PARENTS will be fined if they fail to park responsibly outside schools.

A major campaign has been launched to improve road safety outside schools across Hartlepool.

It aims to persuade motorists, particularly parents and carers, to park more considerately through enforcement and education.

Parking enforcement officers will patrol schools across the town and hand out fines for people who do not park safely.

Joanne Taylor, Hartlepool Borough Council's travel plan assistant, said: "The twin-track approach is the result of feedback we have received directly from schools.

"There are currently 23 schools that have travel plans - blueprints for promoting alternatives to the car - and established school travel working groups, and schools have requested specific enforcement action to complement the work they have already undertaken.

"Over the course of the current academic year, we expect all 23 schools to participate in the campaign.

"We hope that motorists will voluntarily adopt good parking habits, but we are serving notice on those who don't, that they run the risk of receiving a fixed-penalty notice fine."

As part of the campaign, parking enforcement officers from the council, which is now responsible for dealing with all yellow-line parking, visit schools to give pupils an opportunity to ask questions and discuss issues about unsafe parking.

Targeted enforcement then takes place outside schools on specific dates.

The first school to get involved in the campaign was St Helen's Primary School, which recently launched a safe parking charter.

Parents and carers are being asked to sign up to the charter as a demonstration of their intent to park considerately at all times.

This announcement follows a report to the council in February, recommending a 20mph limit pilot scheme outside of the town's schools.

The recommendation came from the council's neighbourhood services scrutiny forum after figures revealed that six children have been injured in the past three years, during school hours.

In March, formal approval was given for a 20mph limit outside Clavering Primary School.

Councillor Robbie Payne, culture, housing and transportation cabinet member, said: "The safety of schoolchildren across the town is paramount."