Concern for safety at Lochardil Primary School after “narrow escape” saw two pupils nearly being hit by reversing black Audi car
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
An Inverness primary school headteacher has issued an alert after two pupils were almost hit by a car reversing at speed from a staff car park.
Lochardil Primary head Audrey Kellacher wrote to parents highlighting the “narrow escape” on the last day of term before Easter that left the youngsters shaken and scared.
She says the staff car park is frequently used by parents and carers dropping off and collecting children with “quite a few instances of bad driving, near misses” being reported.
On this occasion, the pupils told how they were nearly knocked over by a black Audi.
Mrs Kellacher has asked any witnesses to the incident to contact the school office immediately.
In her letter, Mrs Kellacher warned: “Unfortunately, as the result of a near miss incident reported to us on the last day of term, we again need to raise the issue of road safety concerns including use of the staff car park and parking around the school campus.
“It was brought to the school’s attention that two of our pupils had a narrow escape while crossing the road at the end of the staff car park that is marked as an identified crossing.
“They believe they were nearly knocked over by a black Audi reversing at speed back through the car park gates which gave the children a great fright.
“Please, if any other parents/carers were witness to this on Thursday, March 28, or if you were the driver of the car, contact the school office immediately.”
Mrs Kellacher said there had been increasing use of the staff car park by parents and carers dropping children off at breakfast club and Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), adding: “There have been quite a few instances of bad driving, near misses and inconsiderate parking being reported by staff members and parents/carers.
“We have also recently received complaints regarding dropping off children at the entrance to the staff car park, blocking access for valid users, and vehicles stopping on the yellow zig-zag lines to drop off.
“We also aim to sustain positive relations with our neighbours.
The car park should only be used by parents/carers before 8.10am and after 3.15pm once the main hustle and bustle of children and staff leaving the premises has subsided.”
Exceptions included eligible users of the disabled bays and those collecting a sick or injured child, with permits also available from the school office for users requiring short-term support.
Mrs Kellacher added: “We appreciate that parking in the school vicinity can be challenging at times, and would like to remind everyone to adhere to the highway code, park considerately and courteously and most importantly we must all keep our children and the local community safe in and around the school campus.”
The headteacher highlighted the work of the school’s Junior Road Safety Officer (JRSO) in promoting safe travel to school and encouraging active travel
That had led to a survey in September last year showing that 74.5 per cent of P1-P7 children travelled actively to school every day, reducing vehicle travel to just 25.5 per cent.
In contrast, 56.1 per cent of ELC children were driven to classes.
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “We would urge all drivers to exercise extra caution when driving near to schools.”
Police Scotland could find no reports of the incident.
