Frustration over ‘dangerous’ parking around Polegate School

Oakleaf Drive has double yellow lines to prevent parking, but residents said parents are parking despite having options within walking distance of the school.

Ian Yull lives nearby and his daughter attends the school. He said: “We have been witnessing poor parking practices and traffic around the school for the last three years. Despite the double yellow lines, the zig zags road marking and the disabled spaces, parents will just park anywhere, this in turn makes it dangerous to cross as it forces traffic to bottleneck and cause blind spots.”

Mr Yull said this is made worse by the fact his wife is blind so ‘takes her life into her own hands when doing the school run’. He said: “Most days she walks, but occasionally, if I’m home from work early, I will drive, only to find that the disabled spaces are filled with cars not displaying a blue badge, which my wife has, very frustrating!”

Mr Yull would like authorities to make this a red route and put in a pedestrian crossing. He said: “I believe it’s only a matter of time before someone is injured.”

Niki Carter is a resident living nearby and said: "Just trying to get to work sometimes the parking is awful and I have nearly got hit trying to go up the road as people park inconsiderately and it’s far worse when raining."

Amy Henkel said: “People do park stupidly, on double yellows, on corners, they stop on the zig zags to drop kids off.”

A spokesperson for Wealden District Council said: “Wealden District Council do not deal with any ‘on street’ parking issues or enforce on the highways. We only deal with parking complaints which relate to the public car parks we own or our housing residential car parks.”

A spokesperson for East Sussex County Council said as parking in Wealden hasn’t been decriminalised so it is the responsibility of Sussex Police.

A police spokesperson said: “Officers continue to respond to reports of vehicle parking where it is assessed that there is a danger to public safety in Wealden. No reports about problems in Oakleaf Drive, Polegate, have been made in recent weeks.”

Resident Trevor Stone said he regularly reports parking issues to Sussex Police. Most recently, he reported a car parked on the junction between Windsor Way and Oakleaf Drive. Mr Stone said Oakleaf Drive, School Lane, and Windsor Way are where the issues are. Despite his reports, Mr Stone said he’s never seen any police presence.

Polegate School was approached for a comment.

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