Chinley parents fear for kids’ safety at dangerous crossing

Sally Gilmour, 48, told how children walking from the village to Chapel High School were forced to walk across busy Wash Road as the pavement runs out on one side to access a path on the other.

Psychiatry doctor Sally said children were risking their lives on the section of road - where she recorded up to 35 ‘juggernauts’ speeding past in one hour during morning rush hour.

The county council marked the crossing near Chinley Chapel on a map as a designated crossing for parents who live within three miles of Chapel High and are not entitled to receive free passes for the journey to and from school.

Sally said parents living within three miles of the school had been paying £1.80 for their children’s return journey.

However many youngsters were forced to walk after their parents were told they had to apply for free bus passes - which Derbyshire County Council then informed them they were not eligible for.

Thirty children were refused a free bus pass – leaving them unable to access to the school bus.

Parents say they cannot rely on the public bus service – which is overcrowded in the morning and unavailable at peak school leaving time in the afternoon.

As a result worried parents whose children did not qualify for the buss pass have been left driving them to school.

One parent said: “This causes difficulties for those who work or who have other children at primary school and further increases traffic on the roads and creates congestion around Chapel High School.”

Sally told how she had conducted a risk assessment of the road near the crossing point against Road Safety Great Britain guidelines and found it to be ‘very dangerous’.

She said: “I feel the council are not acting quickly enough.

“People have been campaigning for a crossing for the last three years - there have been accidents there before.

“The council are saying it’s a safe place to cross but you just have to see how fast the cars go through there and it’s only 50-100 metres from a sharp bend.

“I know many people who tell me they start walking across and finish up having to run.”

Sally said if a child died then the council would be responsible for ‘corporate manslaughter’ after designating the crossing as safe.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said: “Pupils are only entitled to free transport to school if they live more than three miles away from their nearest suitable school or the route is deemed dangerous.

“There were 20 spare spaces on the school bus for pupils living within three miles of the school but we had 50 applications for these places.

“We have had a request to look at the route again to see if it meets criteria as a dangerous route and an initial assessment should take place in the next couple of months.”