Peeved parents have slammed their local council’s proposal to install ULEZ style ANPR cameras outside schools claiming it places a tax on dropping off their kids.
The new CCTV cameras, which were approved by Bristol City Council last week, will soon be installed in problem areas of the city in a bid to stamp out illegal parking.
The cameras will operate on rotation at every school in Bristol meaning no parent will be safe from the potential fines.
Council chiefs claim the new cameras will only target those who park irresponsibly but frustrated parents say it is hard enough for them to drop off kids safely.
One mother told MailOnline the priority should be to have more legal parking without being fined.
She said: ‘The council needs to do more to allow legal parking. They are making it harder to park.
‘More people are going to park illegally. We just want somewhere legal to park for 20 minutes where we don’t have to do this.
‘We have to get our children to school somehow but we don’t want to leave our primary school children alone. We want to accompany them safely to school.’
Peeved off parents have slammed their local council’s proposal to install ULEZ style ANPR cameras outside schools
The new CCTV cameras will be installed outside schools in a bid to stamp out illegal parking
The council claims that the new cameras will only target those drivers who park irresponsibly
Chris Cotton, 53, said in the past he has been ‘annoyed’ at parents parking the car in his street and in his drive
Chris Cotton, 53, said in the past he has been ‘annoyed’ at parents parking the car in his street and in his drive.
‘But then I have been part of the problem as well – I drop my kid off at school,’ he said.
‘Maybe the ANPR cameras will make parents think. The worst thing I have seen is the kids getting straight out of the car and knocking off cyclists – that is an issue.
‘They block the drive sometimes but if I am coming out with my car and I give them a honk then they move.
‘The parents are quite responsible. I have never really had any problems. It is just people trying to get kids to school.’
However, Neil Fry, 56, who lives next to Cotham School – half a mile away from Bristol Grammar School – said parent parking there is a ‘nightmare’.
He said: ‘I live next to the school and you can often not get in and out of the road.
‘It is a bit of a problem. If you go to Cotham School at 2.30pm you’ll see.
‘I don’t like cameras as a concept but I would say something has got to be done. It is too many cars.’
Asim Dim, 43, parent of a Year 5 Bristol Grammar School pupil said: ‘It is more of a pain to find parking but ultimately outside schools it is the right thing because kids need to get into school safely, they need to keep spaces for buses.
‘As long as it is to prevent people using spaces that need to be used for things like buses or crossings or safety areas that is fine.
‘If it is just in parking spaces or just drop off then they need to make it so it is like a ten minute drop off type situation where you’ve got a bit of time. Otherwise the hassle of parking, paying for a ten minute slot and then taking your kids in is a bit much really.’
The cameras will operate on rotation at every school in the city meaning no parent will be safe from the potential fines
Darryl Hill said he thought the cameras would make parents upset in the short term
Some locals say their neighbourhoods are nightmares during the school run
Darryl Hill, 53, university lecturer said: ‘It can be quite dangerous. Especially people who are already late – it can be a bit of a recipe for disaster.
‘It is obviously a very mixed blessing because you’ve got this risk of invasion of privacy versus control of traffic so in terms of discouraging people to behave inappropriately and illegally of course it is a benefit.
‘I suppose I can see the social advocate side of everything monitored all the time, where does it stop?
‘But absolutely, in terms of very localised and specific and perhaps only active of those key times would be the compromise with ANPR during the drop off and pick up times.’
When asked if he thinks the cameras will make parents upset he said: ‘Only because they will have to change their habits.
‘It will speak to their convenience of breaking the law to drop the kids off at school.’
Supporting the policy, Cllr Tim Rippington said: ‘Enforcement around schools is extremely difficult with the number of schools, and getting around them is extremely difficult for enforcement officers and the police.
‘By the time they get there, the people who are parking irresponsibly or illegally have moved on.
‘These cameras should be an additional tool that will give us more ability to tackle those difficult roads around schools, so I’m happy to support this.’
Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport and connectivity committee at Bristol City Council, said: ‘Parking restrictions are in place outside of schools to make the areas safe for children and families getting to and from schools.
‘Poor parking increases the risks of injury which is why we are taking action to enforce these restrictions that are ignored by a small minority of drivers.
‘We expect all parents and carers to make arrangements that don’t put their children’s and other people’s safety at risk.
‘Progressing the introduction of a small number of cameras to be deployed for enforcement on a rotational basis was unanimously approved by all councillors on the Transport and Connectivity Committee.’