PARENTS are furious at a decision to lock car park gates at a Deer Park school on busy Ballarat Road.
The car park at St Peter Chanel Primary School has been locked every afternoon since the start of the second term.
The closure was brought about due to concerns about parents clogging up Ballarat Road, waiting for the gates to open at 3pm for a 3.15pm pick-up.
The action followed discussions between the school, Brimbank Council, Victoria Police and VicRoads.
But angry parents say the closure punishes those who have been doing the right thing and argue the school needs to open the gates earlier.
“Now we have a big jump in people having to park blocks away and a lot more people having to walk across Ballarat Road. Parents are disgusted at what this means for safety,” one parent, who did not want to be named, said.
A mother said parents were nervous about having their children cross Ballarat Road.
“It’s such a busy road. There’s a supervisor but there are so many people all trying to cross,” she said.
Another mother said the decision was particularly tough on parents with younger children.
“Imagine what it will be like in winter when it’s cold and raining and mothers with other young children are trying to walk five or six blocks.”
She said council parking officers were patrolling the area around the school and targeting cars parked in non-designated areas.
The council’s general manager of infrastructure and environment, Paul Younis, said the officers were there to give warnings, not issue fines.
“Parking limits in the surrounding streets are being reviewed with a view to providing extra parking for parents when collecting children from school.”
Mr Younis said the car park was being closed on a trial basis due to traffic issues along Ballarat Road.
“The extensive queuing from the car park onto Ballarat Road’s east and west-bound carriageways created the potential for serious rear-end collisions, restricted emergency vehicles from gaining access into the school ground and restricted school buses from entering the service road in front of the school.”
Acting principal Luisa Parissis said the length of the trial was out of her hands, and parental reactions to date had been mixed.
“Some has been very favourable and they are very satisfied, others less so.”
