Have zero sympathy for parents for parents being fined for breaking parking rules outside schools

YANBU when I get the bus to work I get off a couple of stops early because it's quicker to walk than stay on the bus for the 2 changes of lights it takes for the bus to turn right due to the entitled parents parked on double yellows.

A hundred yards away, at the other side of the school, parents stop on the urban dual carriageway so that Tarquin and Jocasta can unload their lacrosse racquets and cello without having to lump them more than 20 yards to the school.

Each individual parent and their car is gone before wardens can do anything but it's dozens of parents for a couple of minutes each time.

Are you having a laugh?
This has nothing to do with the sex of the parent doing the drop off and everything to do with the selfish unsafe parking of parents who think that they and their precious dc are more important than all the other children, parents, pedestrians and road users. If parents parked legally in designated parking spots and not over people drives/drop kerbs, on double yellow lines and at/over junctions it would be safer for everyone

We bought a house very close to a school so I try not to moan about this as, well, we chose it.

That said, there is just no excuse for dangerous parking, especially where kids will be crossing.

Some parents are just so entitled.

Many councils are on their knees and if they need to recoup some money I'd absolutely back vigorous ticketing around schools at drop off and pick up.

Just park further out and walk your kids in, FFS!

I wish the fines were much HIGHER, and given more often. If you double them and give the difference to school funding, everybody would benefit. Parents might even learn how to park - they seem to manage ok when they're not around a school.

Catchment or no catchment makes no difference. The majority are lazy parents who drive on any distance if they are not living literally opposite the school gates.

Maybe there should be number plate recognition and automatic bills? Injury and disability aside, the closer you live from the school, the higher the parking bill. If it would take you less than 15mn to walk to the school, up the parking bill to £100 a time or something .

People were ready to riot to have the right to walk during the lockdown, lets' give them back that right to walk 😂

It's the same near our local primary school - a large car park less than 5 minutes away but parents still park on double yellows and dropped kerbs. I would put points on their licence - maybe the thought that they wouldn't be able to drive for a few months might help?

Men ARE doing just as much school runs as mums 😂Yes, they actually ARE already expected to park a few streets away 🙄

I am not sure we should be proud that women can park just as badly as men, and are just as entitled and dickish.

there is never enough safe, legal parking near schools.
there is. You just need to get off your lazy arse and accept to walk for 2 mn.

You would think keeping kids safe would be a priority, especially for (mostly mothers)? No?

forced to park as safely as possible
are you for real here?

Zero sympathy from me. Our village school is at the end of our cul de sac. I'm very tolerant of the parking either end of the school day & time any car journeys to not clash with school times. However, the way some morons park & wait an emergency vehicle would never get through.
And the amount of cf I caught on my door camera turning round on my drive when i was at work made my blood boil. Now I'm retired & my car is on my drive they've suddenly stopped. If they park safely then no fines, problem solved!

There are many schools near my house and while I was expecting it to be busy, I was shocked at the batshittery that goes on between 8 - 9am and 3pm - 4ish. Pulling out without looking, not observing right of way, stopping with no warning, almost running over kids (and lollipop lady) on crossings.

I had no idea it would be this bad - I just dont go out during those times now.

That would depend on where you work, plenty of people cycle to work after school run

It's still inconvenient whether it's "only 5 minutes" or not. Even 1 minute is too long.

1 minute is the difference between me missing my bus and being an hour or more late to work.

This has happened to me before when parents have parked on the pavement, blocking my walking route to the bus stop.

It's NEVER OK to park illegally.

Undoubtedly some have to drive, I have a disabled child so as much as I would love to make him walk it’s not an option, but many could walk and don’t.

ds school the furthest admission is 0.8 miles so most could walk. They have a good bus system. But parking is still horrendous

IME, the men are the worst and most entitled parkers at our school!!

They seem to think the fact that they gave to get to work is far more important than all the mums that have to get to work but have developed strategies to factor it into their morning routine. The men don't seem to think they need to plan ahead.

A few years ago, I got stuck in a traffic jam outside a school for over an hour due to inconsiderate parking; I was passing through. Not helped by 2 coaches parked in the layby outside one school. 2 fights broke out, SUVs were driving over gardens. The police were called, and even they had difficulty persuading the entitled parents to move their cars.

So many parents seem to think that they are entitled to park outside a school, regardless of the inconvenience to other parents or other road users. They always claim to 'be only 5 minutes' but they never are.

When I was a child, I made my own way home either walking, cycling or by bus. From the age of nine! Are children these days so feeble they need a lift from right outside the school?

Well, some families do have to drive. We live 13 miles from our school, we can’t walk or cycle that. Nor is there any public transport from where I live. We lift share, use the school bus and always park legally but we do have to drive.

Some parents also have to get multiple small children to multiple drop offs, and the majority have to get onto work.

The halcyon days of mothers not working, living in lovely village with charming local school in walking distance are long gone.

Of course everyone should park properly, I’m not defending bad parking which I also hate, but for many driving is essential, unfortunately.

I would have preferred to have had the experience I had growing up in the UK where I could walk to both my primary and secondary school. Unfortunately the catchment area for DD here is huge.

Middle school was a 25 minute drive and high school was 35 minute drive away.

The one amazing thing that the US does though is the school bus system - it’s the only free social benefit I think they do better than Europe.

DD’s school bus stopped at the end of our driveway. So unless I needed to drive her to a club she could just walk out of the house and walk to the end of the driveway and get picked up.

I live not far from a primary and secondary school in the NW - that’s around 2,000 pupils between the two. From what I can see (and I don’t have kids so don’t have a school run) it’s mainly the women who walk, and the men who drive - usually Range Rovers, Audi, BMWs or Mercedes - taking a break from working at home.

This has got to be one of the most ludicrous attempts at justifying dangerous and illegal parking I’ve ever seen. Personally I have seen plenty of men doing school runs as well but regardless it’s not a feminist issue. Ther is NO defence for endangering children at all.

There’s just zero sensible parking outside of any school I have experience with, which is now four. One school was off a main road with no parking close by whatsoever. Another was wedged between two streets, both of which threatened to fine parents if they parked there due to it being private property. Nowhere else to park nearby at all.

It’s just a nightmare. Walking/cycling is a brilliant option for those who WFH or don’t work, if you need to drop them on the way to work then it just isn’t an option.

All that has no bearing on obeying the rules of the road. Don't park where you shouldn't. Yes, it is sometimes inconvenient when there are no spaces outside the school but I'd rather spend 5 minutes getting a toddler in a pram than witness a child knocked down on a zebra crossing because they ran out from an illegally parked vehicle.

I have no sympathy for someone who parks on double yellow lines or on zig-zags.

What I think should change is there should not be fines, but points on your driving licence. I would also end any hardship defence for motoring crimes, which is what they are.

A few parents being banned from driving and I bet the situation would change.

Don't want to be rude about usa, but really glad driving kids to school has not been my experience

I live near a primary school, in a cul-de-sac off the road where the school is - if that makes sense. Our only way in and out of our street is to pass the school.
I cannot tell you how many times parents/carers have parked right across the end of our street, so we cannot get in or out, and been there for 10-15 mins. I missed a hospital appointment once because of it. The entitlement is incredible.
Also, they just stop right in the middle of the road, and disgorge children, without any checking for if it's safe, cars or coming, etc - and of course, it would be the drivers fault if their little darlings were hurt.
We've had to get our street changed to residents parking only, because of it all.

I'm in a 150 year old house, and the school is less than 20 years old, before anyone says, 'well, they were here first'; and I bought my place before the school was even in planning stages.

It's almost in the centre of a medium sized town. There are excellent public transport links, and an enormous free car park at the local park, less than 3-5 mins walk away, with a safe crossing point too.... So, I'd be fining the shit out of them all. (Accessibility reasons excepted, obviously)

Why can't kids walk to school like they used to and still do in many other countries? Or cycle? Why do they HAVE to be driven?

The police are to be applauded here I live next door to a secondary school in a small cul de sac. We regularly have people blocking our drives, parking on the zig zags, parking on the double yellow lines, blocking the school access gates (which means the 5 school buses and the access for parents/taxis with disabled children is blocked). We have even had parents blocking the entrance to our cul de sac which means nothing can get in or out. I've even had parents say "It's only for 5 minutes"...well 5 minutes could make a hell of a difference if the school was burning down with their little darlings inside and the emergency services couldn't get through.

This is one of the most batshit takes I've ever read on this site, and that is saying something.