'Mexican stand-offs' between lorries near a school are putting pupils at risk, a Stoke-on-Trent headteacher says.

St Mary's CE Primary School, in Tunstall, is now effectively 'in the middle of an industrial estate', and headteacher Clare Morton believes traffic calming measures are desperately needed to keep children safe.

A total of 225 people signed a petition calling for Stoke-on-Trent City Council to take action after a seven-year-old was taken to hospital after being hit by a car in November. Ms Morton presented the petition to members of the housing, development and growth scrutiny committee, telling them that despite road safety campaigns and steps to tackle problem parking by parents, 'near misses' were still happening on most days.

And she explained that the presence of businesses such as Tile Mountain and Browns Distribution in the area meant that HGVs frequently used roads near the school, adding to the risk to pupils. Ms Morton said: "For a number of years we have been asking for traffic calming measures. We've found that St Mary's is now in the middle of an industrial estate, so lots of HGVs pass by the school quite regularly throughout the day.

"We've written to Browns and Tile Mountain asking them to not send their lorries around the perimeter of the school during drop off times and picking up times, because we do often find that we get Mexican stand-offs on Ladywell Road. A lorry comes one way, another lorry comes the other way, and neither of them will move, and then somebody has to reverse back up the street where children and parents are crossing. We've got photographs of lorries mounting the kerbs where children are walking, because of a Mexican stand-off."

Clare Morton says there are often 'Mexican stand-offs' between lorries on Ladywell Road (Google).

Ms Morton told the committee that the school ran regular road safety lessons for pupils, and had also taken part in traffic and speed awareness campaigns. Local businesses have paid for a parents' car park on the opposite side of Watergate Street, but the access road to it is in such poor repair that some parents continue to park illegally instead.

Ms Morton added: "Staff regularly go outside and politely ask people to move. Tile Mountain and Johnson Tiles have generously allowed parents to use their car parks, but some parents choose not to do that.

"On most days we have near misses. At least three a week. Drivers will stop to let parents and children cross the road to the car park, but sometimes other drivers will try and overtake them.

"So the only solution I can think of is a pedestrian crossing. We've asked for that for a number of years. But we were told that because there are only two busy periods during the day, that wouldn't be a cost effective use of public money."

Desiree Elliott, cabinet member for education, told the committee that road safety around schools was a priority for the council, but that there were 'limited resources' available for engineering works such as traffic calming. She said: "One of the things we're doing is a full review of road safety around every school. We're looking at all the walk-to-school areas, looking at pinch points and dangerous points, and not just outside schools. We do have problems, and they're the same sort of problems at every school. Primarily they come down to irresponsible parents who choose to break the law, park illegally and make things more dangerous.

"I'm not saying no, but we need to review the priorities of all the schools across the city, and allocate the money accordingly. We have a responsibility to pupils at all the schools in the city."

Ian Tamburello, strategic manager for highways, said officers had already met with the school and carried out a few actions, such as minor road repairs and repainting road markings. He said that the next step would be to consider if traffic calming measures, such as a crossing or junction improvements, would be appropriate.

He said: "It's not an engineering problem in isolation – it's engineering, enforcement and education. We can spend a lot of money on engineering, but if people don't behave, you could be wasting that money."

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