Realistically can anything be done to stop parents parking across driveway?

[Lefmry]

I live on the same street as a school. Every single day someone blocks our driveway and I’m at a point now where I’m getting super fed up of it! 😩 It is mostly the same woman, who on multiple occasions has been asked to stop but it’s like it falls on deaf ears and she feels entitled somehow to still park there.

I wouldn’t actually mind but my eldest has severe additional needs and will NOT walk any distance from the car to the house so it’s super important we are parked on the drive, which isn’t possible when she (or someone else) has swanned off to stand at the school gates to wait for her child. I mean, not like I need an excuse really, it’s my drive and I should be able to use it. The time the drive is blocked is ALWAYS when I’m getting back from picking up my son from school.

Realistically if I were to go in to the school with number plates, especially this one woman, is there anything they can do? Or anything anybody else can do? Sorry I know there’s worse problems to have but I’ve just had a baby 4 weeks a go, have a 20 month old, along with my eldest with ASD, I am trying my damn hardest every day and sick of arseholes making life even harder.

I had this same problem when I lived at my parents house : parents persistent everyday parking across the drives of residents. One day I had had enough & just parked my car in middle of road and sat in it waiting for them to move car for me to be able to drive into our drive.
This blocked the whole road, amazing how many people came & shouted at me. I just smiled explained as soon as I could, I would be out of their way and into my drive.
There was a LOT of people awaiting that car to move, the parent was later back to car than most 🤣.
They got it tenfold and I didn’t even have to speak.
The problem stopped that day after the parents had all been inconvenienced. It worked way better than all the reports to the school from residents asking for their drive to not be parked across.

Honestly! The absolute selfishness of people. The road around my DD2’s preschool is always rammed with people blocking the whole thing. It’s absolute chaos and every drive is blocked. If I lived there, I would be calling 101 every single time my drive was blocked.

Lawn sprinkler on a timer …

Yes but legally that would be vandalism and the car owner knows where she lives.

As long as it washes off it isn't vandalism. Crayola washable paint should do the job.

Yet you chose to live right next to a school. Put a disabled sign up in your parking spot?

In our area the houses closest to the (very sought after) schools attract a premium. And parents don't park like that because they get named and shamed in the weekly school newsletter if they do - I'd go in and speak to the head, explain your circumstances, and ask if they can do the same. Amazing what a spot of humiliation can do to enforce better behaviour.

On the rare days police and ticket wardens/council people turn up on the school road, I get 🍿out. It's one of the few joys in life. These entitled fuckers who cause misery day to day, end up arguing with police and getting tickets. It kinda turns me into Mr Burns from the Simpsons laughing and rubbing my hands together.

Buy a no parking cone and just put it out at school times. I’ve seen people do it in my area with similar situations to yours.

Unfortunately if you have a drive, they are unlikely to provide a disabled bay outside the house unless you cannot access the vehicle adequately (eg wheelchair access) when on the drive.

We had this issue in my previous house. It was taken to local councillors time and time again. From what I understand if they block you in to your drive it’s an offence but not if they block you out. Also highways and the police bat it back and forth between each other as to whose responsibility it is. We had neighbours who used to put cones out which seemed drastic but seemed to help

Why on earth does living next to a school mean you should accept parking that prevents you accessing your property? Total nonsense.

I agree completely. Go see the head and invite them to come to your house at the time she is there blocking you in. If your partner is at home next week then it's the perfect time to get this sorted. I had some boys standing effing and jeffing over lunch every day on some waste ground adjacent to my house a while back. I wrote a polite letter to the headmaster of the school and an assistant head called, gave me his number and said he'd be straight round the next time they were there. It stopped that very week. Slightly different situation when it's a parent but I'm sure if you explain the situation they will put in an appearance.

Is it an offence to park across someone's driveway?

Blocking a driveway

Parking over dropped kerbs is illegal and your local council has the power to give penalty charge notices (PCNs) to any vehicle owner who breaches this rule.

This is from the councils website.

The OP is out fetching her own child...

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

How about.............

I tried but failed to post a picture of a tank crushing a car

I would be putting both my wheelie bins at the end of my drive way with a banner on them saying “please do not block my driveway, access for a child with disabilities is required at all times”.

That way it’s on your property so no access issues for anyone else, but if she or anyone else continues to park there, everyone will know that she is blocking access for a disabled child, to their own home. Hopefully that might shame them enough not to do it.

Some people just don't care unfortunately. A few people kerp on parking in private spaces at our school, block gates, scream and shout at residents, get recorded on cctv. Cctv goes to the police...They don't give a shit or fear the police because presumably the police can't or wont do anything. Our school is in village, at the end of a dead end street with a A road you can't park on oneside and woods on the other so there is no where really to park anyway. If you park 5-10 minutes walk away safely, not blocking anyone you get a random crazy resident shouting at you for parking legally.... in view of his drive for four cars. The residents don't want any school traffic but their houses are ten years old and the school was built in the sixties.

I'd hate to live near a school.

She is entitled prick and probably enjoying upsetting you. Leave your bins in the road or your car across your drive.

I'd day dream about leaving my bin there and have engine oil on the handles.

This would be my kind of tactic also. If she's inconveniencing you then there are dozens of ways you could "get her back" in such a way that you're not damaging her car but just making things awkward for her.

Is it parked across the entrance to your driveway, or physically on your driveway?

If only the DVLA was a functioning organisation. If you cannot park properly, you should not have a driving licence.

Sadly it is not.

Ahh yes silly me. How dare I still want to use my drive as and when I would like to. 🙄

My neighbourhood WhatsApp is frequently alight with similar questions. There are things that can be done with the schools and council but that does require a degree of effort. Someone though has bought some of these from Amazon and apparently they’re very hard to remove 😉

You could let a tyre down each time. Wouldn't get her to move any quicker but if you're consistent it might make her rethink her parking arrangements

Over here in America you can get neurodivergent child area signs to stop people parking there or to warn that a child may run out so be careful. Is there similar in UK?

The head at our school got so fed up with dealing with complaints from residents about parents parking badly. She contacted the council who sent a warden down every day for a week. They then had yellow no parking cones put out every day and encouraged people to take photos of offending drivers and their car reg numbers, and report them directly to the council.