Parents plea over driving

PARENTS and a school governor are calling for motorists to stop driving into the school grounds before a child is killed.

Mum Tina Page is concerned about safety problems in Orde Avenue, Gorleston where parents were driving in to drop off and pick up pupils despite advice in the school's newsletter they were forbidden from doing so - unless they had a disabled child to collect.

She was joined by parents Vicki Humphrey and Jane Sexton, who between them have four children at Cliff Park First and Middle - Callum and Hayden Sexton, 10 and six, and Rhys and Cailun Humphrey, six and three.

Mrs Page, governor of nearby Cliff Park High School in Kennedy Avenue, called for the police to take a more pro-active role in stopping parents driving down Orde Avenue, which is the entrance road to the school.

She said a police community support officer had been active in advising parents of their responsibilities until she retired in June, but since then the police presence had diminished.

She said she had seen grandparents driving into school in 4x4s while talking on their mobile phones in blatant disregard for the safety of the children. And she backed up her safety fears by referring to incidents prior to the Christmas break when four children were injured following collisions with cyclists using Orde Avenue.

Peak times when the safety of children could be at stake were between 2 and 4pm when the schools were closing and there were up to 2,000 children, some aged as young as four, walking through the street.

“People just blatantly disregard the fact they are not allowed to drive down here. We have a traffic programme so parents have always been aware of the situation,” Mrs Page said.

Signs have also been erected on the grass verge warning drivers not to park by the side of the road.