturday 2nd February 2013 in News By Luciana O'Shea

Parents fears over 'dangerous' parking at school

A CONCERNED parent has urged others to park their cars more sensibly when picking up their children from a Bourne End school, fearing for pupils safety.

Wye Valley School, on New Road, has 760 pupils aged 11 to 18 years old and it is common practice for parents and taxis to obstruct pavements, block driveways and junctions during drop off and pick up times.

Kristina Junker, of High Wycombe, usually sends her 16-year-old son to school by bus, but when picking him up by car she has been astounded as to the way other parents park.

She said: "There is no need to pick the children up from in front of the school as they are older children."

"It’s an absolutely incredibly silly and dangerous parking and it’s forcing the children to walk in the middle of the road."

Head teacher Jonathan Oliver, who revealed 65 per cent of the pupils are locals, said: "It’s a safety issue not only for the residents, but for the school too.

"However, we don’t have any rights outside the school, so we can only ask for parents to pick up their children from further away and hope for good will."

Denise Thorne, of Bourne End, who walks her 12-year-old son to class every day, said: "I would not allow him to cross the road alone, looking at the way people drive around here. It’s very scary."

But IT specialist Tariq Ali, 40, a father of two, said: "Some parents don’t have an option and I really don’t think there’s much of problem because everything runs pretty smoothly and it’s only for a short period."

Residents around the school have mixed views on the parents’ right of parking but agreed the situation is getting out of control.

Jerry Pain, a retired resident who lives opposite the school bus stop, said: "It’s an appalling situation; the road gets gridlocked and nine out of ten there’s somebody parked on my driveway.

"And if you have to ask them to move, you get a mouthful of abuse - they say I shouldn’t have bought a house here, but 32 years ago there were only 400 pupils and most would walk."

However, a fellow neighbour who wished not to be identified said: "There’s an odd situation when they park on the other side of the road, but it’ll only last about 20 minutes and then they’ve all gone.

"But I think some neighbours are also worried about the children’s safety because it really is frantic for those 20 minutes."

Spokesperson for Transport for Buckinghamshire Laura-Jo Stocks said: "Schools across the county have similar issues and we advise them to adopt 'travel plans.'

"However, drivers may legitimately stop to set down passengers on single and double yellow lines, so the installation of parking measures may have little effect. In addition, we do not have the resources to provide a Civil Enforcement Officer outside every school to deter this type of parking."

Wycombe District Council spokesperson Catherine Spalton revealed WDC has not yet been approached about this matter; neither has received any application for further car parking facilities.

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