We’ve had to take drastic action to stop ‘ignorant’ drivers from parking outside our homes during school run – it’s hell
LOCALS have been forced to take drastic action to stop 'ignorant' school run parents from parking outside their homes.
St Joseph’s Catholic Academy, in Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent has been forced to hang huge signs warning against the dangerous parking.
They acted after a succession of near-misses at the primary school caused by parents ignoring the yellow markings, performing inappropriate three-point turns and parking on junctions.
The school even send a caretaker out twice a day to put out bollards to emphasise that the yellow area outside the school gate is not for stopping but still a minority carry on regardless.
Their selfish antics enrage fellow parents and local residents who say they witness ‘bedlam’ on a twice-daily basis.
One 41-year-old mum of four said: “I saw a year six girl almost get run over when a car went up on the curb between the bollards to get closer to the school gate.
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“There is just no respect. They get as close to the gate as possible, push their kids out and away they go. Or they stay and have a chat.
“There is nothing else the school can do. It is parents who need to make the change but it has always been like this.”
The school, St Joseph’s Catholic Academy is on the outskirts of Stoke, bordered by countryside to one side and housing to the other.
It has only 237 pupils and sits on a straight road which is wide enough for three cars and where there are no parking restrictions on one side.
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Dad Dave Hellawell, 48, fumed: “Some parents are just ignorant. They do not care where they park because to them it’s just a couple of minutes with no consequence, but it only takes a second for an accident to happen.
“The school text us when there are near misses and remind parents to park properly. We have had PCSOs down here who watch and do nothing but it’s not often enough.
“We need a camera and some red lines so if a vehicle stops they can be issued with a ticket. I think that’d stop it.’
Some parents are so angry that they can’t help taking pictures of others parking badly.
Teaching assistant Chloe Moran, 31, says there should be no problem because the school has a lot of space.
But she says lazy parents are causing traffic by refusing to walk their kids to school.
She said: “I know parents who live on the next street who will drive round.
“I think some people got fined when the traffic wardens came down but nothing has changed. The school or the council should buy up a bit of the former golf course and put a car park there.”
One 36-year-old lecturer and Mum said: “Some parents just completely block the road. They will sit in their cars having a chat with someone in another car while cars queue behind them.
“The school moans but they don’t do anything. They could be out here asking people to move on and not stop on the yellow markings.
“Others are so desperate to get on the road that they park on the junction at the bottom creating blind spots. Kids have nearly been run over.’
The chaos is also hell for residents who have to deal with it twice a day, five days a week.
Watching the scene from his house on the adjoining Colclough Lane, Derek Scragg, 77, said: "It has always been bad but now it is bedlam.
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"Occasionally they park across my drive but more typically you see them park on the corner of the two roads. I’ve seen a big wagon doing it."
A spokesperson for the school told The Sun: "St Joseph's Catholic Academy is committed to the safety of our pupils and regularly reminds parents to park safely and responsibly."
