Staff and parents of a primary school in Sudbury have spoken out about the dangers of traffic congestion as three children remain in hospital following a collision with a car.
Two pupils from Sudbury Primary School in Watford Road and their toddler brother were knocked over when they were in collision with the vehicle last Friday afternoon at 3.30pm.
Police said the children were taken to a central London hospital where they were treated for their injuries which are said not to be life-threatening or life-changing.
Beth Ragheb, headteacher of the school sent a letter to parents this morning regarding the “serious traffic accident” saying the children will be returning home “over the coming days”.
She said strategies had been put in place to enable classmates to talk about what happened and the school councillors are available for children needing further support.
She added: “This incident does highlight the dangers in the surrounding roads and the congestion levels at the start and end of the school day. Our school is already situated on a main road and our school community contributes heavily to the crowding.
“I would therefore urge you to avoid, where possible, bringing your children to school by car. If you need to travel by car please park in the allocated places in the surrounding streets and make the short walk to the main school entrance with your children.”
One parent, who witnessed the accident and asked not to be named, criticised bad parking outside the school. She said: “It’s very dangerous. On Friday when it happened I heard a big bang and when I looked to see what it was I saw the car.
“I got my phone out to call the ambulance and all I could see were two little feet.
“About ten or twelve men appeared and lifted the car and that’s when you saw the buggy squashed to smithereens.
“Today people are still parking where the accident happened. They’ve got into the habit of parking on the pavement so that we all have to walk in single file along it.
“The school tries to monitor it but they need to bring back lollipop staff, something to keep the children safe.”
Sharon Samuels, who has a nine-year-old daughter at the school, said: “The cars shouldn’t be sitting on Watford Road. The children weren’t even on the road, they were on the pavement.
People park their cars anywhere they like in the morning, along zig zag lines, infront of people’s drive ways, with no consideration for children outside the school. They should have traffic police here in the mornings. It would only take five minutes. This is about the children’s lives.”
An adult with the children was treated at the scene while the driver of the car was taken to a west London hospital.
No arrests have been made.
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