A WORRIED parent has expressed her anger at “unacceptable” parking outside a Bradford primary school.

Samantha Nellist, whose child attends Grove House Primary School in Eccleshill, saw numerous examples of bad parking at the school, including cars and vans parking with all four wheels on the pavement and where the road is marked with yellow zig-zag lines.

She said: “This is unacceptable outside of school.

“There have been wardens there occasionally and when they’re there everything is fairly reasonable but when they’re not it all goes to pot.

“It won’t be long before a child is knocked over.”

Mick Hayes, head teacher at Grove House, acknowledged that bad parking was a “perpetual problem” outside the school, in Myers Lane, when school finished.

He said: “It’s not normally as bad as that, there are not usually people parking on the zig zags.

“Some days it’s worse than others, the road is a bottleneck and there is no other way round.

“We have had community police here a couple of days and when they’re here it’s a completely different picture.

“We have some parents who ignore whatever warnings are in place, no matter who put them up.

“It’s something we have been working on, I’ve been working at it for 14 years and the previous head before me.

“The children are aware of road safety and reminders go in newsletters.”

Mr Hayes said it makes a difference when police and council wardens are outside the school, as drivers are “more aware”.

The school was involved in the parking crackdown around schools, run by police, Bradford Council and schools at the end of last year, when ten tickets were issued to drivers parking illegally or inconsiderately outside the school.

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But Mr Hayes said as soon as police and wardens were gone, the problem reverted back to normal.

“Some days it’s not an issue, and some days it’s pandemonium and chaos,” he continued.

“It’s been an issue ever since the school has been here, unfortunately the police and council cannot be here all the time.

“We remind parents at the parents evenings, there are signs outside the school and we talk about it with children in assemblies, I really don’t think there is any more we can do.

“The message is park sensibly; it’s not just your children, it’s other people’s children walking on the pavement and local residents. We implore parents to park safely and sensibly.

“I put forward the idea of myself and the site manager standing out there but we were advised against it because it can sometimes get aggressive.”

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