Cheshire West and Chester Councillor Gillian Edwards along with Julie Chrimes – Parish Clerk asked if Colas could help Sandiway Primary School to make the car park safer for their pupils. This is a village car park that is used by the general public as well as parents dropping off their children at school.
There is a 1 way in and 1 way out system, but people often use the exit as an entrance which isn’t safe, they also have problems with people parking on a kerb leaving less safe walking space for the children going to school.
L&R Roadlines who are part of our supply chain made some amazing improvements. They replaced some old floor signs and added 2 new designated walkways. One at the entrance to the school which now gives a clear designated walkway so that the children have a safe way to enter the school, the other which leads from 1 car park to another and gives them a safe walking area.
L&R Roadlines engineering company Somerford Equipment manufactured and installed posts to prevent unauthorised parking on the footpath.
This was all completed during Road Safety Week.
On the day of the big reveal, Colas took a flatbed and a Cheshire West and Chester gritter to the school. They let the children get in and out of the vehicles so that they could learn about blind spots and see what the driver can see from his windows and mirrors. After this, the children understood the dangers of crossing the road behind or in front of a large vehicle.
The children came out in groups with teachers and in the end, the whole school came out. There were lots of excited squeals, they had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed honking the horns.
FEEDBACK RECEIVED FROM THE HEADTEACHER AT SANDIWAY PRIMARY SCHOOL
In November the pupils of Sandiway Primary received a special invite to come along and see the new special road markings and posts that have just been installed by L&R Roadlines in our village car park.
We are extremely grateful as this will hugely benefit the safety of our pupils and families especially during very busy times at the start and the end of the school day.
The whole school were also treated to a live road safety presentation where all pupils sat in the road gritter and the wagon.
We learnt how important it was to make sure we don’t stand behind vehicles when crossing a road, to always listen out for the reversal beep and to wear high vis clothing to make sure you are seen in the dark.
The pupils were all thrilled to sit in the vehicles and it really brought our learning to life for Road Safety Week. A huge thank you to Gill Carr from Colas for organising the event and to our local Councillor Gillian Edwards for supporting this venture.
FEEDBACK FROM L&R ROADLINES
We were approached by Colas to assist help assist Sandiway Primary School in making a “Safer Route “in and around the entrance and car park. Our director Mark Oakes assessed the site and agreed to instal new markings to the footway and extended to the school gates, he also asked for assistance from our sister company Somerford equipment to provide and instal reflective marker posts to prevent cars parking on the footways, it has resulted in a safer cleaner area for the children and parents on the dark winter mornings and nights.
FEEDBACK FROM GILL CARR, COLAS
Colas would like to thank Mark Oakes and the team from L&R Roadlines and Somerford Equipment for their support making the school and village car park a much safer place for the pupils of Sandiway Primary School. This is supply chain collaboration at is best!!
The Parish Council would like to thank Colas, L&R Roadlines and Somerford equipment, especially Mark Oaks and Gill Carr for their generous support in helping the village be a safer place to all residents.