'Stupid' police condemned in parking row

POLICE have been accused of being “totally stupid” by a parent given a parking fine while collecting his disabled son from school.

Officers have stepped up patrols outside schools in Maltby after a plea from teachers and residents to address ongoing road safety issues.

It follows a recent near-miss at one school, where a parent almost reversed a car into a child.

But the move was unpopular with parent David Phillips, who was handed a £30 fixed penalty notice for “blocking the road and causing unnecessary obstruction” when collecting his 16-year-old son Matthew from from Hilltop Special School.

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He said: “It is so busy outside the school and there was nowhere else to park. “I’ve been parking in the same place for more than ten years and it’s never been a problem before. “We were not blocking the road.

“I accept rules are rules, but on this occasion I think the police should have used their discretion.”

Many children who go to the school arrive in taxis and minibuses, whose drivers were warned beforehand of the crackdown. South Yorkshire Police said that officers had been carrying out high visibility patrols at all schools across the area to “educate” people about the dangers of inconsiderate parking.

They denied using a “heavy-handed or zero tolerance approach” and said that fewer than ten tickets had been issued outside schools. A spokeswoman said: “An officer asked Mr Phillips to move his vehicle as it was parked partially on a pavement, making it impossible for anyone in a wheelchair to get past without entering the road.

“Despite the officer asking several times and explaining why Mr Phillips was being asked to move his vehicle, he still refused to move his car.”

A police van spotted outside the school on Tuesday had been sent to pick up officers at the end of a school-run patrol for “operational reasons.”

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