CHILDREN have been put in danger by vans blocking the pavement outside a popular shop, it has been claimed.

And a meeting heard there was little that parking wardens could do about the parking outside the watersports shop H20 in Lower Parkstone.

The shop has insisted the problems were short-term while building work was going on and have been sorted out.

The issue was raised by Peter Steer, secretary of the Parkstone Bay Association, who said there had been six vans one morning on the pavement outside the shop in Salterns Road, forcing a mother with a pushchair to walk in the road.

“This is one of the main routes to school for children,” he told Poole council’s Newtown and Parkstone area committee.

“We were hoping you could come up with some solution before one of the kids gets run over by one of these vans. We’ve got a wide pavement which is serving as a lovely parking area for vans.

“Everybody who goes in that shop parks on the pavement. The kids are going to school and they’re walking through these vans and it’s dangerous.”

Parkstone councillor Ann Stribley said parking wardens would not be able to issue tickets because the pavement was next to a pedestrian crossing’s zig-zags rather than double yellow lines.

“If there are double yellow lines, you can’t park on the footpath because the double yellow lines take effect right to the back of the footpath,” she said.

“The trouble is, that doesn’t apply when you’ve got a pedestrian zig-zag.

“Because they’re on a footpath by a zigzag, the wardens are constrained from issuing a ticket.”

Shop owner James Hewitt told the Daily Echo afterwards: “We’re rebuilding the whole shop and putting in a coffee shop.”

He said the three months of work was coming to an end.

“We did try and make all the builders park around the corner but we had fork lift trucks and cranes being delivered,” he said.

“We have apologised to a few people who contacted us.”

Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services at the Borough of Poole, saidin a statement: “We are aware of the concerns being raised about pavement parking here and will endeavour to provide the appropriate level of enforcement.

“We are also looking at whether any further parking restrictions might be necessary.”