Dozens of motorists handed tickets by kids outside Westways primary school, Sheffield

The Star, Sheffield

Transcript

00:00 Can you tell me about the Good Parking, Bad Parking scheme here at Westways School?

00:03 Yes I can. I've been to Westways School working with the children. We've designed some parking notices.

00:10 It came to light that there were issues around parking around school, making it less safe for children to cross.

00:16 So the children have designed some parking notices, polite notices, saying 'well done for parking nicely'

00:23 or 'please be more considerate and park elsewhere'.

00:26 They've loved doing this. They've absolutely loved the challenge of doing this.

00:31 Today we've come out and the children are giving the notices out to parents and carers who have parked on double yellows, on zigzags,

00:42 or have parked, you know, they've considered that it's a school and they're parking in a good safe space.

00:47 Are there many of these schemes already up and running or is this the first?

00:50 This is the first one in the South West area of Sheffield.

00:53 In January I'll be working at Ecclesall Primary, doing exactly the same around Ecclesall Primary School as well.

01:01 Do you think this is something that's going to be rolled out across the city?

01:03 Definitely, definitely. I think raising awareness of the parking issues and getting the children to help,

01:09 because in 10 years time these kids could be driving themselves.

01:13 So, you know, it's just to make them aware of the dangers of parking on zigzags and double yellows.

01:18 What's the reaction of the children and the group that you've been leading ahead today from the people who they've given tickets to?

01:23 They've had a really good reaction. One person's just said, "I'm sorry for parking here."

01:28 They got a parking notice saying, "I don't feel safe, please park elsewhere."

01:33 And they've actually moved the car, so it's worked.

01:36 And the ones who have parked up in a nice safe space, they've knocked on the windows and given them a nice polite,

01:42 "Thank you for making me feel safe."

01:45 The ones that we've just given the red tickets to, the bad parking tickets, why have they got those?

01:51 Because they're on double yellow lines.

01:54 And what happens when a car goes on double yellow lines?

01:57 Children have to bend over to check if the car is up, have it or not.

02:02 That's right, you can't see. And it's making it awkward for other cars to come down now, isn't it?

02:08 Because the road's gone narrow. So, well done, well done.

02:12 So this is what we're looking for, isn't it?

02:14 Yes.

02:15 Just talking to Terry Drayton at West Ways Primary School,

02:19 could you tell me about the scheme that you've been running today?

02:23 Yes, so we were contacted by a local community officer who had been given feedback by our local community

02:31 that the parking on our roads in our local area around school had been deemed by the community sometimes unsafe.

02:38 And obviously this was a concern for us when we think about our children coming and going from school.

02:43 So we collaborated with the community officer to come up with a bit of a project

02:47 for our children to get involved and take a bit of ownership as well.

02:51 As we know, some of the parking in our local area can be residents, it can be parents.

02:56 And we wanted to spread a message of we want safer parking in our community.

03:01 And so we came up with the idea to create and design some good parking tickets,

03:07 some parking tickets to maybe ask people to park a little bit safer next time.

03:11 And we've taken part in it today. We've had 21 of our children who volunteered to help out in the community.

03:17 And they have absolutely loved it. They've handed out tickets.

03:21 In the local area, we've been speaking to people in the community and it's been a really positive experience.

03:28 Do you think it's something that you'll be repeating going forward?

03:30 Absolutely. I think some of our children had some spare tickets left over

03:34 and they were very keen to find out whether this would be something we were going to do again,

03:38 especially some of the year sixers wanting to do it before they leave at the end of the year

03:41 and transition to their next school. So it's definitely something we're going to set up again.

03:46 And what do you think the reaction was from the people who received tickets today?

03:50 We had some really brilliant reactions. We've had some really good sports in the community.

03:54 So we've handed out some live tickets to people who maybe weren't parked in the safest areas

03:59 and they took the tickets with a smile on their face.

04:02 Some of the cars moved and moved and parked in safer areas.

04:05 So it's definitely been a positive message.

04:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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