PUPILS are daily risking injury and even death on the busy carpark of three Preston special needs schools, claim their headteachers.

Children with physical handicaps and learning disabilities are driven to and from Elms, Moorfield and Sherburn schools through a single entrance to a carpark.

Now the area has become so congested the heads believe it poses a threat to their pupils' safety and they are asking Lancashire County Council to step in.

Sherburn headmaster Martin Moss said: "There's this huge traffic jam outside our front doors and, unlike other children, our pupils don't have spatial awareness to deal with it.

"This would be a dangerous situation for anyone, but for us it's an accident waiting to happen."

He warned: "It doesn't matter how many staff we have supervising, it won't solve the problem because there's so many vehicles milling around that we can't see them all."

An OFSTED report following a Government inspection of Moorfield School said the taxis queuing outside classrooms were also giving off unhealthy levels of fumes.

Moorfield's headmaster John Dibble and Elms headmistress Sally Riley are backing Mr Moss's campaign to expand the cramped carpark.

Together, they issued a statement to the Citizen asking for the county council to move carpark fences further onto the wide pavements on Blackpool Road at the front of the schools.

This would provide space for a taxi rank at a safe distance from classrooms. They also want to redevelop the area so it has just one entrance and one exit, creating a simple one-way system through the grounds.

They added: "There would only be a limited cost to the re-development. It would cause no harm to the environment, as no trees would need to be removed, and would still leave a substantial grass verge next to Blackpool Road.

"It is our wish that this could be done before a serious accident occurs rather than as a result of one."

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