Isle of Wight school safety fears over lack of traffic wardens

Meanwhile, parents of students at schools on Wellington Road, where the assault happened, say they haven't seen a traffic warden for months and are growing increasingly concerned for their children, due to risks posed by “dangerous and illegal parking”.

Following an attack on a parking attendant on Wellington Road, Carisbrooke, in March, civil enforcement staff were told not to patrol outside any Island school until a review had taken place, emails sent to a parent by the council, and seen by the County Press, say.

The assault left the warden with life-changing facial injuries. The County Press was in court in October as sentence was handed down to Joseph Burgess, 30, of Woodbine Close, Newport.

Read more: Isle of Wight man spared jail after traffic warden attack

After the council's review, staff were instructed to only monitor roads outside schools which are signed up to a specific road safety scheme, emails said.

Mum-of-two Amy Ringer told the County Press she has not seen a patrol outside Wellington Road since the end of March — when the assault happened.

When the County Press directly asked whether this was the case and the reason why, the council declined to comment.

The road is used by parents of three nearby schools — Carisbrooke Primary, Carisbrooke College and Christ the King College.

A view of Wellington Road during school drop-off in the morning. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

To date, only one of those schools — Carisbrooke Primary — has signed up to the Modeshift STARS Scheme.

Amy, whose children go to the primary, said she is so concerned about their safety she has considered moving them to different schools.

"You can't get buses down. You have people parked in the bus stops. You have children crossing between the cars", she said.

"There was a child who was nearly hit by a car a few days ago.

"It was nowhere near like this when we had traffic wardens because, although they weren't here every day, people knew that they could show up at anytime.

"People now know, months later, that there isn't going to be anyone to tell them not to park here so they will."

Amy said she has sympathy for traffic wardens following the attack, but feels their safety is being prioritised over that of school pupils.

A view of Wellington Road during school drop-off in the morning. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

"The council's logic doesn't really make sense", she said.

"They're not going to patrol schools because somebody was assaulted outside of schools but if it happened in the town, would they stop patrolling the town?

"It was a vicious assault but send them down in twos or with a representative from the school may help. I've put these things forward."

An email sent to a parent by the council's parking operations manager, Mark Downer, confirmed wardens are ‘understandably nervous’ following the attack and are only patrolling schools signed up to the scheme.

At the time of the email, 18 schools were part of it.

The email said: "The council cannot solve all anti-social parking issues on its own; it cannot be solved by enforcement alone.

"It is a 'hearts and minds' issue. It is about changing people's behaviours, and this can only be achieved through involvement and encouragement of the schools."

An email sent to a parent from the council's parking services team. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

A view of Wellington Road during school drop-off in the morning. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

A statement sent to the County Press from Cllr Phil Jordan, council leader and cabinet member for transport, highways and infrastructure, said: “Irresponsible parking can occur in the vicinity of most schools and must be tackled by a combination of parking enforcement and encouraging behaviour change with both safer parking and alternative travel options.

“Parking Services and the Road Safety Officer are working closely with schools and their communities and encourage schools to sign up for the Modeshift STARS accreditation programme.

"As part of this work, schools can use a scheme called Junior Travel Ambassadors, where pupils are encouraged to promote Road Safety and Active Travel-themed messages and promote messages around responsible parking.

“Early this year Parking Services wrote to all schools where irresponsible parking has historically occurred advising them of various measures to promote a ‘Park Away’ culture and encouraging if they have not done so already to participate in the Modeshift STARS and Junior Travel Ambassador schemes.

“As a result, we are now working with a significant number of schools on the Island and Civil Enforcement Officers will patrol at schools participating in the Modeshift STARS Scheme.”

A view of Wellington Road during school drop-off in the morning. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press)

Executive headteacher of Carisbrooke Primary, Katherine Marshall, told the County Press the school does share parents' concerns and it has repeatedly sent messages asking them to park safely.

She said: "While the school does not have any jurisdiction over parking outside our gates, the school has always worked in partnership with the council services whose responsibility it is to improve the safety in and around any school site."

When speaking to the County Press, Matthew Parr-Burman, executive headteacher of the Isle of Wight Education Federation which runs Carisbrooke College, said he had not heard of the scheme but "having now been alerted we are more than happy to sign up.

"It would be tragic if there was an accident", he said.

"We will put something in our newsletter to parents. We haven't had major concerns raised but that is not to say we will not take it seriously."

When contacted, Christ the King College declined to comment.