A coach operator is being driven to distraction by parking regulations outside schools.

Richard Jessop, 54, managing director of Brighouse-based Arrow Coach Travel Ltd, says enforcement of zig-zag lines could put youngsters at risk.

One of Mr Jessop’s coaches was slapped with a penalty notice for stopping on zig-zag lines outside Marsden Junior and Infant School in December.

There was nowhere else nearby to wait to load the party of 49 children and adults for a trip out.

So the driver parked up just before 9am, even though waiting on the zig-zag area is banned between 8am and 9.30am and 2pm-4pm.

He was snapped twice by a passing Kirklees Council parking enforcement patrol and issued with a £35 fine.

Mr Jessop appealed but lost and reluctantly paid the fine, which had by then risen to £70.

Mr Jessop said: “Sometimes stopping on zig-zag lines is the safest place to stop. When there are parked cars where else is there to stop?

“We need to load children and luggage and have to park on the right side of the road so that children aren’t having to cross over. What are they trying to do to us?”

Mr Jessop said there were similar problems outside other schools too. He highlighted Huddersfield Grammar School in Luck Lane, Marsh, where there was a ‘bus box’ after the zig-zag lines but coaches were unable to use it because of parked cars on the opposite side of the road.

“What are we supposed to do? We are faced with either stopping in the middle of the road and blocking it completely or parking a quarter-of-a-mile away and putting children’s safety at risk as they walk to and from the bus,” said Mr Jessop.

“The situation is chaotic and we don’t know where to go from here.”

A council spokesman said: “Zig-zag keep clear areas are provided to keep children safe as they travel to and from school. They are time limited at the start and end of the school day as these are the highest risk periods for accidents involving children outside school as more cars tend to be on the roads.

“Keeping the zig-zag zone clear ensures that both motorists and children can see each other. Anyone parking within this zone (particularly a bus) is compromising the safety of the children.

“Some schools work with the transport companies to ensure that if the vehicle has to be parked some distance away that school staff escort the children to and from the bus or coach.

“Many Kirklees schools have requested the parking restrictions in place.”

£1.3m of parking fines issued to drivers in Kirklees and Calderdale in just six months - click here to find out the streets where most fines are dished out

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