Monkhouse: Bristol school parents demand uniform choice

At the time of writing Ellen Sanders' call for change has been signed by about 2,700 people

Thousands of parents have called for more choice over where to buy school uniforms after delays ahead of the new school year.

The only place to buy several schools' branded items in the Bristol area is at shops run by Cheshire-based Monkhouse.

Mother Ellen Sanders, who set up the petition, said it had "no incentive" to provide a "better service".

The firm's managing director Peter Monkhouse said he understood parents' "real frustrations".

Ms Sanders said it is "really wrong" that she and other parents have no choice about where they shop and are unable to take their custom elsewhere if service is poor.

"As a consumer, I don't have a choice. Pre-Covid, pre-Brexit, there have been supply issues [with Monkhouse] and I don't have a choice of where to spend my money," she said.

Mr Monkhouse said the "minority not the majority" of his customers have been hit by delays to uniform supplies

"They have no incentive to provide a better service, a cheaper product or a better quality product because they've got no one competing with them. For me, that is the issue that is really wrong."

She said she started the petition because she felt many signatures from parents across Bristol and in South Gloucestershire would shows schools "the strength of feeling" over the issue.

Mr Monkhouse's company supplies branded items for about 1,100 schools across the country.

He said he understood parents' anger but that supply problems have been caused by international shipping delays.

"They are hugely frustrating for customers and ourselves," he said.

Mr Monkhouse said 93% of the company's stock has been delivered from abroad successfully so it was the "minority not the majority" of parents who have been disrupted.

Angela Morey said the petition generated the "biggest reaction" on a Facebook page for Bradley Stoke

Angela Morey, an independent town councillor for Bradley Stoke and an admin for a large Facebook group for families in the town, said a post about the petition had generated the "biggest reaction" she had ever seen.

"As parents, I think we're annoyed by [shopping with Monkhouse] because we've got no other option," she said.

"This is our only shot to get uniform and our children will be disciplined if they don't wear the right trousers and the right blazer."

She added: "The advice I've been giving to people is to make sure that they speak to their school send an email or a tweet and to ask them to reconsider using a sole supplier."