The headteacher of a primary school has welcomed new measures to target “thoughtless” parents parking dangerously.

Christine Lamb, headteacher at Mayespark Primary School in Goodmayes Lane, said a single yellow line was being painted outside the school to ban parking at the start and end of the school day.

The news comes following a heated debate at last month’s local forum in which neighbours of the school hit out at “inconsiderate” parents blocking their driveways.

Mrs Lamb said: “Over the years there have been regular letters home to parents, asking them to respect the local residents to the school and to park considerately.

“It is a minority of parents who are acting inconsiderately who are impacting other parents as well as our local residents.

“I am concerned that the congestion caused by the parking may also result in an injury to one of our pupils, as Trenance Gardens is a particularly narrow road and Goodmayes Lane carries a large amount of traffic.”

She said previous efforts to curb the problem included children producing a pamphlet asking parents to drive carefully and think about where they park.

Another group of pupils completed a study into the effects of parents leaving their car engines running while dropping children off, producing posters about the problems of pollution.

A meeting was also organised with the Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team identifying what the school and residents could do within the law, such as photographing cars parking across driveways and keeping a log of incidents.

Mrs Lamb said she wanted parents to “understand the direct impact of the thoughtless parking of a minority of parents on others”.

The school is also planning to launch a walk to school promotion for the summer term.

A local forum at Parkside Community Centre in Goodmayes in March heard residents were “suffering” due to parents’ parking.

Council leader Cllr Jas Athwal told the meeting the authority had been running a trial to target problem parents at a number of schools across Redbridge.

“What we want to do is roll out a scheme across the borough where residents can sign up with the council, so if anybody parked in your driveway or in front of your driveway can automatically be ticketed,” he said.

“At the moment the council has to have your permission to issue a ticket.

“It would be foolish for us to do that 24/7. Perhaps we need to do it around 8.30am to 9.30am, the school opening times, and around 3pm to 4pm. It’s something we are working towards.”

Cllr Athwal said any extra money made from the scheme could go towards fixing potholes and other highways improvements.