Police called in over school parking scramble

Parking problems outside a Newark school have escalated to such an extent that police have been asked to get involved.

Civil enforcement officers dealing with motorists parking on double yellow lines outside Mount Primary School have been subjected to verbal abuse.

Yesterday the police accompanied enforcement officers at the end of the school day, when both sides of King’s Road are lined with cars collecting children.

Acting Sergeant Lisa Mortimore, of Newark Police, said it was not the norm for police to accompany civil enforcement officers, but they had agreed to do so because the school had become concerned.

She said cars parked illegally caused a danger to children stepping out into the road between vehicles.

She said with the busy Morrisons supermarket on the same road there was a lot of traffic in the area at that time of the day.

Notices went up on the school gates on Tuesday warning parents not to park outside.

A police notice said: “Parents/carers parking at the school gates create danger for their own children, and put the lives of other children at risk.”

A Newark and Sherwood District Council notice tells parents they can obtain a free, short period parking permit for the Mount Lane carpark next to the school.

A mother with two children at the school, Miss Lisa Abram, said: “It is a nightmare. I wish there was a solution.”

She described the scene outside the school as like the children’s cartoon series, Wacky Races.

“Everyone is all over the place,” she said.

Mrs Teresa Calladine, who also has two children at the school, said sometimes there were no spaces in the Mount Lane carpark, so parents were forced to park on the road.

She said the cars were gone after about five minutes.

Mrs Calladine said the problem was made worse by deliveries to Morrisons at the same time the pupils came out of school.

The district council’s carparks and markets business manager, Mr Ian Harrison, said: “We are aware of the issues around parking outside the Mount School at dropping off and picking up times.

“Members of the public have been in touch about what is a longstanding issue that seems to be getting worse.

“Although there is no off-street parking facility for parents dropping off in cars, we do issue permits, available from the school, so parents can use the Mount Lane carpark.

“We will be working with the police to educate parents who choose to flout parking rules and cause congestion by parking on double yellow lines, that for the safety of their children and others, they should be using the carpark.”

No one from Mount Primary School was available for comment.