Parking meter to be moved to protect dancing schoolgirls from Peeping Toms

Bristol city council will move a parking meter, installed as part of a residents' parking zone scheme, after claims it could be used as an excuse to spy on schoolgirls. Owners of Bristol School of Dance said the machine for the new Clifton Village scheme had been placed too close to its front door. Felicity Redgrave, 57, claimed it could attract voyeurs who would be able to peek into the school or watch dancers leaving class.



Ms Redgrave, who runs the school with her 97-year-old mother, said the new meter was insensitively placed. She claimed it spoiled the look of the historic 1890s building, was impeding pupils' safe exit and preventing workmen re-pointing the wall. But she added: "And finally, a subject that no one wants to talk about is the danger of people who take delight in looking at children. I will not use the 'P' word but we all know that these people are around and indeed in Clifton.

"What better opportunity to purport to be paying for a parking ticket that enables someone to come so close to the building that they are practically inside. Children who learn to dance often leave the school in the warmer months dressed in not very much, a leotard for example. It makes our blood run cold at the thought that anyone can now stand so close to the school entrance and see inside the changing room but cover themselves by saying they are using the parking machine."



A council spokesman said: "We try to select locations that ensure the machine is as convenient as possible for people parking within the bays. In the majority of cases, we have achieved a satisfactory location without having an unnecessary impact on street scene. However, in an area of this scale, we would anticipate that some machines will not be ideally located at the first attempt. We have reviewed this specific location and agree that the machine could be relocated so that it is not directly outside the building, and we will rectify this as soon as we can."