Councils get tough on parents driving children to school

PARENTS ACROSS the country face tough restrictions – and even fines – over driving their children to the school gates, as councils act over road safety fears and atmospheric pollution.

As the new academic year begins, a survey of councils shows many are enforcing laws preventing parking immediately outside the school gates, using CCTV cameras and mobile monitoring vehicles to crack down on parents flouting the rules. But some are going further with schemes that close the roads in the immediate vicinity of schools to most traffic during the school run.

In some cases, parents could face fines of up to £130 for driving in the restricted zones.

Other local authorities are considering “no-idling” zones with fines for parents and carers who leave engines running outside schools.

In Solihull, West Midlands, a “School Streets” pilot is restricting traffic on streets around three schools at the start and end of the school day, preventing parents and carers driving youngsters to the gates.

Ted Richards, cabinet member for transport and highways, said: “We know that most people do drive responsibly, but it can often be chaotic outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times.

“The aim of school streets is to create a safer and more pleasant environment for everyone around schools.” It comes after The Yorkshire

Post reported last year that frustrated parents in the village of Sharow, near Ripon, who were fed up of school traffic congestion, had taken matters into their own hands by coming up with a novel idea – to buy their own car park.

And an investigation in July revealed that in 2016, 4,375 fines were dished out to Yorkshire’s drivers for parking in restricted areas outside schools, including cars on keep clear markings or yellow lines near school gates.

During the first three months of this year, a total of 1,360 penalties have been issued, indicating that the number is set to rise, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information act revealed.

The highest number of fines were doled out in Sheffield, with 2,842 issued in 2016 and 841 in January to March this year.

Sheffield City Council is consulting on whether to bring in idling fines outside schools after health bodies suggested parents should face fines for breaching “no-idling zones” to protect children from pollution as parked cars belch out fumes around crowds of children.