SAFE AT LAST IN LENNON’S MEMORY
Plans to banish vans from where schoolboy was killed
THE street where a five-year-old boy was struck by a van and killed is to be lined with bollards to help prevent unsafe parking. Lennon Toland died after being hit at a makeshift car park in Tollcross.
THE family of tragic schoolboy Lennon Toland have been given good news in their fight to make the streets safer.
Lennon was just five-years-old when he was struck and killed by a van on his way home from school in Tollcross last year.
The youngster was walking with his dad through Dalness Street when a vehicle mounted the kerb to gain access to a makeshift car park and hit him.
Over a year on from the tragedy, the street is set to be lined with bollards to stop unsafe parking and protect other children.
As reported previously by the Evening Times, Lennon’s mum Leanne Toland said her grief has been worsened by vans similar to that which hit her boy continuing to park on the pavement.
The bereaved mum said she has paid multiple visits to Welding Engineers, based on Dalness Street, to ask them to stop parking on the spot where Lennon was killed by their employee, but her requests have been ignored.
The local community, including John Mason MSP for Shettleston, and Michelle Ferns, local councillor for Shettleston, have been campaigning for the street to be made safer in the months since the incident.
A month since the one-year anniversary of Lennon’s death, Michelle Ferns confirmed that bollards will be put in place on the pavement to stop people parking as soon as the end of the month.
She said: “I’ve been informed that a team from Glasgow City Council’s Land and Environmental Services Department assessed the street and deemed it to be unsafe.
“They’ve told me that bollards will be installed throughout the street before the end of October.
“It’s good news but it’s a shame it’s taken a tragedy to make them take action.”
The move was welcomed by Lennon’s family, who continue to visit the place he died.
BRIAN Toland, Lennon’s grandad, said: “It’s good news because it will make the street safer but unfortunately it’s too little too late for us.
“Hopefully if the bollards are up, the street will be deemed safe for the swing park to be built in Lennon’s memory.
“The vans should never have been going up on the pavement in the first place, they should never have installed the ramp.”
John Mason MSP, who has previ- ously campaigned for safer parking around schools, said that an exclusion zone in the street could potentially make it safer.
He added: “I would like to see Glasgow pilot the exclusion zone scheme introduced by East Lothian Council.
“I would like to see Glasgow at least trying a pilot at a few schools.
“This would broadly mean that no vehicles would be allowed to move around a school at certain times but exceptions could be made for children with accessibility issues, etc.
“Parking on the kerb with two wheels can be acceptable if the road is fairly narrow and the pavement is wide enough not to cause an obstruc-
tion but it is the movement of vehicles when children are around that I feel we need to tackle.”
In the 12 months since Lennon passed away, the family have been campaigning to build a swing park on the disused carpark in his loving memory.
Nearly 8,000 people have signed a petition backing the family’s playpark plans.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council confirmed: “A number of bollards will be installed along the footway on Dalness Street following complaints of i nconsiderate parking.
“The work is expected to be complete before the end of the month.”