PARENTS are campaigning for a Woodley street to be renamed, to save them hassle on the school run.
They say that their children are scared to walk along Comet Way to get to their classes – and it’s all down to Tiger Close.
Aprilie Prost wants Wokingham District Council to change the name to Tiger Far Away, to ensure that her five-year-old daughter, Gluma, starts the school in the right way.
“Every morning we have to walk along Comet Way to get to her school, where she is in reception. She always drags her feet and starts crying as we get close to Tiger Close – she really does believe that it is a warning sign and a tiger is waiting to eat her.
“I guess we shouldn’t have let her watch the Tiger King documentary series on Netflix, or read her Stephen King’s horror story Here There Be Tygers as a bedtime tale, but it is clearly the council’s fault for not thinking about how these streets are named.
“Renaming the close as Tiger Far Away will make it easier for me to reassure Gluma that there are no tigers close by.”
While streets in the Sandford development have a connection with aviation, including Spitfire Way, and Hurricane Way, which are named after planes, others are not quite so obvious.
Some are named after aviation heroes after a flying school was established on the site in the 1930s. Famous names who used it include Charles Lindbergh and Amy Johnson, while the Miles Aircraft firm produced planes such as the Miles Hawk.
And in 1953, Douglas Bader – for whom The Bader Way is named after – opened Coronation Hall, which replaced an army hut that had been used as a village hall since 1919.
Mrs Prost says that other parents at her daughter’s school, which we are not naming, share the same concerns.
“One read The Tiger Who Came To Tea and their son is now petrified that they will be eaten out of house and home if the tiger in Tiger Close follows them home,” she said.
“Another has been reducing their children’s sugar intake by stopping buying Frosties, but every time they walk past the children expect to see Tony The Tiger. It’s not grrrreeat, it’s a nightmare.
“The council has to take action immediately – won’t someone think of the children?”
A spokesperson for Wokingham District Council said: “We would like to reassure Mrs Prost and other parents that there are no tigers on the loose in Woodley, or indeed any other part of the borough.
“We haven’t even seen the Wokingham Wildcat since 2003, and as far as we know Bigfoot doesn’t live in Dinton Pastures either.”
Ms Prost declined to pose for a photo by the sign, saying it would freak her daughter out.
She said: “I keep telling her I will be safe, but she finds the whole thing unbelievable”.
