Children from Wilnecote Junior School last week helped launch a revamped police and council campaign to stop parents parking dangerously when they drop their children off at school.

Operation Zig and Zag - which is jointly run by Tamworth Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council and  the police - aims to make the roads around local schools safer by getting the children to patrol the roads nearby.

Street wardens, roads safety officers, PCSOs and councillors went along to the school last week to talk to the children about road safety – as well as enlisting them in Operation Zig and Zag.

The operation will see them patrolling the roads near the school, spotting cars parked on footpaths, zig zags, yellow lines, blocking driveways or parked too close to junctions.

Drivers of the cars identified as posing a hazard with their parking will be given a postcard filled in by the children to warn them of the dangers posed by their parking. The school will keep a log of the number of postcards handed out, so they can check if there has been an improvement as the campaign progresses.

Warnings will be given out on Monday February 27 and Friday March 2, followed by enforcement days on March 5 and 9, when police, PCSOs and civil enforcement officers will be cracking down and fining drivers caught breaking the rules.

Operation Zig and Zag will also be run at Heathfields Infants School in Saxon Close in March, and will continue to be rolled out to all schools across the borough.

At Monday's launch of the scheme, borough and county councillor Lee Bates said: "Inconsiderate parking not only causes congestion on our roads but can also have more.

dangerous side effects by causing accidents or preventing emergency vehicles to get to where they need to go.

"I understand that some people may be in a hurry to drop off their children at school but their safety and that of other road users must by the highest priority."