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My children attend west end and they did involve the police once , if my memory serves it was last year, the police did attend the area on a morning drop off time and after school for around 10 mins, they did hand out a few tickets, and came for a few nights in a row but then nothing ! So its back to normal.. yesterday the cars were parked outside westend from the barriers on the left leading right to the entrance for the red lion carpark (including the actual end of the path) so us with pushchairs where barred in and couldnt leave the footpath without cutting up the hill on the grass verge and crossing there. And may i say, two police cars passed this parking, with two being on double yellow lines and the pavement being completely barred if you had been crossing from the redlion side to head for the schools...did they stop and move them on or ticket them? Of course not! Bedlington needs traffic wardens !! This would put a stop to all the stupidness , when the wheel clamping business was operating in the red lion carpark ... after the first clamping, nobody dared park in it again at school run time !!!

Okay here goes.... Narrowly missed out on a second hand Nikon D60 body with kit lens the start of this year for £260 as the guy was upgrading to the D90. Anyway spent the money elsewhere. Now Im torn between a few things and a bit if advice is on the cards. I'm definitely going DSLR as I already have a point and shoot which gets taken out and about most places. I was offered the second hand body of the Canon 500D but not sure what is happening on this. We have since booked a holiday to Florida and we're not sure what the prices are like for electronics over there. We want a camera for going away but would like to know if it is worth getting one before we go or take the money and get it over there and more for our money?? Been looking at the D60's, D90's a bit steep for our price range and been looking at the same spec alternatives but not too sure what to go for.

Merlin, I'll be honest and say i was expecting a reply that would not help the conversation at all there, so thank you for your serious reply. (at least a quirk on abusing entrances that were intended for one way traffic!) I find that absolutely disgraceful. Anyone with a concern put in writing should have at least had a reply! The fact the one way system is on technical "Private Property" within the school grounds leaves less room for action than usual. Does anyone know what the escalation procedure is in this case? Surely there is someone higher up the ladder who can shed some light on the subject? At the very least, the police could be involved with the double parking. A school in Newsham, Blyth got the police involved when parents were inconsiderately parking outside their school, and this resulted in a police presence at school opening and closing times, issuing tickets for those who were inconsiderately parking, for a good few weeks. These measures are still checked on a regular basis, at random, so no-one dares chance it now. Perhaps an answer may be achieved by going down that route?

Malcolm, I was aware of the proposal of yellow lines, but what is the point! Nobody polices the one way system so who is going to bother policing the yellow lines? Residents only park on one side of the entrance, not causing any problems, the only thing concerning the cooncil was the access for the school buses. I proposed yellow lines on the right hand side as you go in, to stop parents double parking, also signs to the back streets for resident parking only. But as you say the yellow lines will appear regardless, just another ill conceived idea by somebody trying to justify their job! Mr Darn countless letters by residents have been sent to the schools concerned, they do not honour any of them with a reply. The main culprits abusing the one way system are the teachers, even a personal visit by yours truly resulted in achieving absolutely nothing they were just not bothered! An accident waiting to happen!