Academy becomes first in country to give parking ticket powers to parents

A school in Thurrock has become the first in the country to be given the power to issue parking fines.

From this week, a parent volunteer will begin patrolling the streets around Tilbury Pioneer Academy where there have been growing problems of the roads being clogged by parked cars.

The scheme will be trialled this month at Tilbury Pioneer Academy in the hope that it can be rolled out across other borough schools.

The idea came from Councillor Jane Pothecary who is in charge of public protection.

All schools in the borough were invited to take part in the trial but Tilbury Pioneer Academy was the only school able to take up the offer.

Up until the scheme was suggested, Thurrock's small team of school traffic officers were thinly spread across the borough.

Dan George, Headteacher of Tilbury Pioneer Academy explained that full training has already been given to a parent volunteer: