CHILDREN'S lives are being put at risk by the volume of traffic on a busy village road during peak school times, a councillor says.

Ian Mclennan said Church Road in Laverstock was "fraught with danger", with "reckless speedsters" among the problem.

Residents have asked him if anything can be done to slow the traffic.

Police have told him they would increase patrols at peak times, and that the road will be considered for a speed trap.

Cllr Mclennan, who represents Laverstock, Ford and Old Sarum on Wiltshire Council, said parents arrived very early to pick up their children so they could wait in the spaces right outside the schools.

Parked cars force traffic travelling in both directions into the opposite lane, he said, with some mounting the pavement.

The blocked pavements then force children and other pedestrians into the road.

The manager of the nearby One Stop, Wendy Parfett, said: "Only stopping the parents parking on the side of the road will stop the congestion happening.

"Customers come in and say it has been a nightmare, but that is just the way it is, and I cannot see where else they could park."

Karen Andrews, who teaches at St Andrew's said that the whole road was "parking hell".

A proposal to ease the congestion by switching the school traffic from Laverstock to the Park & Ride on London Road, half a mile away, has been discussed, and St Joseph's and St Edmund's have both agreed to spend £1,250 on a pilot scheme that would change school travel habits.

Details of the plan are not yet available.