To think that school run drivers are selfish cunts?

The village school my two went to (YR-Y4) has been there for over 100 years, starting off as a tiny school, When DC1 started there were 50 pupils, by the time DC2 left there were double that and now even more.

In that case I feel sorry for the residents as the amount of cars has just gone up and up but there's no parking except for outside their houses.

The nearby pub used to let everyone park in their large car park which was brilliant but one day they decided not to let them any more.

I drive DS to Primary, I park 5 minutes away and walk but I have seen some absolutely bloody awful parking/driving closer to the school
A local organisation used to let us use their large car park for free, which was around a 3 minute safe pedestrianised walk to school but STILL people fought to park by the School gates.
Also, despite the fact that the carpark was huge a lot of parents insisted on all parking up one end to avoid walking an extra 100 yards. They were causing problems and the organisation kept warning School that unless the parents used the carpark more carefully they would have to ban us - guess what happened?

I'm a school run driver not through choice (got allocated a school in the closest town as the village school was full)
I park and drive legally, if there's no space near the school, I park legally just further away and walk. DS1 is in yr6 so we've been doing this a while and it's a very big school that takes the overflow from the rest of the LEA so lots of drivers.
I would say there are a significant minority of appalling school run drivers but it's certainly not everybody, however there are just as many anti-social parents who walk (bring dogs on site when they are banned, smoke at the school gate so you have to walk through them, shout & swear). I think the bad driving & parking is just an extension of that rather than a symptom of being a driver.

I don't get people who buy houses near schools then whinge about cars on the school run. When we were house hunting we rejected several houses too near schools for this reason.

They park anywhere and everywhere, regardless of other drivers or local residents.

The minority might. I never did and neither did about 99% of the parents at our primary.

The only parking at my secondary school (when I was at school) was for teachers. I never saw anybody been driven to school, we all got buses or walked.

Yanbu, it’s not just school run either, number of knobs that double park outside our village co-op, engine running, blocking traffic, making it dangerous to cross the road. God forbid they should have to walk for 2 minutes from the car park.

Also I don’t understand why secondary school students would need to be driven to school. It’s not a lack of a car park that’s the issue there, at 11 kids should be able to walk, cycle or get a bus.

Not as bad as parents! I avoid schools like the plague during drop off and pick up times. They park where they like, across drives (in other people's drives!), on the pavement, on double yellow lines etc. They stop and pull away without signalling. I once spent a frustrating hour and a half outside a school, where parents had gridlocked the road. There was a l;ot of shouting but no-one would move. The police had to sort it out.

Due to building works at work, atm we all have to use the underground car park and can only access it from the back of the building. The rear entrance is only accessible from a one-way street that is very, very narrow (you couldn't get anything wider than a transit down there).

It is also the only entrance to a primary school. I think you can guess what's coming next...

... yes, parents block the narrow lane while they take their kids into school. This morning, I got a text from my mate telling me that the tailback caused by parents blocking the road, while staff from several companies are trying to get into the car park, backed up for over half a mile in each direction.

Because of the peculiar road layout (historic town that still has a medieval street plan for much of the town centre), this could gridlock the whole bloody town in about 20 minutes!

In fairness to the parents though, there is next to no public parking in that area, it's almost all residents' permits only. And the 20 or so pay and display spaces are probably occupied by people who work in our building but don't have a car park space.

It’s terrible near where my parents live. They are a street away from a school and have had their stationary car hit numerous times from parents who can’t drive legally never mind park

It depends. If the school provides parking and the parents are ignoring this and parking illegally then yes, they are cunts.

If the school haven't provided any parking then, well, where exactly are people supposed to park?

The neighbours near our school are constantly complaining, but I have only seen a handful of occasions where parents have parked inconsiderately (literally once or twice, where I've thought someone has parked like a dick), the vast majority of people park perfectly legally. The school was there long before the houses, if you don't like general school related traffic (which I think is the real issue in our case), then don't buy a house by a school! I've witnessed some horrid confrontations where neighbours have been unreasonably angry that someone has parked, legally, outside their house.

I'm not saying this is the situation near you OP, just thought I'd weigh in with my own small moan - I think there can be horrible people on both sides of this issue.

I’m sometimes a school run driver. It’s a 1.5 mile walk to school so if it’s chucking it down we drive. I park legally and use the road safely every time when we do. If I have to park a way from the school and walk, then I do.

In my experience, the vast majority of the ones that don’t park legally and have damaged other vehicles and caused near misses, are drivers that live within close walking distance of the school.

Our school drivers are generally very good.

It's the delivery vans, builders vans, massive builders lorries, tractors and combine harvesters who are the problem.

There is a bottleneck of residents parked cars we all have to squeeze past. But yes, it makes great business sense to drive an industrial vehicle through that during the busiest half an hour of the day.
(Then when they can't get through, they park up on the pavement and double yellow lines till it all quietens down-really helpful!)

Not all, but lots around here are really selfish. They park on double yellows, zig zags outside the school, on corners, over crossings!

I walk to/from school and what really annoys me is the amount of times I'm forced to walk out in the road with the buggy as cars have parked on the path or over the crossing.
When I had a car, I just parked slightly further from the school rather than park illegally. Simples.

I remember one memorable pick up from a residential trip. 3 coaches were expected back and parents turned up to collect.
They all started parking in the bus bay (it can take 4 coaches). I parked up down the road and as I walked up the whole bus bay was full of parent's cars.

So the coaches arrive and have nowhere to park and offload the children and luggage. Bonkers.

Why on earth do secondary school kids need dropping off outside the school? I used to drive DCs some of the way as we moved out of catchment area and drop them off in the Tesco Express car park about half a mile away. CBA with bedlam around the school and wanted my children to be independent not expecting to be taken door to door everywhere. I now drop DSD off at her friends on my way to work and they walk about a mile together. Her Dad would have her walking twice that distance if I wasn't going that way anyway.

I go early to get a space in the village car park because I hate parking outside peoples houses and I've been blocked in a few times by CF's who cant set off at a reasonable time to get a space.

I used to be a bus driver, drove school runs for a while. The selfishness of some of the parents was mind-blowing. We had to arrive at least 30 minutes early or we literally couldn't get anywhere near the bus bay because it was jammed with parents in gigantic vehicles, each often picking up only 1 child. And often they lived very close to the school. Very weird, very environmentally poor, very entitled, very poor example for the kids and very annoying.

@QuietContraryMary

Built about 15 years ago.. I live in Ireland. That's not realistic for a lot of people... Catchment area is about twenty Miles..some are too far for the bus, some are too close to the school for bus but to far to walk, especially on shit roads.
I live 15 mins drive away so D's gets the bus..but wometjimes I need to collect him and it's chaotic.

Yes it’s survival of the fittest out there.

I’d love to see a David Attenborough documentary on the school run.

I’m a school run driver I’m not a cunt but plenty are. It makes my blood run cold the dangerous driving and parking I see around the school it’s a miracle there hasn’t been an accident yet. I leave my house much earlier than I need to so I can park safely and legally and if I didn’t live a 50 minute bus ride away I’d definitely get public transport instead.

It's not always possible for High School children to make their own way to school. That's the ideal but there are too many variables.

I have to drive DD1 to school (or do a 1 hour walk each way). I park consideratepy, even if it means a 5 minute walk from the car to school. But not everyone does. Every week there's reminders in the school newsletter. The poor residents on that road, I feel sorry for them.

Our secondary school has no parking .no choice but to park on the road.. ridiculous planning for a school of 700pupils

Is there really no parking or is it like my dds
Secondary school where you aremt allowed to use the car park as there are limited spaces and pre agreed/arranged double parking, and to ensure that those brought in by transport, and those who are disabled and need to be in the car park can do so safely ?

I don't think it's a bad thing. Just drop your kid off somewhere else and let them walk.