A head teacher has slammed a decision to slap his school minibus with parking ticket after the vehicle was forced to park outside of a coach bay in Faversham.

Children from Eastling School were swimming at Faversham Pools in Leslie Smith Drive when their transport was fined £25 for not following parking rules.

The 17-seater bus was forced to park alongside the coach bays as they were full.

Coach bays are free to the school and so teachers failed to get a ticket.

Head teacher David Walsh’s said the school made every effort to explain the parking – even leaving a note on the windscreen to tell traffic wardens why they had been forced to flout the rules due to a lack of spaces.

Mr Walsh, who has been in charge at the Kettle Hill Road school for 12 years, said: “As the coach bays were full they parked alongside in a bay, leaving a clear message for traffic wardens while children were engaged in this healthy activity.

“Unfortunately, such safe parking is frowned upon by Swale Borough Council who promptly ticketed the minibus.

“It is a real shame. At first I thought they must have made a mistake. It is just taking money from one council department to another.

“The parking department has now deprived the children of money set aside for their education.”

The six and seven-year-olds were shocked to return from their regular swim to find the fine on the windscreen.

A second minibus, which had been moved by the school when a free bay became available just 10 minutes before, escaped without a fine.

Despite appealing, the school, which has been using the pool for 12 years, will have to cough up the cash: “Fining one department for parking safely while engaging in educational activities seems to show a certain lack of flexibility of approach in the council, especially when it is encouraging schools to promote the health benefits of weight loss and exercise,” Mr Walsh added.

He said he hoped that the council would use the money to provide enough parking bays for the increasing number of vehicles visiting the town.