UTTOXETER'S largest school has introduced earlier start times for students to prevent disturbances in the town centre.

Staff at Thomas Alleyne's High School received complaints about teenagers who were accused of blocking the road and dropping litter as they walked to the Dove Bank school each morning.

Angry shopkeepers and workers claimed delivery vehicles had difficulty getting down the High Street as scores of youngsters walked in the road.

Now staff at the school, which has more than 1,400 pupils, have set new starting and finishing times to try to solve the problems.

Denise Crocker, director of finance and administration at Thomas Alleyne's, said: "We have changed the times of our school day since September.

"School now starts at 8.40am rather than 9am, with an earlier finish at 3.05pm.

"The school buses were often here early and students had free time to spend in town.

"We had fairly frequent complaints of disturbances. A full consultation with all parties involved was undertaken last year in accordance with Local Education Authority guidelines.

"The effect of the change has been definitely positive and we have been very encouraged by the feedback.

"Students now have less time to spend in town in a morning and most come straight into school.

"Senior staff are patrolling town each morning to encourage stragglers into school.

"Hopefully disturbance is now kept to a minimum.

"The earlier finish also allows more time for after school activities in line with the Government's extended schools initiative."

The school has also started an electronic system of registering students in every lesson – so absence is more closely monitored and truancy is quickly evident and acted on promptly.

Margaret Walsh, who runs the flower shop Emilie Duclos in The Maltings, welcomed the school's decision to change the start times.

She said: "It's absolutely brilliant. It's so much better. There are no children hanging about now when we open in the mornings.

"We thought it was going to be introduced a bit earlier than this, but now it has been it seems to be working."

Another business in The Maltings, who declined to be named, said: "I have noticed that it's a lot quieter when we open in the mornings.

"We did get customers complaining about pupils being in the way, but we have not had any since the school started earlier in the morning."

But Tony Chatfield, who is caretaker at Uttoxeter Town Hall, who has had to remove rubbish from outside the building after the teenagers move on, is not convinced the new arrangements work.

He said: "There are still gangs of them up and down here first thing in the morning.

"I haven't really noticed any real difference."