Parents slammed for dangerous parking outside schools after boy, 11, struck by car in Sheffield

The youngster was hit outside Outwood Academy City on Stradbroke Road, Stradbroke, on Tuesday afternoon.

A spokesman for the school said: "The student hit by a vehicle outside the academy is bruised but ok - we urge all our students to take extra care when crossing the road."

He said that illegal parking outside the school was a problem - with the hours between 7.40am and 08:30am and 2pm to 2.30pm being the worst.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "At around 2.30pm on Tuesday, February 6, emergency services responded to reports of a collision between a grey Mitsubishi and pedestrian on Stradbroke Road, Sheffield.

"An 11-year-old boy sustained minor injuries in the incident."

The collision prompted critics to voice their concerns about parents parking dangerously, saying it was a problem throughout the city.

Charlotte Carnell said: "The exact same thing happened to me on Moss Way, near Hackenthorpe, Sheffield. I was struck by a car and had bruising and a broken nose as well as a tooth being pulled out on impact.

"The simple fact is there need to be more crossings. I hear so many emergency services go to the same place I had my accident virtually every night and the fact this happens daily is ridiculous."

Ian Carr Kay, a bus driver said illegal parking was a problem outside every school.

He said: "I'm one of the bus drivers that has to fight my way through. It's the same near every school."

Kerry Pennington said: "It's exactly the same at Woodthorpe School. Parents park ridiculously stupidly. They completely block the roads so buses can't get up and down and they even block the footpaths! I'm surprised a child hasn't been hurt on there."

Dawn Windle said she and her five-year-old son were knocked down 15 years ago by a car parked on a 'school keep clear' sign.

She said: "About time something was done. I was badly injured and my son suffered psychological damage."

Kerry Davitt said: "I come home that way from Stradbroke School and in the last six months I have nearly hit two kids.

"They do just walk out in the road but the cars parked on either side make it a nightmare. Nothing will stop unless this is monitored."

Susan Holtby said: "It’s the same at Stradbroke School. I live round the corner, nightmare - cars everywhere and parked on yellow zig zags.

Carole Hudsons added: "No one does anything about it so there is no deterent, maybe give them fines when parked outside school."

Sheila Tidswell said: "It's the same at Handsworth Academy it's terrible trying to get past cars parked along Ballifield Road.

"You can't see children that want to cross the road."

Last February, police were called to Carfield Primary School in Meersbrook, when tempers flared over a demonstration staged by parents who were angry about dangerous parking outside the school.

At the time parent and governor of eight years James Norton, said: “There are a minority of selfish individuals who think the rules don’t apply to them and they can park on zig zag lines. “There have been a number of near misses and sometimes you even get drivers reversing into the school gates area past children.

“There are many side roads and parents could park a street away but they can’t be bothered to walk 50 yards.”

Mr Norton said it had been an ongoing issue at the school, which is situated on a narrow cul-de-sac, for more than a decade.

Drivers in Sheffield were last year named as the worst in Yorkshire for parking dangerously and illegally outside schools.

The most recent figures available - those for 2016, showed 4,375 fines were dished out to the region’s drivers for parking in restricted areas outside schools, including on keep clear markings or yellow lines near school gates.

The highest number of fines were doled out in Sheffield, with 2,842 issued in 2016.

Sheffield Council revealed last January 113 primary school aged children had been injured - 32 seriously - in crashes across the city occurring at school pick-up and drop off times over the last five years.

The authority teamed up with South Yorkshire Police for a crackdown on dangerous parking outside schools.