MIDDLESBROUGH defender Franck Queudrue will go back to school to help fight traffic congestion outside Stockton's school gates.

He will be at Whinstone Primary School to unveil its new weapon against traffic congestion and to help launch Walk to School Week 2002.

Middlesbrough Football Club are backing the Walk to School week and have provided two prizes for pupils across Stockton. One is a class day with the club, while a second child will be selected to be a match day mascot.

Queudrue will join Stockton Borough Council's road safety team to help drive the message home on Monday.

A new cycle and footway, and storage for up to 30 bikes are helping to make the journey to school safer for Whinstone's pupils.

More than 40 primary schools, including 5,000 children, have signed up to take part in the week's events and will be encouraging parents to leave cars at home.

George Callaghan, the council's school travel plan champion, said: "Walk to School Week is a great initiative, and it shows, even if for only a week, what the school run could be like if we all just stopped and thought about why we travel the way we do.

"At some schools more than half the pupils come by car."

"Although parents are doing it with the best intentions it is having a detrimental effect."

"Across the borough schools are increasingly finding their school gates are clogged with parents parking as near as possible to ensure they safely pick up their child.