INCONSIDERATE parking by parents delayed an ambulance trying to reach a man having a heart attack at a Bournemouth school.

The grandfather of a pupil at Stourfield Junior School collapsed in the school car park on Friday afternoon while the site manager gave the man first aid and an ambulance was called. But it had problems reaching the casualty because of the way parents had parked.

Assistant head teacher Veena Burgess said: "The ambulance came to the front of the school but it could not get into the car park because of the way parents had parked.

"Fortunately the ambulance did manage to get through in the end and revived the man."

Yesterday morning he was in a critical condition in Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

Mrs Burgess explained that there had been another incident outside the school in October while the children were being dropped off when a parent was hit by a car just outside the school gates.

She said: "The parent was hurt and needed to be treated at hospital. It took up a lot of time because the police and ambulance came to the school.

"We do send out sternly worded letters asking parents to be careful and park properly but it does not seem to make any difference.

"When the police come here they get abuse from parents."

The school has a large car park which has recently been redesigned and there is ample parking for parents there.

The Daily Echo visited the school yesterday to investigate the parking problems.

One parent parked on double yellow lines outside Stourfield Infant School in Cranleigh Road asked if we were going to give her a ticket.

When she heard we were from the Daily Echo and not traffic wardens she said "that's OK" and left her car dangerously parked near a junction while she walked her child into school.

Another person parked on the zigzags outside the infant school right outside the school gates to drop a child off.

Outside Stourfield Junior School we saw five parents parked on double yellow lines in Stourvale Road opposite the school entrance.

And opposite Stourfield Infant School five parents parked on double yellow lines and a further eight parked in Lingdale Road on double-yellow lines.