Park and ride not reasonable option, say teachers

Teaching staff have said a park and ride scheme is not a "reasonable" alternative to parking at the school where they work.

St Oswald's Primary School, on Church Street, in Durham, is within the city's Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) and staff say they have to pay up to £8 a day to park there.

A park and ride service is a cheaper option, but staff, who are campaigning for permits, said buses were sometimes full and did not stop, while walking to and from the car park instead could result in a fine.

Durham County Council said it was "very rare" for buses not to stop and apologised if that had happened.

It added 95% of buses in September and October had been on time.

Parking at Howlands Farm car park, on South Road, is free. However, drivers need to pay for a day bus pass to be able to park there until 19:00 GMT or risk getting a fine.

Hannah Ryall, a teaching assistant at the school, said the scheme was so "impractical" staff were not using it as much as parking outside the school.

"We're standing late at night carrying heavy books in an unsheltered bus stop," she said.

Mrs Ryall said there were times the bus would "drive past" because it was full and theirs was the final stop before the car park, "leaving us in a position where we're stuck".

She added it was not "a reasonable alternative to parking at work", with a campaign under way to get permits from the council.

Mark Jackson, head of transport and contract services at Durham County Council, said: "It’s very rare for park and ride buses to be full, and drivers are instructed to look out and stop for passengers at all stops.

"We apologise if there have been occasions when buses have failed to stop. Both the council and our operator take such matters very seriously and discuss and resolve any complaints together."

Mrs Ryall said St Oswlald's School was the only state-funded school in the county which had to pay for parking.

"I think frustrating is the right word to use," she said. "I think a lot of us feel really, really degraded and just not valued at all."

Mr Jackson, head of transport and contract services at Durham County Council, said while short-stay permits continued to be offered to support parents, the local authority was "unable to provide reduced cost permits for staff".

“Doing so would commit us to making this concession for other businesses in the zone, which would undermine the scheme and exacerbate the current parking problems outside of the school," he added.

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