PARENTS whose children attend a special school are urging a council to let them use a road reserved for buses and bikes.

They claim their journey to Holmwood School, in Easterside, Middlesbrough, is a nightmare each morning because the main road into the estate, Broadwell Avenue, can only be used by bikes and buses. Parents in cars have to take a lengthy detour to get their children to school.

Angela Tehrani, 38, whose seven-year-old son Bobby attends Holmwood, is leading the campaign to have access granted for parents before the start of the new school term.

She said: "Mornings are a nightmare for people who have special needs children anyway. Just getting them ready and out of the house is a hurdle in itself.

"This road is adding, sometimes 25 minutes, to my journey. I have to go right round the estate to get into the school and on a morning the traffic is horrendous. We understand why the council stopped people using it, but the road should at least be open to people going to the special school."

Almost 200 people have signed a petition and Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, has given his support.

Councillor Ron Lowes, the authority's executive member for the environment, has asked council engineers to look into the situation.

"The idea was to stop people cutting through Easterside estate, because it was becoming a bit of a rat run, but obviously it needs to be looked at again."