What do you think would happen if I broke a car window to aid an ambulance?

[NewMatress]

First let me say I don't really intend to do it!

I live opposite a school. Usually a pain for a few minutes am and PM each day, but usually I'm at work anyway so no big deal.

With the staggered starts it seems to be from about 7:30am until 10 am and then start again by 2pm. I don't know what it is about these staggered starts but parents seem to be even more determined to park as close as possible possible to the gate, which often means across my drive. I'm sure they all believe they'll "only be a minute", but they really aren't and as soon as one leaves another arrives.

Anyway, hopefully, DH will arrive home by ambulance in the next few days. They usually reverse onto the drive which makes life easier for them and gives him more privacy.

I suppose I'd be in the wrong if I broke a window to release a handbrake and move a car? What action would be likely to be taken though?

Presumably you'll get a bit of notice that's he's coming home around a certain time…? I'd go with putting your bins in the road, parking your own car there or asking a friend/neighbour to park there if you don't have a car.
Maybe put a sign on the bins saying "access needed for ambulance" so as to stave off the lynch mob that may think you're doing it simply to piss them off because they might move them in indignation wankers
I really wouldn't go smashing windows. You might smash a window of someone who absolutely accepts they're in the wrong or you might smash the window of someone who'll come back and put all the windows through in your car and your house 🤷🏽‍♀️

More than 20 posts and no mention of penguin bollards!

I'd be tempted to put notes on all the windows of illegally parked cars. Maybe using something like vaseline to ensure it can stick to the window but can be peeled of easily...

will you be home when he is bought home?
i wouldnt smash a car window
the ambulance drivers will be used to manoeuvring

OPs DH should not have to suffer the indignity of being stretchered from the road in front of all and sundry when the ambulance should be able to get in the drive. If it is forced to park in the road then I guess it just might be there for a while blocking the hem from getting on with their days which would be terribly unfortunate...
I do feel angry on your behalf OP. My mum recently went to the hospice in an ambulance. It was her final journey but she was absolutely compos mentis and her dignity was very important to us all.
When you are in a situation like that then what might be small annoyances at other times can be the final straw.
It makes you irrationally angry that other are just getting in with their normal lives let alone that they don't care about the stress they are causing

Our council can paint white lines outside houses driveways to remind inconsiderate drivers not to park there.

It’s not attractive though!

Is speak to the school. Perhaps they could print some leaflets for the kids to take home and you could get a wadge and stick under the windscreen wipers of cars which continue to illegally park.

However both of these options would take time and your son is due back soon so this may not be possible to help you in your timescale.

The ambulance service are experts at negotiating traffic including parked cars so they will be familiar with this situation. A few cones with a sign may help. Just a shame drivers are so inconsiderate.

You’d be done for breaking a car window. You’d be better leaving that kind of thing to the police if needs be.

Yes, exactly, Covid. It's bad enough that he's completely helpless, he doesn't want the neighbours and the queue of parents and children staring. Which is something the ambulance staff always say as they prepare to unload - we'll get a close to the door as possible for his privacy. There aren't many things we can do to make life a bit better for him, this is one.

I'd just put some cones out. Smashing windows is not really an option.

I'd say smashing someone's car window would be more likely to create a scene and attract spectators.

Either tackle the issue of cars parking across your driveway anyway, or if that's the case on the day he returns home, the ambulance will just wait the few minutes for them to move, as its not an emergency

It's your drive too, but you sound casually entitled on the damage issue!

Did you miss the very first line of my post?

I think you should be more outraged about them parking across your driveway all the time!

Just start parking your own car outside over your drop and then you can quickly move it when the ambulance arrives .

I'd ring the school today & tell them they need to take action. They need to stop parents parking across your driveway at any time, and on the day at the time he's due home to have a member of staff out there checking it's clear. Yes it's a hassle for them, but that's life.

@AlmostSummer21

I'd ring the school today & tell them they need to take action. They need to stop parents parking across your driveway at any time, and on the day at the time he's due home to have a member of staff out there checking it's clear. Yes it's a hassle for them, but that's life.

really it is nothing to do with the school.

We have a similar issue, the school has their hands tied. They can send out 1,000 messages and notes but the parents have to act on them and they don't. They can't stop and adult behaving badly off school premises.

BUT what does work very well is

1. community police officer going up to every badly parked car and telling them to move. Could your local one be on hand at drop-off?
2. parking tickets. At the best, the traffic people wandered past about once a month and gave parking tickets to every single person parked badly. This pretty much knocked it on the head as parents came back to their car to a ticket. But it only worked while they continued. Once they stopped coming the parking quickly deteriorated again.

@Nomorepies

I definitely thought this would be a "can I break a window to help a child or animal in distress". YABVU.

You would be charged with criminal damage and rightly so. You can't wilfully damage someone else's property because you want access for a non emergency ambulance. Said owner is going to come banging on your door screaming. How will that help your DH when you get arrested? It's your drive too, but you sound casually entitled on the damage issue!

Deal with the issue at hand which is them blocking your drive. Speak to the school/ MP/ PCSO/ Council rep.

Obviously she can’t actually smash the window but someone who parks blocking a driveway can’t complain that something happened to their car as a result. Even squeezing the stretcher past might scratch it. They should park somewhere appropriate.

I agree with poster saying inform the school and ask to borrow some cones to put your mind at rest for ambulance day.

It is an issue for the school since its the parents attending who are doing it and the least they can do is ask them not to. They should also ensure that there is somewhere for people who need to park close to do so.

At our school, they used to circulate photos of offending parkers, which quickly reduced the problem.

Our school adds a P.S about parking considerately on almost every newsletter and it makes sweet FA difference.
In the 12 years I've been at this school the only times anyone actually behaved differently was once when a parking warden was there and once when a teacher was out there sending them packing. That was after a child was injured by a reversing car on the yellow zig-zags. The next day, when the coast was clear again, the dicky parking resumed as if it never happened.

It's always the same people who think the rules don't apply to them.

Just park your own car over the drive and move it when the ambulance arrives. Easier than breaking a window.

Hire a male stripper who uses a police uniform type outfit to wander up and down the street on the relevant day. I doubt there will be any parking issues as long as he remembers to keep his clothes on.

I would phone the school in advance, but if it happens on the day, politely ask the ambulance to wait a few moments and stand there waiting for the guilty driver to return. Hopefully the fact they've blocked an ambulance will shame them into not doing it again, and with enough other parents watching, might put them all off.

I'd email the school, the ones near me are very careful not to annoy nearby neighbours with parking issues.
Agree that you should start speaking to people today/notes on windscreens about not parking across your drive.
Finally a sign which I'd leave up permanently because presumably it's a possibility that your DH may require medical assistance in the future.

Many cars these days have an electronic handbrake so you'll achieve nothing except smashed glass and a very irate car owner. I would cover space with bins etc or cones and put big no parking signs up.

In the short term, park your car there. After that, invest in some big sticky labels saying "no parking, access needed" and apply them to each and every windscreen. Or make your own w A4 and olive oil.

Somewhat similar situation - albeit they literally park across my garden (my poor grass)/gate ((I literally can’t use my own front door now I’m heavily pregnant and have to go round the side!)… it’s very definitely private property AND a drop kerb AND a garden so clearly people are just ridiculous.

But I’ve got to reclaim it before the homebirth just in case - so I’ve got a stack of notes ready to go and will be popping them on windshields closer to my due date. I don’t know if it will make an difference but I’m hopeful people will be understanding.

I would contact school, they will put an email out and it might guilt a few people into thinking twice about where they park. They can’t actually really do anything about though, it’s not really their responsibility to make grown adults make good choices outside of school premises.
I would get some big fuck off cones and a sign.