Traffic wardens "afraid" to ticket outside Rochdale primary school
Residents claim enforcement officers sometimes shy away from booking vehicles parked near Alrkington Primary School because they feel intimidated.
Traffic wardens are apparently "too scared" to hand out tickets outside a primary school in Rochdale for fear of reprisals from angry parents.
Residents claim enforcement officers sometimes shy away from booking vehicles parked near Alrkington Primary School because they feel intimidated.
A ‘Police and Communities Together’ meeting heard how parents often flout the rules of the road at drop-off and pick-up times, putting school in danger.
The meeting heard there have been reports of heated exchanges between drivers and wardens.
Police are now considering launching a joint operation to ensure wardens can dish out tickets to those parked on double-yellow lines and restricted areas around the Manor Road School without worrying about repercussions.
The situation was brought to the attention of ward councillors and members of south Middleton neighbourhood policing team at a packed meeting Alkrington Community Centre.
Residents said parents park on double-yellow lines, grass verges and double park-on a roundabout close to the school – often getting involved in furious arguments between themselves when the road is blocked.
Some motorists reportedly drive on the pavement next to the school when parked cars make the road too narrow to pass.
One resident said that when challenged on why he was not booking two cars parked on the pavement, a warden said there was a problem with the signage.
But he added: “If I book everyone else my life won’t be worth living. I certainly wouldn’t be walking back to my car’.”
The resident, who asked not to be named, told the meeting the warden said job was to keep children safe when they came out of school, but gave the impression he did not want to cause trouble.
South Middleton councillor Peter Williams said the warden was ‘in the wrong job’ if that was the case.
“The only tool we really have is to send these parking enforcement people out, but of course they can’t be at every school all the time,” he added.
“But if they do go to a school they should be booked whoever they find, it’s the only way of dissuading people.
“It is only occasionally they go to a school we want them to go to, so it’s a bit disappointing if when they do turn up they are a bit ambivalent about handing tickets out.
“The only way to stop it is to make it a problem.”
PC Lee Bracey said it could would be possible to organise a joint operation, where police support wardens while they ticket vehicles.
He said: “It sounds like the chap fears for his own safety. If he is that worried we can be there as well, so he will have no reason not to give tickets out.”
Speaking after the meeting, Tim Barnes, headteacher at Alrkington Primary School, said selfish parking near the school has caused problems for all pedestrians – particularly children.
He added that effective enforcement can sometimes be an issue.
“In the past, I have had conversations and said ‘why are you not booking them?’ and had some spurious excuse,” Mr Barnes said.
“I thought ‘what’s the point in being here if they’re not going to book people?’”
Mr Barnes added: “I know they do sometimes give people notices, but at these dangerous times, they should be booking them and enforcing them appropriately.”
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he was not surprised traffic wardens feel intimidated, adding that emotions can run high and things often become ‘quite heated’.
Dad-of-one Sam Finn, said that some traffic wardens are too scared too book parents who parked illegally.
He added: “I have seen it get quite heated, but they don’t do their job properly, because people still park on double yellows.
“Sometimes parents start to get a bit irate, but they start to calm down when they have to go and pick their kids up.”
Grandfather-of-three Brian Landregan blasted some parents’ parking ‘crazy’.
But a mum-of-two, who asked not to be named, said she the problems were caused because traffic wardens ‘are never here’.
“They are not here on a daily basis, they are hardly ever here and are missing opportunities all the way down here. You should never park on zig-zag lines outside a school, it’s a basic rule of being a driver.
“It’s really, really bad around here. It’s horrendous.”
Other parents said the parking situation was no different to that outside many other schools, and did not think it was a major problem.
A Rochdale council spokesman said: “Civil enforcement officers do issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) to any driver or vehicle parked in contravention of restrictions.
“PCNs can be served through the post, as well as being fixed to windscreens or handed to drivers, should drivers be either threatening or abusive.
“If officers need assistance, they can call for support from colleagues or the police.
“They also have body-warn cameras which capture images where situations become abusive.
“There is a rigorous reporting process in place which, at the moment, doesn’t show any instances of note at Alkrington Primary School."