PRIMARY school pupils are being confronted with the aftermath of drug dealing, laughing gas and cannabis next to their schools.

Parents on the school run have complained about having to explain to their children what is happening in car parks such as Deepdene, Basildon with the problem becoming so commonplace.

Sam Williams, 49, a close relative of one of the residents, said: “It is getting out of hand - it’s been going on for months.

“The residents are fed up with the drug taking, the rubbish left behind and the noise being made each night by these youngsters.

“They go and meet up in their cars. Some of the residents are too scared to go out now because of it.

“I want to make others aware of what’s going on - it’s terrible.

“There are cannabis joints on the floor.

“I have spoken with some of the mums from Kingswood Primary who say they often see cars pull up and leave which looks like obvious drug dealing, and the smell of weed just pours out when they open their car doors.

“Then they have to walk past all these cannisters with their kids and explain what they are - and you know how inquisitive kids can be.

“The elderly people that live around here are worried because they don’t know what these cannisters are or what they are for.

“I just want a happy, and safe environment, especially for the mums picking up kids from school.

“These things can’t be good for the wildlife or the environment either.”

Councillor Kerry Smith, deputy leader of Basildon Council, has written to the district’s police commander for Basildon.

He told the Echo: “What my concern is, apart from anti social behaviour and littering, are they safe to drive a car.

“How can they be fit to drive if they are as high as a kite.

“They could kill someone, and that’s on their conscience.

“Being young adults, they don’t get it until its too late.

“It needs a direct intervention by police.

“There is a lot of this going on around Basildon with young adults going to secluded car parks and taking this laughing gas and smoking cannabis.

“There is the same problem at Eastleigh, at Lee Chapel south.

“The police need to come down there, block them in and they will see clear evidence.

“If they do a drug test and it comes up positive, then they deal with them through due process. This needs to be taken as seriously as drink driving, and I have e-mailed the commander to urge that action is taken.”