A HEAD teacher is urging parents to walk their children to school after receiving a flood of complaints about bad parking.

Alison Padgett, head of Peel Park Primary School, in Alice Street, Accrington, said the problem of parents stopping in dangerous places is getting worse.

Mrs Padgett said: “It's not just the school that is concerned, it is also the parents and the staff.

“We have more than 600 children at the school and realise that it is a problem.

“We want to encourage parents to walk with their children to school and have come up with ideas to try to reduce the congestion.

“We also want parents to think about a park and stride option of parking a bit away from the school and dropping their children off by walking the remainder of the way.

“This would promote our healthy lifestyle at the school.

“We have a golden show award every week and the class with the most amount of children who walk to school wins the award for that week.”

A series of meetings has taken place at the police station and the school to try to resolve the issue.

Cllr Eamonn Higgins, who represents the area on Hyndburn Council, said: “There is a long-standing problem with people parking on yellow lines outside the school.

“This is endangering the lives of children and it has to stop – the road has clear markings and signs of no parking or stopping, and it’s a disregard by people dropping off children.

“We think the best solution is just educating the parents about the dangers involved before a child is knocked down or injured, and maybe walk with their children to school.

“We will be stepping up patrols in the area and fixed penalty notices will be issued on any vehicle contravening the no parking lines.

“We also have a school warden, who will be taking registration numbers of offending vehicles and this info will passed to the police.”

The school has recently extended the times parents can drop off children from 8.50am to 8.40am, to allow an extra 10-minute window.

Mrs Padgett said this did help to ease traffic congestion, with teachers present from that time so parents can leave once they have dropped off their children.

A county council spokesman said: “We are investigating the issue, although we have not been dealing with it so far.

“We will be looking into it.”