AN ACCIDENT in which a boy was hit by a car outside a North Swindon school should act as a warning to drivers flouting parking rules outside the gates, according to parents.

An eight-year-old was knocked down in the morning rush outside Haydon Wick Primary School on Thursday, after running out from between two parked cars.

The vehicles were parked on the zig-zag markings in The Brow, which clearly indicate to drivers that they should stay clear.

Although the child suffered a minor leg injury and avoided serious harm, parents gathered at the school yesterday morning said it was not the first time a child had been hurt.

Victoria Scott, a grandmother of two children who attend the school, said: “The parking is absolutely awful.

“It’s been a problem for years. I brought my eldest granddaughter here and she’s 14 now. Traffic’s always been horrific here.

“It needs somebody out here every single day to ensure the children can cross safely.

“People just don’t care. They just pull-up on the zig-zags, they do U-turns in the road, they’ve got no consideration apart from dropping-off and going.”

Naomi Clark, of The Street, who has a five-year-old boy at the school, said: “It’s not the school’s fault, it’s the parents’ attitudes.

“It’s quite annoying and frustrating to think they live the same distance myself and other parents do. Why can’t you just walk your kids to school?

“They only think about themselves and chuck the kids into school as fast as they can before going off and doing whatever they’ve got to do.

“I see parents who leave their kids at the top of the road and let them walk down on their own.

“They might not necessarily have the road sense to know that you can’t run out between parked cars.

“They think: it’s school, I’m safe, I can run and I don’t have to listen.”

After the boy was hit on Thursday, Wiltshire Police arrived to close the road and assist in making the area safe.

PCSO Ashlee John of the North Swindon Neighbourhood Policing Team, attended the school yesterday to reassure parents as they dropped their children off.

“We try and get around to them whenever we can, but it is difficult.

“All schools have the same issue with parking, but we have to promote five-minute walk zones,” she said.

“Just words of advice, that’s all we can give. We will ask people not to park there, or move your vehicle.

“Sometimes they move it, sometimes they don’t.

“If people see us, generally they do park better and ideally we would be at a school every morning and afternoon, but we can’t, unfortunately, because there’s always too much work going on.”

After Thursday’s accident, school principal Aine Gale said: “We have a school safety zone in place and we strongly encourage parents and carers to park safely and use our designated parking areas in our five-minute walk to the school zone.

“From the police report, the driver of the car was driving responsibly, so luckily this time the child wasn’t badly injured, but was in shock.

“We will continue to remind parents to park safely and are working with our local PCSO to further embed our road safety education programme.”