RESIDENTS near a Blackbird Leys school say parents dropping off their children are causing a dangerous hazard.

Cars pack the streets around Windale Community Primary School in Windale Avenue at the start and end of each school day.

And now residents have raised the problem with the parish council.

Blackbird Leys resident and parish council member Gerry Webb said: “This is a problem that has been around for a long time.

“At the front of the school there is a cul-de-sac and it gets so congested that people can’t get in or out.

“And then people are parking on the pavement, so anyone in a wheelchair or with a pushchair has to walk on to the road.

“It’s putting elderly people and children at risk.”

Yellow lines and zigzags have been painted along the road, but residents say drivers are not taking any notice.

Mr Webb said: “It all seems to have been left to the Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and they just can’t do it.

“I know we have a lot of PCSOs but the Leys is a massive area and they can’t do everything.”

He added: “People who are elderly or disabled have to walk out on to the road and they shouldn’t have to. The footpath is for walking on.

“Cars need to start being turned away. It’s a bit extreme but they keep persisting in parking there and they have to learn they can’t.

“What’s more important, someone being annoyed because they’ve got a £60 fine or a child getting run over, or an elderly person slipping in the road?”

Windale school manager Jane Burd said: “As a school, we try to encourage our children to walk to school as much as possible. We have days when we give out stickers to everyone who is walking.

“And we do as much as we possibly can because it’s better for the children and better for the parking situation.

“It is a problem with parents coming and dropping off their children, but it’s only for a short period of time.”

She added: “We regularly ask the local community officers to come round and look at the parking.

“But we can’t tell people how to live.”

Windale School is not the only school facing parking problems.

Last month pupils and staff at St John Fisher School struck up an agreement with the Oxford & District Indoor Bowls Club to trial a scheme allowing parents to park at the club.

In April police handed £30 fines to parents parking outside St Christopher’s Primary in Temple Road, Cowley, and Oxford Spires Academy in Barracks Lane.