IQRA School Parking Letter

Dear Parent/Carer

Re: School parking

We regularly receive complaints about inconsiderate and dangerous parking around schools. Examples include parking on pavements, causing obstructions, blocking driveways, parking on double yellow lines, parking where there are double white lines in the centre of the road, and allowing children to exit vehicles whilst stopped on School Keep Clear ‘zig- zags’ or in queuing traffic. There have even been instances of abusive and threatening behaviour by parents and carers. This behaviour and standard of driving and parking are wholly unacceptable and most importantly put your children’s safety at risk.

West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council are committed to improving driving and parking standards around our schools, ensuring safety for all. Despite the number of complaints, we know that most people do want to do the right thing and drive safely and responsibly. We therefore request that you adhere to the following when parking, dropping off or collecting children from school:

• Keep the School Keep Clear marking (zig zags) clear

• Ensure pavements, driveways and pedestrian access points are kept clear

• Ensure emergency vehicles would be able to get past if needed

• Adhere to local parking restrictions

• Turn off your engine when parked – engines left idling contribute to air pollution

• Behave in a manner than is respectful towards others – including pedestrians and local residents

• Park further away from school if at all possible

Drivers committing offences place themselves at risk of being prosecuted/ issued with tickets by council wardens and or the police. More importantly, inconsiderate and dangerous parking outside schools puts lives at risk. Would you want the death or serious injury of a child on your conscience?

Additionally, we all need to start thinking differently about how we travel and how often we use the car. Emissions from vehicles cause air pollution. Air pollution not only contributes to climate change but is also linked to a range of health conditions and is one of the biggest risks to public health in the UK today. Children, with their developing lungs, are especially at risk. Could you leave the car at home and walk, cycle or scoot with your children to school? Small changes can make a big difference so even doing this just once a week can help. Travelling more actively, even just for short journeys, can also have a really positive impact on both physical and mental wellbeing.

If you don’t have any other options and do need to use a vehicle to drop your child off, then we request that you allow extra time in order to drop off safely and legally and park further away from school if you are at all able.

Yours Sincerely

Bradford Council & West Yorkshire Police

To download the above letter in PDF format click this link.