Bradford school staff abused enforcing parking restrictions
- Published
Nine primary schools are taking part in the pilot School Streets programme
Staff enforcing parking restrictions outside Bradford schools have been threatened by parents, according to a council report.
The School Streets scheme aims to make it safer for pupils to walk to school and to cut down on pollution caused by vehicles dropping children off.
Roads outside schools are shut to traffic at drop off and pick up times, with temporary barriers installed.
The report for Bradford Council said some drivers had verbally abused staff.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the report found while the programme initially proved popular, the measures have led to staff enforcing the closures suffering abuse from drivers annoyed they are being told they cannot drive to the school gates.
Nine primary schools are taking part in the pilot programme.
The report, to be discussed next week, said: "As the pilot has gone on, some schools have reported issues which mean they no longer feel able to actively supervise the School Street intervention, although the signs informing drivers of the scheme remain in place.
"The issues being reported include limited staff capacity, safety concerns from drivers not observing the restrictions, and even some verbal abuse from a minority of parents/other drivers towards school staff."
The report added there was "some evidence of migration of parking issues to areas just outside the boundary of the School Streets areas".
Despite the issues, Bradford Council is still planning on rolling out the scheme to other schools.
Green Party councillor Matt Edwards has called for other measures, including possible number plate recognition cameras outside schools.
"School Streets is a really important scheme that has huge potential to make our children safer by reducing dangerous parking, hazardous driving and, on top of that, reduce air pollution close to school," he said.
"Children are at particular risk from all three and this should be in the interests of everyone."
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