Northamptonshire village school headteacher pleads for 'Liam the parking monitor' to be brought home

Children, teachers and parents at tiny Farthinghoe Primary School are stunned that someone has stolen ‘Liam’ – their ‘no parking’ sign.

The village suffers daily traffic problems as it is on a main road, with HGVs passing every five minutes, so getting children to school is fraught with danger. Getting to school safely has always been a problem.

Liam was a special sign placed to encourage drivers to park considerately, keeping the crossing to the classrooms clear and safe. He was kidnapped on Monday night (October 21).

Head teacher Sharon Turner said: “Someone has has kidnapped Liam, our No Parking sign that stands outside our school. We are absolutely stunned that someone would do this.

“The sign was purchased with money that was donated to us by some Year 6 parents on behalf of their children, a legacy of their time with us, and it cost a considerable amount.

“Over the years we have had all sorts of issues with parking, both from our own parents parking irresponsibly around the school area and disturbing our neighbours but also from the general public, parking across a dropped kerb which serves as a crossing for our children.

“Our school is a very small village school and we have no car park, so parents will park either on the road outside our school or in the village hall car park. This of course, creates challenges when keeping our children safe and inconsiderate parking makes crossing the road even harder,” she said.

“Farthinghoe can, at times, become very congested with lorries and cars trying to get around the narrow bends and bearing in mind our position on the main road, we take our commitment to keeping our children safe very seriously. The sign was brought not only as a safeguard for our children crossing the road, but also as a 'nod' to our local community to show that we recognised the issues around parking and were endeavouring to do something about it.

“The theft of the sign has really shocked the school community. We cannot understand why anyone would want to do this and for what purpose?”

Liam is a metal sign on large, black plastic base that is filled with water. It would present a challenge to anyone wanting to remove him.

"Bearing this in mind I can only assume he was taken deliberately,” said Ms Turner.

“We have reported this crime to the police and I have asked our children to be detectives and keep an eye and ear to the ground to see if we can find him.

"It really is quite baffling! Any help you or your readers may be able to offer would be gratefully received as I am not sure I have the budget to buy another one.”

Anyone who has any information that may help the search for Liam should call Ms Turner on 01295 710406.

In the meantime those parking near the school are asked to be considerate and ensure the crossing area is kept clear.