‘It’s an accident waiting to happen’ – Mum’s fears after daughter, 8, falls onto main road negotiating new route to school designed to improve pupil safety

Burton Pidsea Primary School, in Church Street, Burton Pidsea
Burton Pidsea Primary School, in Church Street, Burton Pidsea -Credit:Hull Daily Mail


A worried mother has spoken out about a safety initiative at her daughter’s primary school after the youngster fell from a footpath onto a main road, because of the route she now has to take.

The mum said she has made complaints, including to East Riding Council and the police, about the School Streets scheme that is being piloted at Burton Pidsea Primary School. The initiative, which has been tried and adopted at a number of other primary schools in the county, is described as a pioneering approach to improving the environment outside schools, whereby traffic is restricted at the start and the end of the school day, preventing the build-up of congestion and improving road safety for pupils.

The trial at Burton Pidsea, in Holderness, began in February and is due to run for 18 months. However, the parent has said: “Prior to this School Streets scheme we never needed to access the main road and it was much safer.”

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She said: “I complained to the school and the local PCSO after my daughter fell into the main road where the path is really narrow and in poor condition. She was very lucky there were no oncoming cars or HGVs, as the main road is very busy.

“Fortunately she wasn’t hurt – her water bottle rolled into the road and she got a bit wet because she fell into a puddle. She was embarrassed, but it could have been so much worse.”

Launch of a School Streets scheme outside Bilton Community Primary School, in December 2022
Launch of a School Streets scheme outside Bilton Community Primary School, in December 2022 -Credit:East Riding of Yorkshire Council

The mum continued: “After the tragic incident involving an HGV and a little girl in Bilton Grange in Hull, the concern about the safety implications of the Burton Pidsea scheme is increasing for many parents. I have to say I’m not against parking restrictions but, in my view, the scheme and the decision to include a road closure is a very poor choice in the village of Burton Pidsea. It is now an accident waiting to happen.”

The mum said she and other parents had presented a “catalogue of complaints” to the School Streets team, the school, the parish council, Humberside Police, local councillors and MP Graham Stuart about how their children were now “forced away from what was a safe route to school to surrounding much more dangerous roads”.

The parent said: “This scheme is ridiculous, it seems really ill thought out. It’s causing more problems rather than being of benefit to the school and I think it’s quite confusing for the children.”

The mum, who drives her daughter in from another village, said she thought local residents who had previously not had any issues with parking, were now faced with cars having to find spaces on side streets off the main road.

“A pub opposite the school used to allow cars to park there for the ‘park and stride’ but they have since closed it off to parents. I think they were frightened the children would have an accident within the car park or outside on the pub boundary.

“I get it where these schemes are in busy areas and people are able to walk their children to school. I could understand it if this was of benefit to the majority and a disadvantage to the few, but there isn’t a parking problem at Burton Pidsea.

“There are 74 kids in the school and a small proportion are driven in from outside the village. I know this is only a pilot but 18 months is a long time and something could easily happen in that time.”

A spokesperson for East Riding Council said: “We are responding directly to any messages we receive. The aim of School Streets is to reduce traffic and parking pressure directly outside the school, while encouraging behavioural change to make the area outside the school gates a more pleasant environment.

“This is a trial scheme, under an experimental traffic regulation order for up to 18 months, and as part of this initiative the school community will also be fully consulted towards the end of this period. This will allow the council to make an appropriate and informed decision on whether the scheme should be removed or adopted.”

Burton Pidsea Primary School said the council’s statement was also on the school’s behalf and it would not be commenting further.