PARENTS parking in the wrong place outside a Darlington school are putting children's lives at risk, they were warned yesterday.

A community safety meeting in the town was told that pupils leaving St Teresa's RC Primary School, in Harris Street, were in danger because of people parking in prohibited areas, as well as the volume and speed of traffic.

Resident Sidney Wigham said drivers were using the street as a rat run to avoid the traffic lights in Yarm Road.

"I have seen a man coming along the road on a motorbike doing a wheelie at 60 miles an hour," he said.

"There is nothing to stop children running out."

Councillor Lee Vasey said the problem was compounded by parents parking inappropriately when collecting their children and obscuring the view for pedestrians and drivers.

"We don't want an accident there but at the moment it seems as though it's just waiting to happen," he said.

PC Andy Gore, of Darlington police, told the meeting in Firthmoor that the area was not an accident blackspot. But he said traffic calming did need to be introduced.

It was agreed to ask Darlington Borough Council to impose a 20mph limit and install speed ramps in Harris Street.

Headteacher Edward Robinson told The Northern Echo that he was concerned about the dangers.

"The problem is the school was built in 1958 and this road was not meant for the volume of traffic which now uses it," he said.

"The big concern is home time, when inconsiderate parking by parents is compounded by the fact that we have a bus coming along the street. We have had two minor accidents, but my major fear is that we will have another. What we need is community wardens out issuing parking tickets."

A council spokesman said: "We have not had any complaints from residents about speeding traffic in that area.

"But we do have a programme of Safer Routes to Schools, where we monitor the traffic outside all our schools and if residents make a request we will look at it."