Where there would normally be bumper to bumper cars there were kids playing cricket, and the sound of revving engines was replaced with residents relaxing and chatting.

For one day only – cars were barred from the road outside Catherine Junior School in Belgrave as part of a campaign to clean up the air pupils breath.

The city council got people on Brandon Street to shift their parked cars yesterday morning to open it up for outdoor lessons and activities to mark Clean Air Day.

Headteacher Jennie Nurse told LeicestershireLive: “It’s been really, really good.

“It feels a little bit strange to be standing in the middle of the road knowing that on any other school day the cars would be bumper to bumper here at 8.50am and 2.40pm.

Children playing cricket in the street.

“Some of the children took a while to get used to it – they are sticking to the pavements and we have been saying ‘no it’s okay, you go into the road.

“The kids loved it and the residents have really bought into it.

“The parents have been asking if we could do this once a month.

“I’d like to but it did take a lot of organisation.”

Headteacher Miss Jennie Nurse.

Ms Nurse added: “It’s great to see the road without the cars.

“It can get a little crazy and it can be dangerous.

“I can stand outside the school gates and speak to the parents who park on the zig-zags.

“They say sorry but the next day they do it again.

“It’s frustrating but we hope keeping the cars away will be an eye-opener for people.”

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Stalls were set up in the areas vacated by the cars along a 300 metre stretch of the road.

They offered advice on alternative ways for children to get to school such as walking, cycling or using a scooter.

There were yoga sessions, bike workshops, skipping and smoothie making.

Mukesh Madou, whose daughter Rutika, seven, is a pupil at the school, said: “I didn’t know this was happening today but it’s brilliant.

“Why not do this every day?”

Deputy city mayor Adam Clarke, the council’s  environment and transport spokesman, said he was pleased with how the event had turned out.

Children take a rickshaw ride.

“It’s fantastic to see how people are enjoying a car-free environment," he said.

“We have only done this a few times and we will look at if there are other schools where it could work.

“We are trying to get the message across that if people change the way they travel to school there can be real benefits for everyone.”

There was some heavy congestion in nearby streets at the end of the day as the school run traffic was displaced, but a number of motorists told LeicestershireLive they did not mind the temporary inconvenience.