Croydon headteacher fears 'child could be knocked down' outside school

The road outside Harris Primary Academy Haling Park was a ‘school street,’ meaning cars faced a fine for entering at drop off and pick up times.

But now, Croydon Council have covered up the signs and paused the scheme with nearly no notice.

It comes after one local man, Ricky, took it upon himself to alert drivers to the cameras which he has called a “scam”, standing at the end of a road with a homemade sign.

Headteacher Rob Hyneman and local man Ricky outside Harris Academy Haling Park (credit: Tara O'Connor)

He said he stopped a total of 900 drivers.

Headteacher of the primary school Rob Hyneman said: “I got a phone call from the council on Monday night which I missed, then on Tuesday morning a parent told me the signs had been covered up.”

The council has written to Mr Hyneman saying the scheme has been pulled as it did not carry out the legally required six month consultation due to the pandemic, it said. The council website shows that it is one of ten schemes that have been “paused” pending a new consultation period.

Mr Hyneman said: “Basically, what they are saying is that because they messed up the consultation they’ve got to pause the schemes and go back to do a new consultation.

“My biggest concern is the speed cars go down this road and that is something the cameras didn’t stop. It is all the hard work of Ricky and all that will be undone now, people will start coming down here again to avoid traffic on Brighton Road.

The school street signs in Haling Road have been covered up by Croydon Council as it waits to start a new public consultation (credit: Tara O'Connor)

“The communication has been appalling. We are now left with at least six months of it being unsafe, I don’t think they are going to take it seriously until someone is knocked down.”

In a letter seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, consultation was not carried out for four months of the six month consultation, between December 2020 and March 2021 due to lockdown restrictions and school closures.

The letter said: “This meant that those affected were not given the prescribed full statutory six months to submit their feedback on the experiment.”

A new 18-month experimental traffic order is expected to be presented to the council’s Traffic Management Advisory Committee, which hasn’t met since November.

Ricky has said he will still visit Haling Road to inform drivers that there is a school in the street even though they will not face a fine. He is worried about the safety of school children and parents walking in the road at the end of the day and thinks speed bumps or a barrier system should be put in.

Ricky said: “With this camera system it is all revenue based, they are using this school streets excuse to make money. This needs a ‘slow school’ sign. If they really cared about safety they would barrier it or put big speed bumps in the road.

“I will still talk to the drivers to tell them that there is a school here and to try if they can to take an alternative route, I can’t stop them coming up here but I’ll be like a lollipop man.”

A spokesperson for Croydon Council said the authority hopes to get schemes back in place “as soon as possible”.  

They said: “We are stepping up local parking enforcement to ensure pavements are clear for pupils and have arranged to repaint road markings near the school too keep everyone safe. We remain committed to all School Streets across the borough.”