Parents at Surrey village primary school 'threatened' with parking tickets at drop-off
Parents in a small Surrey village have been threatened with parking tickets from the police for using the school drop-off service.
In a letter, seen by SurreyLive, Graywood Primary School warned parents that police will issuing tickets outside the school. An email sent September 11 notified parents that drivers stopping on the yellow zigzag lines to wait in turn for the drop-off will result in a ticket.
A parent told SurreyLive: “Due to it being a small village road with little parking, we run a very well organised drive through service at the school.” Parents say they use an unofficial one-way system to keep the traffic moving.
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Drivers pull into the parking area in front of the school gates, and people open the car door to make sure kids get into the school gates, parents said. They claim that when drivers, who are not there for the school, go against the unofficial one-way route, roads can get blocked and cause “traffic chaos”. A source said the school parents association has had a long-standing issue with residents about the one-way drop off system.
Surrey Police said it received information of some potential traffic and public order offences taking place outside a school near Haslemere. Concerned with the safety of schoolchildren, a Waverley Policing Community Support Officer (PCSO) has been conducting random spot checks in the area over the last week. As a result of this, three traffic violation offences were noted and dealt with via "words of advice".
A spokesperson at Grayswood Primary School said: “We recognise the issues with parking near the school, and we are pro-actively working with the local residents and parents to find alternative solutions to ease the traffic flow.
"We continue to encourage parents, where possible, to walk to school, car share or use public transport. We also operate staggered start and pick up times and run after school clubs to try and reduce the number of vehicles in the village at any one time. The safety of the children is our number one priority.”
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