Junior PCSOs on beat to halt Willenhall parking issues
Parking chaos outside a Black Country school has been driving parents and pupils around the bend – but these pint-sized police community support officers are now out to get the culprits.
More than a dozen pupils at Short Heath Junior School have been specially trained to become the region's first junior PCSOs and are now walking the beat under a new scheme which aims to tackle parking issues.
Repeat offenders who are caught parking illegally outside the school, in Pennine Way, could also face a parking fine.
On patrol, the youngsters arm themselves with clipboards and fluorescent jackets and approach drivers who are parking illegally to point out the offence and hand over a special ticket.
They then ask the driver to move their vehicle. After junior PCSOs issue two tickets to the same driver, a fixed penalty ticket and £30 fine is then issued for a third offence by an officer or a PCSO.
The nine and 10-year-olds have been trained to recognise a number of road traffic offences and patrol in groups of three, supported by either a police officer, a PCSO or a junior PCSO helper.
On the launch day of the scheme, six junior PCSO tickets were issued to drivers.
The scheme is the first of its kind and is sponsored by local partners including the Willenhall Local Area Partnership, which means there is no cost to the school.
The youngsters were trained by Pc Paul Fisher and PCSO Suki Lally, from the Willenhall North and Short Heath neighbourhood team. Pc Fisher said: "The youngsters we have trained have been wonderful – they have a very strong sense of what is right and wrong."
Cathy Draper, the executive headteacher of Short Heath Federation, said: "We are so proud of our junior PCSOs. They've only been walking the beat around our school for the past couple of days and already the area outside school is safer. More people are adhering to the parking restrictions."
Police have said children's safety will not be at risk as they will be supervised at all times. It comes as concerns have been recently raised by parents on the school run at Hill Avenue Primary School, Lanesfield.
The city council's highways department has observed people parking on the restricted area near the school gates.
There have also been issues at Perry Hall Primary School, in Colman Avenue, Wednesfield. A camera car to catch motorists parking illegally near schools in Wolverhampton has regularly visited Villiers Primary School in Bilston and Compton Road near to Wolverhampton Grammar School.
