NEW FOREST District Council has defended its decision to place two parking wardens outside Bransgore School yesterday morning.

A parent of a Year 4 child said: "I don't understand why they were there, they looked like police officers and parents tend to use the car parks at the Church and the nearby pub to drop off because there is no where else to park."

However, a spokesman for the council said: "We sometimes receive complaints from schools about parking, especially concerning drop off and pick up times.

"We were approached by Bransgore School to attend and assist with people parking illegally during busy times. The school wrote to all parents of the school and advised that we would be attending at some point. We operate a rota system to try and accommodate all the schools in the district and sometimes we do joint patrols with Hampshire Police Safe neighbourhood teams."