A LUGWARDINE resident has joined the call for more safety measures on the streets around a secondary school as he fears there will be further accidents in the future.

John Hyde lives on Traherne Close in the village near to St Mary's RC High School and said parents parking dangerously on his road is a common occurrence.

The focus on road safety outside the school gates has been highlighted further since July 2 when a 12-year-old boy was in a car accident on the A438 and had to be taken to hospital.

Mr Hyde, aged 84, said: "At the end of school time a large number of coaches leave the school grounds - this means that the main road traffic is held up in both directions.

"There are many cars parking in Traherne Close, most of the drivers are very good, but some are not, like the driver who parks close to the entrance of Traherne Close anytime from 2.15pm onwards."

Mr Hyde said he does not object to people parking in the close but he feels the way some of the drivers park means that there is an accident waiting to happen. He said they park to close to the junction.

He said he has been told that parents picking up their child should come after 3.45pm and park in the school grounds after the coaches have left. He said this would be safer as the children would not have to cross a busy main road.

Mr Hyde, who lives with his wife Jill, added: "I came home the other day and I had to brake as this young lad ran straight across in front of me."

At the last Bartestree with Lugwardine Group parish council meeting it was resolved that the parish council would continue to liaise with Balfour Beatty, St Mary’s RC High School, the police, Herefordshire Council and the spokesperson for the parents of pupils at St Mary’s in the hope that a co-ordinated response to highway safety through the parishes could be agreed and implemented in the future.

Draft minutes from the meeting said that the lack of safe footpaths along the highway means that pupils have to cross the road at some point if they walk to school.

Councillors also heard that before the accident at the beginning of July, some school bus transport had refused to turn into the school car park to drop pupils off but this has changed since the accident.

The matter will be discussed again at the next parish council meeting in September.