Northampton school children '˜forced to be dropped off in the main road' as bus causes traffic backlog

A concerned resident has expressed his anger at a 'thoughtless and increasingly dangerous situation' caused by a bus driver outside a Northampton primary school.
Spinney Hill Road was left stationary on Wednesday, November 2Spinney Hill Road was left stationary on Wednesday, November 2
Spinney Hill Road was left stationary on Wednesday, November 2

Spinney Hill Road was left stationary as the school gates opened when a double-decker Stagecoach bus blocked the main road and caused a traffic backlog in the surrounding streets.

The incident took place on Wednesday, November 2 at 8.36am.

Witness Jason Scott told the Chronicle & Echo: “The traffic was busy as usual during the school opening times and car drivers often negotiate a bottleneck outside Parklands Primary School on a regular basis, caused by vehicles parked on either side of the road.

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“Unfortunately, courtesy and foresight were missing from the Stagecoach driver who could see that cars were finding it difficult to negotiate the waiting cars at the end of the bottleneck and despite this, proceeded in the knowledge he would block the road.”

“This is not an isolated incident of bad judgement. Often, buses and coaches charge up the road, forcing cars and pedestrians out of their way, using their size to push and threaten. On occasion, they ignore the school crossing completely.

“In this instance, the waiting line of traffic had to reverse to make room for the bus, but not before a substantial wait forced children to be dropped off in the road to avoid being late.”

Chris Child, marketing manager for Stagecoach Midlands said: “Parking around Spinney Hill Road has been an issue for some time with cars lining both sides of the road, thereby effectively turning two lanes of traffic into a single lane, which is periodically compounded by inappropriate parking. Unless parking restrictions are implemented then all drivers will need to maintain a courteous relationship around this area.

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“The safety of passengers, pedestrians and other road users is of the utmost importance to us and our drivers undertake extensive training. If we identify any specific cases where a drivers behaviour fall short then we will investigate and take appropriate action.