Gabbinbar State School parents are petitioning the council and state government to increase the current car parking capacity.

Council issued hundreds of dollars’ worth of fines to parents who parked on the Stenner Street nature strip, east of Mackenzie Street, in August while they collected their children from school.

School Mum Lisa Booth noted drivers were allowed to angle park on the nature strip in front of the

Stenner Street bike park which was a mere 170 metres away.

“We are hoping Council could sign this nature strip to allow parents to angle park there on weekday afternoons,” Ms Booth said.

“We would like to appeal to the Council’s common sense and understanding of the difficulties of school pick-up – we are there 10 to 15 minutes at most,” she said.

“We are not hoons. We are not skylarking. We are not revving our vehicles. We park there because it is the safest option as children leaving school can cross safely with the lollipop attendant and then walk directly to their parents’ cars without needing to cross another busy road.”

The current 54-space car park across from Gabbinbar State School on Mackenzie Street quickly reaches capacity in the afternoons. About 350 children attend Gabbinbar.

Member for Toowoomba South David Janetzki MP is lobbying alongside parents to address their safety concerns.

“I have written to council urging them to expand the current car park on Mackenzie Street which is the logical solution as the land is not privately owned and has been mostly cleared for a previous road,” Mr Janetzki said.

“I am also lobbying the Transport Ministers as an expansion will improve the safety of students, parents and staff at Gabbinbar State School,” he said.

Ms Booth said she and many other parents had been parking on the Stenner Street nature strip for the past few years before council fined them, despite the absence of ‘no parking’ signs.

“We have the concerning issue of driver safety with the entry and exit of the current car park on Mackenzie Street,” Ms Booth said.

“There is a bottleneck situation with cars exiting the car park as it is near impossible to turn left without swinging out into oncoming traffic,” she said.

“There was one afternoon where a ute’s cargo hit a Translink bus. It is only a matter of time before an accident happens.”

Ms Booth has created an online petition which can be signed here: https://www.change.org/p/gabbinbar-triangle-park-car-parking-improvements-for-local-gabbinbar-state-school-safety