Yet further down the page Sustrans are giving £230k to encourage girls in Scotland to cycle!

If the road is too dangerous to cycle on, then surely the local authority should be taking urgent action to rectify this (presumably in addition to what they have done already).

Or perhaps if fewer pupils were chaffeured to school in 4x4s the road would be safer...

this is disgusting, they don't want kids bringing bikes onto school property and hide behind spurious safety reasons

a painted white bicycle locked round the bollard in front of the heads parking space would be a really irresponsible thing to do wouldn't it.....

I'd have some respect for the schools viewpoint if it then went further and tried to remove the danger - ie reduce the amount of traffic. perhaps the headteacher's family run the local car sales franchise?? At my kids school parents who live less than 1/2 mile away drop kids off in cars, school staff pride themselves on living locally, yet the car park is full and theres lots of staff traffic movement on the school drive at the time kids walk into the school (the entrance is a drive with no pavement and is shared with staff vehicles). I'm not saying the school in question is the same, but treat the cause, not stifle childrens' activity

I've never read such rubbish. If the kid wants to ride and his parents are happy for him to do so they the school should not be taking this stance. Nanny state as always in UK. People can take care of themselves, yes even 11 yr old boys have some common sense, we do not need people who think they have some spower making rules and barking orders based on nothing more than their own opinions! Ridiculous...

How stupid this seems when they could apply for a grant for cycle parking and for BikeRight or similar company to teach kids to ride sefely. Sounds like fear of litigation may be the cause of this sad decision, but surely they would be protected from that if they had all the risk reduction stratgeies in place, including discouraging parents from droping kids off in the car right outside the school, instead requesting those in cars to park a street/block away...

Keep up the good fight Sam! Riding you bike is good - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The government doesnt care about cycling and children cycling to school. It pretends it wants to increase numbers of cycling journeys but then as has happened regulalry decreases all budgets and plans dramatically. It merely uses the promises of greener credentials to get more votes but never actually backs it up with anything substantial.

The CTC will be no help with the schools issue as they are simply interested in increasing numbers without increasing safely.

People drive their kids to school to stop them getting run over by other people driving their kids to school. Sheesh.

I don't see how they can stop him. Why doesn't he just ride & chain it up outside the school. Why is it any business of the school anyway how their puplis arrive? very strange story.

Carry on riding the bike to school, and leave it locked up outside the gates.

And when it inevitbly gets stolen, take the school to court for loss!!

That'll learn them.

He should learn to ride a unicycle, and ride that in instead...

Here's the aerial shot of the school concerned (assuming links are allowed in comments, if not you'll need to look it up yourself):

http://tinyurl.com/ko26nu

Not sure what's considered so dangerous about that road, although the usual parked cars are probably (and ironically) the most dangerous bit. I notice the school has a car park..

maybe the 'dangerous road' they were referring to is the M27....?

@ stephensm. You said:

The CTC will be no help with the schools issue as they are simply interested in increasing numbers without increasing safely.

I dont understand that statement. Could you explain what you mean by that. I say this being a member of the CTC. The CTC provide me with insurance cover. Surely it would be irresponsible for them not being interested in safety and then also provide me with cover wouldnt it.

they provide cover, they may even make money from that service. My comment is specifically related to the fact that they dont advocate the use of helmets as it would put some cyclist off and the number of cyclists would reduce. Therefore they are more interested in cycling numbers than cyclist safety.

stephensm, this link here:

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4688

suggests that the CTC is against *mandatory* helmet wearing, on the grounds that this tends to reduce the number of cyclists, and increased cycling numbers leads to fewer casualties.

I always wear a helmet, but form a public health perspective, I can see that it could be disadvantageous to enforce helmet wearing, for the reasons above...

Just makes me sad, very sad. When I was a kid we all cycled to school. Now I know my kids probably never will. I know the world does has changed, and so it must but we've lost so much

I have the same problem in my school - i have several kids in my class who have asked me if they can cycle on because they have seen me yet the powers that be have said it is "too dangerous" - what happened to common sense. And surely if the parents have given permission then its ok.

This nanny state rubbish drives me crazy.

Keep on fighting Sam!

The ctc view on helmets is that it should be a matter of choice. The number of cyclists being killed by head injuries is extremely low, the chances of being killed by a head injury while travelling in a car is many times greater than cycling. So why do you not wear a helmet when travelling by car?

The school were very cynical. First it was the test. Which sam passed, then the road, which the council redesigned for them and a risk assessment showed was safe, then it was parking so the council offered to help with parking which they refused.

Sam and his parents have been very responsible and mature in their campaigning but maybe a more rebellious approach might have worked.

What they need now is a rally of support from other parents and pupils to back Sam and his parents. I doubt this is a one off case and is likely to be happening country wide. Maybe what they need is a critical mass-type bike ride to the school gates in the morning with Sam riding in the middle of the peleton.

Ok, that might be counter productive, but you get my point?

The critical mass idea is quite a good one, however for it to be really effective it would need to be a critical mass of pupils. Fundamentally the school obviously doesn't want to be bothered, one can only hope that some other pupil in a lower year will want to start cycling at which point the CTC can take up the meeting offer on their behalf and the school will be stuck!

Why does the school care how the kid gets to school? Do they also monitor what children eat for dinner? Too much fat! Too much salt! Chew 14 times before swallowing or you will choke! Wear sensible shoes, children! Don't wear a necklace, it could get caught on a doorknob! No bicycles on this street! Sheesh. Talk about a nanny state.

Let the kid pedal to school and stop trying to raise everyone else's kids. Maybe they should concentrate more on teaching math and literature and less time on governing a child's pedaling habits outside of school.