Leighton Buzzard resident calls for council to issue parking tickets along street before child is 'injured or killed'

'It's a narrow road not even the width of a country lane, yet people are parking right up to the corner'
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A concerned Leighton Buzzard resident is calling upon Central Beds Council to fine motorists who park on single yellow lines - or introduce stronger restrictions.

The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, claims he is fed up of cars, vans and minibuses parking on Poplar Close, claiming it is dangerous and "an accident waiting to happen".

The LBO reader is concerned that when vehicles park there it causes poor visibility, meaning if children run into the road a moving car would not see them as quickly.

Cars parked on Poplar Close.Cars parked on Poplar Close.
Cars parked on Poplar Close.

He told the LBO: "Many parents park on single yellow lines on Poplar Close when they drop their children off at school.

"The council make all sorts of promises - oh we will send wardens down to monitor it - but then they turn up before the parents do!

"They don't see the danger. It exists the moment people park there. It's an ongoing problem. They [CBC] don't want to put tickets on cars."

The resident claims that he tries to avoid going out during the school rush hour due to avoid the traffic and amount of parked cars, and says all but 20 metres of the road has yellow lines.

He reported that there was also a petition submitted to the council around four years ago, but that nothing came of it.

He added: "It's a narrow road not even the width of a country lane, yet people are parking right up to the corner. It's dangerous and makes it difficult to notice children running out between cars.

"My friend came round the [into the road] carefully, but still had to stop quickly as a child came into the road, and the mother looked all surprised - 'Oh sorry!'

"Then there's delivery vans that have a horrendous workload and are not going slowly at all."

Urging the need for ticketing, he added: "It's selfish to encourage them [motorists] to park on Poplar Close.

"It's going to take a child to be injured or killed before something changes."

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokesman said: “We take road safety very seriously, especially around our schools. There are a number of schools in the Leighton Buzzard/Linslade area, and we regularly patrol all schools with parking restrictions issuing Penalty Charge Notices to any vehicles in breach of the restrictions.

Motorists are permitted to drop off on single and double yellow lines, but not permitted to stop on school keep clear markings.

“Over the last three months, we have patrolled four times at this location. During these times, no cars were found to be parked in breach of the restrictions. Since 2017, we have issued six Parking Charge Notices for parking on school keep clear markings and 16 for parking on single yellow lines.

“In September 2019, we also carried out targeted enforcement at this school, attending twice daily during a two-week period, after receiving several complaints.

“We encourage parents and carers, where possible, to walk their children to school and for those who need to drive, there is a car park available for use off Heath Road.”

Have you experienced problems in this location or elsewhere in town? Email [email protected]