'OUT of control' parents are causing 'bedlam' for people living near a school at kicking-out time, councillors heard.

Police had to get involved after nearby residents complained that they didn’t want to leave their homes because of the chaos which ensues when parents use their street as a pick-up and drop-off point for Priesthorpe School pupils.

A representative of the Pudsey school admitted there was a problem with a “hard core” of parents who park inconveniently and drive dangerously on the road, and that the school was doing all it could to try and combat this.

Currently the school has permission to allow one of its gates at a ginnel off Rockwood Road to be open for 30 minutes at either side of the start and end of the school day.

But a retrospective planning application had been submitted by the school to allow it to open the gates until 75 minutes after the end of the school day to ease the pressure.

The school said the measure is to help deliver after-school activities and reduce hazards caused by accessing the school’s main entrance from a main road.

But a resident of Rockwood Road told Leeds City Council’s south and west plans panel: “Over the years residents have been subjected to threatening and violent behaviour from parents of the pupils who attend the school to the point where I personally have seen the police that have been called to scenes of violence that the school cannot control. When groups of parents are fighting among themselves.

“That is what the community that live on that road are subjected to. It’s led to residents feeling quite intimidated to the point where those that are retired don’t leave their homes at school pick up or drop off times – they feel confined within their own homes.

“People don’t want to be caught in the chaos outside their homes.

“I have personally seen people parking outside my home and they are there for two hours with their engines running, so the effect the pollution is having on local residents does need to be addressed.”

Martin Blacoe, the school’s principal, said: “There is a hard core of parents and a significant number of taxi drivers who at best park inconsiderately, and at worst park and drive dangerously.

“We see it as 20 minutes being the peak period. The traffic is really unpleasant and dangerous, but after that point, it becomes a ghost town."

Chair of the committee Coun Caroline Gruen (Lab) said she took part in a visit to Rockwood Road just before the school’s closing time.

She said: “When the children came out of the ginnel and the cars started picking up people and taking them away, it was absolute mayhem.

“As Coun [Keyleigh] Brooks said, she got nearly run down by a taxi, vehicles were mounting the pavement inches away from students, altercations were happening, the one way system was not working."

The proposals were rejected by the committee.