25 Sep 2026
These shocking photos show the moment a massive lorry mounted the kerb to pull up near children queuing for nursery while the driver checked his delivery details.
The incident occurred on Thursday morning at Fleetville Infant and Nursery School’s entrance in Woodstock Road South, while youngsters and their parents waited outside.
The 26-tonne vehicle, part of a fleet owned by building materials delivery company Travis Perkins, took up much of the pavement, leaving prams struggling to pass.
A parent of a Year 2 child at the school said: “While we appreciate the driver was trying to do his job, his actions showed a complete lack of thought for the welfare and safety of dozens of young children using the road at that time of day.”
Road safety concerns have been an issue in Woodstock Road South for many years, and Fleetville Infants headteacher Jennifer Gardner has urged parents not to use the road for drop-offs or pick-ups in the morning and afternoon because it is a narrow street which becomes very congested.
A spokesperson for Travis Perkins responded to concerns about the incident: “We took this matter extremely seriously and immediately investigated via our HSE business partner and operations director.
“Our managing director and I were briefed on the investigation’s outcomes yesterday by our HSE director and I can now provide you with the following overview.
“After reviewing the onboard vehicle CCTV, we can clearly see from both the front-facing and passenger-side cameras that our driver did not mount the kerb to park while pedestrians were in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle. The pedestrians are clear of the vehicle when this maneuver takes place and the CCTV shows the pedestrians to the front of the vehicle when it is stationary.
“However we do accept that the vehicle’s parking obstructs the path when stationary, restricting other pedestrians walking alongside it on the pavement.
“Upon interviewing the driver, it was explained that our driver had the wrong address for the delivery. He was actually supposed to be delivering on Woodstock North, not South.
“He pulled over to what he presumed was a safe spot while attempting to avoid blocking oncoming traffic on the street. In hindsight, the driver’s assessment of the risk could have been improved and the safer alternative would have been to continue down the road and find another suitable location to park the vehicle. This alternative would have resolved both hazards: blocking the road for other users and restricting the pavement for pedestrians.
“This will be discussed with the driver and the driver will be referred to our training team for further training on Dynamic Risk Assessments and delivery location assessments.
“I want to assure you that Travis Perkins takes the safety of its employees and members of the public very seriously. We have numerous controls in place identified by our delivery risk assessments to avoid delivering near schools and nurseries during peak times, these are adopted in our delivery planning and scheduling system.
“Sadly on this occasion, our driver and vehicle ended up near the nursery at this time due to human error and a poor judgement call. We will take the lessons learned from this incident and see how we can best utilise these in any upcoming driver training or engagement events.”
