Town plans public alcohol ban to stop parents drinking while taking their children to school

Parents are dropping their children off at a ­primary school while swigging from cans of ­super-strength lager and bottles of alcopops. Some have even tried to enter classrooms to talk to teachers clutching their child in one hand and alcohol in the other.

Then at going-home time parents who have spent the day binge-drinking congregate at the gates of ­Doncaster Road Primary in Barnsley, South ­Yorkshire, to collect their children.

The problem is so bad that police have now applied for a 24-hour ­drinking ban to cover the 246‑pupil school and surrounding streets.



School support worker Lisa Hutton said: “I’ve often had to ask parents not to bring alcohol into school which has resulted in it being left on the wall outside. This makes it increasingly difficult for us to educate the children about the dangers of alcohol as they assume it is OK to drink excessively and on the streets.”

Arthur Mitchell, chairman of the school ­governors, said: “It is both dads and mums. I’ve seen them drinking from cans as early as 8.30am outside the school and then again in the afternoon as they pick up their kids.”

Barnsley’s Central Neighbourhood Team have applied for a ban on public drinking on Doncaster Road and the surrounding streets and parks. The council’s licensing board will decide on the request next week. Drinkers who flout any ban could faces fines of up to £500.