Head's shock road safety plea to parents

This image of pupils lying on the zig-zags was used by the school in a hard-hitting poster campaign

And Mrs Janet Pay has used a shocking image of her pupils lying on zig-zag safety lines in the road in a bid to ram home the message about road safety to parents and drivers and make them realise their thoughtless driving is putting children’s lives at risk.

Mrs Pay, who is head of Wellfield Primary School, makes no apologies for the photograph which was taken as part of a road safety awareness campaign after one of her pupils was knocked over by a car last week.

Although the child was not seriously injured the accident brought the issue to a head.

Mrs Pay said: “The child was crossing the road and the car that he collided with did not see him because there were so many vehicles parked all over the road and on the zig-zag lines.

“I don’t want to see the day where we lose a child - but that is what I fear will happen with parents double parking, parking on pavements and double yellow lines which make it very dangerous for our pupils trying to cross the road into school.”

Mrs Pay said a small group of parents appeared to insist on making things dangerous for children to cross the road safely in order to make the school run easier for themselves. The problem is exacerbated at school run times as the school shares its site with neighbouring St Mary Magdalene’s RC Primary.

Mrs Pay, who said she had been battling with this problem since she took over at the school three years ago, added: “Despite tirelessly asking on newsletters, making banners and having patrols standing outside, people are still insisting on thoughtless parking and abusing zig-zag lines on busy Pendle Way.

“They make all sorts of excuses such as they won’t be long or they will be late for work but I would rather they be late than injure or kill a child.

“But there are no excuses for stopping or parking on the zig-zag lines for anyone.

“Zig-zags outside school are supposed to be a safe, protected zone to allow children to come in and out safely each day however school are finding it increasingly hard to protect this zone with cars pulling in, waiting and even parking there.”

Zig-zag lines have been used as safety measures outside the majority of schools in the UK since 1974 and although tickets cannot be issued for parking on them, motorists can be fined on the grounds of causing an obstruction to other cars or pedestrians.