Plea for safer parent parking at school

And now the school’s Parent Teacher Council has written to families asking them to use to the car park safely and responsibly.
The letter reads: “We are in a unique position as a school in that we haveacar park available for parents to use at the beginning and end of the day. “Unfortunately, every day more people try to park in it than there are available spaces.”
It added: “On a bad day there can be near miss incidents of cars hitting children and adults, verbal abuse from driver to driver – often within the earshot of young children, verbal abuse of school staff asking for more considerate parking, aggressive driving at inappropriate speeds into the car park and inconsiderate parking causing major disruption for other parents.”
The PTC are urging parents and guardians who have no alternative but to pick up children from school by car to consider parking elsewhere.
They added: “We would like to thank those that do park sensibly, and those that park outside the school and walk in.
“We look forward to seeing the car park being used responsibly and safely in the future.”
A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council confirmed that parking problems were mounting at Lockerbie.
He said: “The headteacher has received verbal and written complaints relating to parking in spaces for disabled people, parking on the crossing, and double/triple parking.
“Several times, the headteacher has requested through the school newsletter that, for the safety of pupils, parents are sensible when parking.”
Councillor Stephen Thompson is looking into solutions that might ease the issue.
He said: “I support the spirit of the letter. It’s important that people using the car park try and be considerate to others.
“I know that the school run in the morning can be one of the most stressful times of day for many parents who have jobs and appointments to get to, but for the sake of a few minutes extra time it will take to park and walk, I would encourage parents to do so.”