THE MOTHER of a six-year-old who is still in hospital four weeks after being run over outside his school, has demanded that Redbridge Council enforce its parking restrictions.

Hector Beck suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a car outside Aldersbrook Primary School in Harpenden Road, Wanstead.

Mum Kate, 38, was walking him to school with husband Allen, 49, and four-year-old son Bo, when a driver started reversing.

She said: “We need to make drivers aware of the accidents that can happen if they don’t pay attention when they’re driving near the school.

“The wardens should give out tickets to anyone that parks on the zig-zags. We’re trying to keep our children safe.”

Recalling the crash, she added: “As she started reversing, in the split second before she hit Hector, my husband was banging on her window but it didn’t make any difference.

“It was horrible, and it could have been a lot worse.

“Hector’s doing well, sort of taking it in his stride, but he will have probably missed about 12 weeks of school.”

Last year parents at both Woodford Green Prep School, and at Our Lady of Lourdes Primary school in Wanstead urged the council to crack down on drivers flouting parking restrictions outside schools.

Parents and teachers were meeting at Aldersbrook Primary as the Guardian went to press yesterday (Wednesday) to discuss how road safety outside their school could be improved.

Elizabeth Canavan, 39, of Merlin Road in Wanstead, has three children at the school – Conrad, four, Eva, six, and eight-year-old Flora.

She said: “In the morning it’s a combination of school traffic and the tensions caused with people trying to get to work.

“Some people are not aware that the rules apply to them as much as anyone else.

“Of course it's awful that someone has been injured, but it does highlight that it’s a problem.

A Redbridge Council spokeswoman said: “Unfortunately, the problems are all too common around our schools and are generally the result of poor parental behaviour, many seemingly believing that the parking controls and speed limits do not apply to them.

“Schools will continue to work to raise pupils' awareness around road safety and through them influence parental behaviour, as parents themselves clearly have a very significant part to play in improving the road safety for their children and other pupils.

“Restrictions outside all of our schools are regularly enforced and we are currently looking at ways to strengthen this enforcement to improve compliance and hence road safety in these areas.”