Illegal parking near a Cardiff school is out of control, says one of its governors.
Dave Thomson thinks the problem has been going on "forever" in the area around Llanishen Fach Primary School in Rhiwbina, but it has got "a lot worse" in the last year or so.
"Rhiwbina was once a pleasant suburb but has now become a car park," said Mr Thomson, who is vice-chair of governors. He told WalesOnline he was giving his views as a local resident and not on behalf of the governing body.
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The 77-year-old says the issue has spiralled to the point that parents see it as "almost acceptable" to block residents' drives and park on yellow lines at drop-off and pick-up times. On one occasion Mr Thomson felt at risk of violence from an angry parent he had challenged.
Cardiff council said they are working with the school and a statement from the school added no issues have been reported to them or the governing body.
Mr Thomson described grass verges becoming like "ploughed fields" because they have been parked on so often. Some neighbours have taken to putting rocks around the grass to prevent parents occupying it, he added.
The retired marketing director, who has lived in Rhiwbina for 50 years, believes cars parked on the corners of Heol Uchaf, Heol Lewis and other roads frequently obstruct people's view of traffic, risking the safety of children.
He recalls the scale of the issue becoming alarmingly clear about six years ago on a Llanishen Fach sports day. "I remember a traffic warden turning up and all the parents leaving the sports day to move their cars. People had parked willy-nilly on yellow lines and quite clearly they were frightened of being punished. The same thing happened the following year."
Mr Thomson claims he has endured confrontations with foul-tempered parents after challenging them over poor parking. He says responses have included "what's it got to do with you" and "f*** off". On one occasion he feared it would come to blows.
"A guy had parked on double yellow lines on the corner of Heol Uchaf and Heol Llanishen Fach, and you couldn't see onto the main road, so I said, 'Can you move your car?' He told me to eff off and said, 'What you going to do about it?'
"The minute you reply to that, you're going to get in a confrontation and wind up in hospital, so the answer is to not retaliate. I didn't respond but I felt my card was marked."
Mr Thomson believes the problem could be eased if more parents took their children to the school on foot.
"A large majority of parents live within walking distance of the school," he said. "I know that from being a governor for 16 years, from knowing the people and the area."
Mr Thomson, who says locals often complain about the problem, added: "The school has written to parents and gone through all the procedures it can, but nothing happens."
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But the governor thinks the best hope of improvement would be regular patrols from a parking camera car to provide a threat of enforcement.
"If a camera car randomly appeared in the area, particularly at school times, then the parents wouldn't know what days they were coming and hopefully they would start behaving themselves," he said.
Mr Thomson says he kept a file on the issue for several years while he encouraged Cardiff Council to take action, but he felt his efforts "fell on deaf ears". He claims the only measure taken was a yellow line painted on Heol Erwin, which he says is no longer of benefit because access to the school from this road was removed some years ago.
A spokesperson for Cardiff council spokesperson said parents are asked to park away from school gates, double yellow lines and grass verges.
“The council is bringing in a variety of schemes to encourage parents and school children to either walk, cycle or scoot to school, to improve their health and wellbeing and reduce the problems of inconsiderate parking close to schools across the city," they said.
“The council is working with Llanishen Fach Primary School on its active travel plan and officers are due to meet the headteacher shortly to finalise that.
“If parents need to drop off or pick up their child by car, we ask them to park their car responsibly, away from the school gates and not on double yellow lines or on grass verges as it causes an obstruction and is a safety issue for school children.“
A Llanishen Fach spokesperson added: “The school works tirelessly with the whole school community to make the area safe for our families and we continue to work closely with the local authority to develop an active travel plan, which will ensure that we do everything we can to improve the health and wellbeing of pupils and to help reduce traffic related issues in the locality of the school.
“Since the onset of the pandemic the senior leadership team and our teachers have gone over and above to coordinate the safe movement of 520 children and their parents on and off site, in what has been described by local PSCOs as one of the safest and efficient systems in Cardiff.
“There have been no issues reported to the school or the governing body. Historically some concerns were raised however over the last few years our school community have been outstanding in their support of a safe system during drop-off and pick-up times - an excellent example of school and community partnership working.”
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