If you do use a car for the school run, please drive and park considerately and safely outside of our school gates, avoiding areas with zigzag markings. Measures like these all help to make roads around schools safer for everyone, particularly children whose awareness and level of road sense is still developing.

The council paints zigzag ‘no stopping’ lines outside school entrances to provide a clear space for children to cross where they can see traffic and traffic can see them, without parked vehicles blocking their view. Parking on zigzag lines forces children to cross between parked cars. Crossing from behind parked cars is the most common contributory factor in child pedestrian casualties.

For this reason, community wardens, police community support officers, traffic wardens and the police themselves are all involved in an initiative to tackle the dangerous practice of parking over zigzag lines. Civil enforcement officers, or traffic wardens, can issue on the spot fines if they find anyone waiting or parking on school zigzag markings, as this is forbidden by law.