Pupils promote walking

Thousands of children in Telford have started a campaign to highlight the harm caused by the notorious "school run".

They marked the start of national Walk to School Week by saying goodbye to cars and walking to lessons instead.

Among them were pupils from Newport High School, who used an inflatable globe to represent the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by parents driving their children to and from school daily.

The youngsters have calculated the school run across Telford produces 2,803 such globes of carbon dioxide every day.

They have formed a committee to promote walking to school and pupils who walk are being entered into a prize draw. Some 14,500 children from the Telford area are doing activities in Walk to School Week.

They are joining two million children across the country to show how they can take steps - literally - to save the planet.

David Morgan, Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman, said the school run was one of the worst offenders for polluting the atmosphere.

"It's those short, stop-start journeys with cold engines - which are the most polluting - pumping out carbon monoxide," he said