Can School insist on DS registering his car

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

My DS17 is at sixth form and has started driving himself to school. He parks the car a 10 min walk from school ( parking nearer to school is impossible)

School know he drives because he is the first in his year to pass his test so other pupils talk.

School have said he has to register his car with the office in case of complaints about parking but he doesn't want to.

Reason why he doesn't want to :

Local residents around the area don't like cars being parked outside their houses and particularly get annoyed when they see a school pupil in uniform doing so. He is worried that even though he parks perfectly legally a resident will make up a complaint about him to try to put him off parking there.

He parks in a different road every day so as not to "annoy" the same people everyday but he has been verbally abused three times now and today someone left an anonymous note asking him to elsewhere.

These are just normal , fairly busy public roads on a huge 1930's housing estate , not quiet little cul de sacs. We live in a similar type of road near a station and have commuters parking outside every single day and I've never ever told anyone off for legally parking their car.

Anyway - DS registered my car with the school as he was driving that initially but he now has his own and doesn't want to register it - can the school insist as and when they realise that he is driving a different car ( they will find out ,due other pupils chatting about his "new" car )

My feeling is that it's nothing to do with them how he travels to school and he should not be made to give his registration number to the office.

Do other schools do this?

YANBU

We live on a road where students from the nearby sixth form used to park. It was a bit annoying and unsightly, but ultimately they were parked legally, so there was nothing to do. Sometimes they would park badly, but again, that's not on the school to do anything about it.

Due to an unconnected reason, we ended up getting a parking permit scheme in place in the end.

I remember when I was at school they tried to tell us not to park in one particular road. We mostly agreed, but if there was nowhere else to park, there was no legal reason for us not to. We didn't have to give our reg numbers over though unless we'd got an on-site permit (raffled off each term!).

I probably should have mentioned but it's only just come into my mind that there is a bit of annoyance from the local community that so many "outsiders" go to the school. It's a selective state grammar school and pupils travel from up to 40 miles away to attend it. It has been a bone of contention for decades and the local newspaper's Facebook page is full of residents moaning about the school coaches and the parking ( and don't get them started on the fact that some of the kids " are obviously not from around here" - the meaning behind that is pretty obvious to me)

Ah, NIMBYs... if you live near a school and there's no parking restrictions, they'll have to get used to it.

If they really want to stop it they can apply to the council to get either permits set up or a yellow line with a mid-morning restriction. We had that prior to the permit scheme. Stopped anyone parking there 10am to 11am, which effectively made the local kids park elsewhere as they weren't allowed to leave school grounds during the day.

I have more of an issue with the parents doing the drop offs/pickups parking dangerously/illegally than I ever had with the local sixth formers.

If he gets a complaint it's for him to deal with not the school. None of their business!

So basically the school is trying to manage community relationships in the context if local people having issues with a successful grammar school that attracts people ‘not from here’. Probably loads if talk about people shouldnt be travelling so far, should stay local to go to school and ´then there would be places fir us locals’

im not surprised the school also insist on school uniform for the oldest pupils too. It’s allowing them to tell residents that ‘it’s not us. Not the right school uniform/nit the right car’ when they get complains.
And to tell them they’ll have a word with owner if the car etc….

Same than our (private) secondary school doesn’t allow children in uniform in our high street. It stops ‘the local residents’ from complaining about X and Y.

@HurryShadow the area within a 10 min walk of the school is already heavily restricted with residents permits and chargeable parking with a four hour maximum. The problem just moves further away from the school so now the residents there are annoyed.

I don't 'claim' to work in insurance. I USED TO work in insurance. Which is what I said in my post if you had actually read it properly. You really need to sharpen your reading and comprehension skills before having a go at people.

Sadly all too many young people die at the wheel of their (or their friend's) car, most often at high speed, and at night. My friend's son died that way. Your post claims that sharing lifts on the school run was the highest cause of death among 6th-formers, and I was querying that. I am not the only person to ask where you got that information from, and you don't seem to want to say.

No, he doesn't have to do it. If he isn't parking on school property it is no business of the school where he parks or how he gets to school.
If only they would do this with parents parking in residential areas around primary schools. But they should leave the lad alone. He is being very responsible passing his test and getting himself there on time.

But surely that is only if on the premises, or on the street outside the school.
No-one is going to do a 10 min walk to the school, on the off chance that a car they've hit or noticed the lights are on, happens to belong to someone at that school, and not at any of the hundreds of premises inbetween the car and the school.

None of their concern. If they start trying to press the issue, make a fuss about GDPR. They'll struggle to show one of the six lawful reasons applies, especially given that he's parking what is probably at least half a mile away given the speed most teenage lads walk at.

But we aren't talking about deaths in RTCs as a whole. we are specifically talking about what you wrote here

There will be other teacher's on here who have taught through one of those indescribably horrendous days when we know a car full of teens has rolled over at lunchtime a few roads away from the school......

People are pointing our that the likelihood of the OP's dc spending his lunchtimes taking out groups of friends for high speed chases, are miniscule.

Technically it's none of their business, but the same could be said for a lot of school rules that cover behaviour out of the school premises. When I was a teen we were banned from a local shopping centre after school (by the school and not the centre) after a few girls were caught shop lifting.

People are pointing our that the likelihood of the OP's dc spending his lunchtimes taking out groups of friends for high speed chases, are miniscule.

In fairness, that’s exactly what we used to do when we were in 6th form. Fortunately, we all survived but more by luck than judgement!

You were OK with him registering your car but not his own.

Right.

Both my DSs took a car to sixth form college. We live 20 miles away and they had a part time job after school.

When they passed their tests and took the car it was on condition no lifts allowed and they had a dash cam.
They both used to get snarky notes on the windscreen. Eventually the college opened up a field as a student car park and for that they had to display a permit.
It's hard on a 17 year old to feel that however responsible they are some adults have it in for young people. I think the photograph is a good idea. Perhaps also a permanent note in windscreen to say that the car has been photographed and monitored. A dash cam that operates while car is parked might be useful.
Ultimately if he's in school uniform he may as well give in and register his car at school .

@AngelsWithSilverWings - if I were you, I’d advise your ds to take a photo of how he parks each day - that would help protect him against malicious complaints. Then registering his car with the college ought not to cause him any extra hassle.

Could he wear normal clothes and then change later when at school. I agree with others, its no one elses business where he parks his car.

Parking around schools is a contentious issue, you have entitled drivers inconsiderately parking wherever they want and when questioned by a local resident they are usually met with abuse. I’m not saying that your son is guilty of this but the school are trying to keep the peace and by keeping a record of pupils vehicles they can deal with any issues effectively. They are going to want a photo of any bad parking they’re not going to just punish any pupils without some kind of evidence of wrongdoing. Like most things the minority ruin things for the majority but you are potentially being deliberately obstructive when all they want is his registration plate. Hardly a big ask.

If it's taxed and insured it's none of their bloody business. Ignore them.

I wouldn't tell them a single thing for any reason.

@Riapia not sure what point you are trying to make but I had no idea he had registered my car with school until we discussed it today. He drove my car for the first few weeks after he passed his test so registered it when told to do so by the school. He has been driving his own car since Christmas and hasn't yet registered it as he doesn't feel he should have to.

How would the school knowing a students reg no reduce the risk of that happening ?

@bellac11 he can't change clothes as not permitted to enter the school site unless in full uniform

God almighty, there are times when I hate schools although professionally I support them.

I agree that photographing the car once parked , dash cam to protect against malicious damage and registering the car with school is the way forward. Thanks for all the comments.