A father has accused council staff of flouting parking rules outside a school after catching vehicles parked in a restricted zone.

Daniel Newman, of Burrow Road in Folkestone, has complained to Shepway District Council (SDC) after he saw a tipper truck parking across yellow ‘keep clear’ lines outside St Mary’s Primary Academy in Warren Road.

His two children Tommy and Mia attend the academy, and he said the school “pleads” with parents not to park there, so when he saw the council trucker do just that, he went to complain.

Mr Newman said: “If this was anyone else caught parking here they would be given a fine.

“How can SDC enforce parking when their staff flout these regulations and park illegally?

“There has been a continuous problem of people parking on the yellow keep clear signs outside the school and it is eventually going to lead to either a child getting knocked over and injured or even killed.”

It was first reported to SDC on Wednesday, October 5, where Mr Newman posted a picture to the authority’s Facebook page.

It has been confirmed that the truck parked in the same spot on two occasions.

The first response from the council on social media said: “The crews have been spoken to and will be off site in future avoiding school drop-off and finishing times.”

In an official statement, SDC said: “Our investigations have revealed that, on two occasions, staff have parked council vehicles in a restricted parking area outside St Mary’s School.

“We have instructed the staff not to park in this area again.

“If the staff do not follow these instructions we will take appropriate further action.

“Enforcing parking restrictions outside school during drop off and pick up times is important.

“We are unable to patrol every school every day, but we have agreed to increase our patrols outside St Mary’s School and we currently patrol this area at least three times a week.”

The chief executive officer at the school John Bird said: “I fully support the sentiments of the parent actions and am grateful for the concern.

“We always endeavour to make direct contact with offenders and we certainly expect public employees to set a good example.

“I am delighted to learn that there will be more patrols ensuring safe parking.”