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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ryan Merrifield

Residents call for ban on school run parking as cars cause mayhem in street

Angry residents have called for a council to ban school -run parents from blocking their road to drop off kids.

Heavily pregnant Mariama Diallo says double parking outside Hotspur Primary School in Heaton, Newcastle, is putting pupils' lives at risk and needs to be stopped.

The mum-of-three, 35, said she's petrified of allowing her daughters, Kadiatou, eight, and Aissatou, seven, to go to school on their own despite only living opposite it.

Mowbray Street - where parking is only permitted on one side - often gets crammed full of cars.

Mariama, ideally, would like to be able to watch from her door to check her children are safely at school - due to her condition making moving around difficult.

But she said the current situation makes that "too dangerous" and she's worried due to the sheer amount of cars moving in and out.

Is there a similar issue on your street? Let us know at webnews@mirror.co.uk

Francis Hamilton is among the residents calling for change (North News & Pictures Ltd northnews.co.uk)

She told the Sun: "I am scared they will hit the children."

Referring to the call for cars to be banned, she added it will be "annoying" but "safety has to come first and is more important".

Fellow resident, Francis Hamilton, 71, said the situation is "horrible" and when he drops his grandson at nursery he often can't get a parking space at all.

He said between 8.30am and 9.30am he can't park or get his car out.

Homeowners say the current situation is a safety risk (Newcastle Chronicle)

"Parents park wherever they want to. They are double-parked from the bottom all the way up," he explained.

While he is open to the idea of the council banning parents parking near his home he said it would "exacerbate the issue" as the problem could move to other streets.

Linda Cherry, 54, said the local authority needs to introduce parking permits and install cameras to gather the culprits' registration numbers.

She added that the back lanes near the school are also "clogged up", while at all times of day people park in the area to go shopping in the town centre.

She said she often drives around for 20 minutes trying to get parked up when returning home.

Linda said as well as the children she is worried about her pet cats getting hurt.

A spokesperson for Newcastle City Council said: “Since announcing our intention to put in place School Streets last year we have been working directly with the schools we’d identified as a first phase in the programme.

"One of the most important things in the delivery of this programme is to work with people who might be affected and listen to their concerns so we can address them.

“One of our team has been visiting the schools regularly and working with the teachers, young people and those who live nearby to help understand the impacts and how we can promote and manage School Streets, or indeed where they might not be the right solution at this point in time. We’ve also undertaken trial runs of School Streets at a number of locations.

“We had been waiting for government to formally transfer certain enforcement powers to local authorities, and to provide funding for measures of this type, something we’re happy to note has now been brought forward.

"Many schools have told us they would like to see these powers in place alongside implementing schemes to help ensure pupil’s safety.

“Pupils at Hotspur Primary School are currently leading the way as part of our Big Walk and Wheel competition, with nearly two thirds of trips being active.

“This is a competition we’re running with schools who’ve opted in across the city and it complements ongoing work we’re doing with the city’s Promise Board, which represents every single schools trust across the city, to bring forward a joint approach to improving safety and sustainability for the school run.”

The Mirror has contacted Hotspur Primary School for comment.

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