Parents in a rush to get their children to school are crashing into parked cars and causing mayhem in a small residential street, it has been claimed.

Alan Dawson, who lives near St Nicholas Primary School in Raymund Road in Marston, Oxford, woke up recently to find that a bumper and wing mirror had been knocked off his car.

Mr Dawson said it was the third time his vehicle had been damaged since he moved into his shared house just over a year ago, and he said his housemates and neighbours had all had similar problems.

The 28-year-old said: "We have had endless accidents with speeding parents dropping their kids off for school.

"I came out of the house this morning because I could hear the car alarm going off and the bumper was all cracked and dented, the side was scratched, the indicator was hanging off and the trim was on the floor.

"It is because the parents are going down there in a rush. It is happening every day.

"It is a small road and they are trying to get 50 cars down there and then reversing out.

"Some of them leave their cars on the path, two wheels on, two wheels off, and drop their kids off in the school.

"Others leave their cars in the middle of the road with the hazard lights on, and run into the school."

He added: "We have written to the school and they said they would make the parents aware, but they haven't."

A spokesman for the school said the headteacher, Sarah Willows, had talked to Mr Dawson and other residents at length about the problem. They have also discussed the problem with parents.

Rachel Gover, Oxfordshire County Council's travel plans development manager, said: "It is not uncommon for school neighbours to have concerns about the consequences for them of traffic congestion and related matters at the beginning and end of the school day.

"The county council collectively and schools individually do all they can to alleviate any difficulties caused.

"Individual schools use their best endeavours to encourage safe and responsible car use when dropping children off and picking them up."

Ms Gover said the general policy of both schools and the council was to encourage parents and pupils to walk, cycle, bus or car share to school.

Oxfordshire County Council, which encourages schools to develop travel plans, is committed to reducing the number of children travelling to school by 4,000 by the year 2011.

Ms Gover added: "We have not been made aware of any particular problems in relation to Raymund road.

"The county council's Travel Plans team will be in touch with the school in the New Year and will be able to look at these concerns then."