Campaigners protest on road where toddler died

Campaigners protested on the Birmingham road where a three-year-old girl was killed by a driver in 2021

Road safety campaigners have protested outside a school where a three-year-old girl was killed by a driver.

Members of Better Streets for Birmingham and Friends of Reddings Lane Park gathered on Reddings Lane on Friday, where Maysoon Abdul-Hakeem died in November 2021.

Matt MacDonald, the chair of Better Streets for Birmingham, said protesters were taking a stand against "dangerous and obstructive parking".

The group has called for parking rules to be enforced, particularly around school drop-off and pick-up times.

Mr MacDonald said measures were in place outside schools to prevent parking in key areas in a bid to make them safer for pedestrians, including pupils, but were being ignored.

He said the defence team in a trial following Maysoon's death had claimed vehicles parked around the zebra crossing had made it harder to see the three-year-old crossing with her mother.

"There's no reason that our overstretched school teachers should be doubling up as traffic wardens," Mr MacDonald said

"When we visited the school a few months ago, that type of parking was still very much in evidence and hadn't been abated," Mr MacDonald said.

"We work with several schools across this city where teachers are tearing their hair out at the dangers that their pupils face on a day-to-day basis from dangerous and obstructive parking outside the school gates.

"There's no reason that our overstretched school teachers should be doubling up as traffic wardens."

Rehala Kauser said she felt scared about the situation around her children's school