Buses on the doorstep
When Mrs Rebecca Smith opens her front door she is often confronted with the sight of buses parked on her doorstep.
They are lined up on a corner of Nottingham Road, waiting their turn to move on to the Minster School site to pick up pupils.
Mrs Smith lives with her husband, Mr Stuart Smith, and their two young sons, in Park Lodge on the site of the former Elkington garage.
She said although the school traffic was a nuisance for them she was more concerned for the safety of children walking to and from school because vehicles were often parked on the pavement.
“As well as them parking we often see cars on to the pavement outside, doing a u-turn and heading off up Nottingham Road and some of them are going really quite fast,” said Mrs Smith.
“We’ve got an old people’s home next door and when there are cars on the pavement I’ve seen people in their wheelchairs go on to the road to get round the traffic.
“I saw some school pupils try to cross the road between the buses and nearly get knocked down.
“I don’t want to witness a horrible accident and it is annoying when I can’t get in and out of my property.”
Mrs Smith said she had contacted the head of the Minster School, Mr Phil Blinston, about the problem.
“Having the whole school on one site here has increased the volume of traffic because the buses all come here instead of half going to Church Street first but Mr Blinston said things would get easier in March when the new carpark opens,” she said.
Parents have been asked not to park near Mrs Smith’s house, but she said they still did so most days.
“I think we need double yellow lines on the road and bollards or planters on the pavement,” she said.
The chairman of Southwell Town Council, Mrs Beryl Prentice, said the council would ask Nottinghamshire County Council what could be done to prevent parking on the corner.
“There’s going to be a really nasty accident on that corner and we don’t want that to happen,” said Mrs Prentice.
“These u-turns in front of this house and up Nottingham Road are potential killers, especially when you consider there are more than 1,000 children coming and going from the school.”
Mr Blinston said the school had alerted parents to the problems they were causing.
“There is a limit to what I can do other than alert parents to the potential danger of parking there and draw it to the local authority’s attention about the buses,” he said.
“If parents drive right on to the forecourt of the property in question it clearly could conflict with students and any other pedestrians walking on the pavement.”
Mr Blinston said it was the county council’s responsibility to make sure bus drivers were aware that it might be dangerous to park on the pavement.
He said once a new carpark at the school opened there would be enough room on the school site for all the buses. The new carpark is expected to be in use by Easter.
A county council spokesman said: “The council is at present constructing a new bus park to accommodate the 14 buses that transport pupils to and from Southwell Minster School.
“Currently we have two waves of buses that operate five minutes apart.
“We were not aware of buses parking on the pavements near the school and bus companies have been advised to exercise due care and attention when waiting to collect children.”