Schools install parking spaces for scooters (From Witney Gazette)

Schools install parking spaces for scooters

9:18am Friday 24th November 2006 in Witney

FORGET the bus, more and more children are using 'push power' to get to school in style on today's latest must-have accessory - the scooter.

The two-wheeled, foot-operated vehicle is back in fashion, with many pupils opting to scoot to school, instead of travelling by car or bus.

And in a bid to meet demand for the increase in popularity, eight schools in Oxfordshire have installed dedicated parking spaces for the scooters.

They include St John the Evangelist, Carterton; Eynsham Community Primary School, Eynsham; St Swithun's Primary School, Kennington, in Oxford; Wheatley Primary School, Wheatley; Manor School, Didcot; RAF Benson Community Primary School, Benson; Faringdon Junior School, Faringdon; and North Kidlington Primary School, Kidlington.

Six of the schools have ten spaces for scooters, St Swithun's has 20, and Faringdon Junior School has 40.

By early next year, 200 new scooter parking places will have been installed in schools run by Oxfordshire County Council, funded by the Better Ways to School programme.

Jill Evans, headteacher at St Swithun's, said scooting had really taken off - and the parking spaces meant parents no longer had to take their children's scooters home in between lessons.

She said: "Scooters have come back into fashion, and are really trendy."

Faringdon Junior School headteacher, Paul Turner, said: "Coming to school on a scooter gets children into good habits about travelling short distances, without relying on polluting cars."