PARENTS who cause parking problems outside a Warrington primary school risk getting “booked” – by their own children.
Youngsters at St Margaret’s Primary, Orford have taken on the role of mini-Police Community Support Officers in a bid to end congestion caused by parents parking close to the school.
Pupils from Year 4 patrol outside the school, accompanied by the local PCSOs and hand out leaflets to offending drivers, including information about where to park and the importance of road safety.
The mini-PCSOs wear a uniform of high visibility jackets and caps.
Cllr Linda Dirir, Warrington Borough Council’s lead member for highways, said: “We know it can get extremely busy outside schools when parents are dropping off their children and we have been exploring ways to tackle this.
“There have been some issues with parents blocking driveways or parking on double yellow lines so we hope by getting the children involved parents will really take note and think about where they are parking in a
morning.”
Inspector Neil Drum, of Warrington Central Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: “The aim is to educate parents, guardians and other drivers about parking safely and sensibly outside the school. This is an issue that has been brought to our attention and the children are very enthusiastic about working alongside the local policing team to help us tackle the problem.
“Obstructive parking poses a danger to other road users and to pedestrians in the area. The safety of the children is our priority and it is hoped that the project will have a big impact on those who park in the area. Most importantly we hope that those who are spoken to by the officers and the children will take on board the important advice they
are given.”
The council’s transport team hopes to widen the scheme to raise the children’s awareness of issues such as wearing seat belts and using mobile phones while driving. There’s also a plan to involve the children in a project to monitor traffic speeds outside the school using a speed gun.
Pictured: The council’s school travel advisor Lesley Paterson, PCSOs Dean Bickerton and Geoff Prescott and mini-PCSOs Abbie Lucock, Jack Addison, Oliver Mellows and Shannon Gleave.
2 Comments
Well done – good initiative – more and more pupils in Warrington Primary Schools are looking for new ways to raise parent’s awareness of the traffic issues and problems outside the school gates.
Teachers and head teachers all complain about parents taking their kids to school by car and yet every school generally has a large staff car park and very few schools I visit seem to have any discouragement for staff using their cars or any encouragement to use public transport or to walk to work. Because a lot of kids now don’t go to their closest school some parents have no option other than to take them in their cars