To think that if you object to parents collecting their children from school...

[EvilTwins]

...you shouldn't buy a house near one?

My DCs attend a large and popular primary school, built in the 1950s, which is at the end of a cul-de-sac in the middle of a large, privately owned, mostly 1950s and 1960s housing estate. The school has asked parents not to park on the actual cul-de-sac when they're picking up their DCs, and this is adhered to. However, it means that parents park their cars in neighbouring residential streets. Obviously everyone arrives at pretty much the same time, so there is a 20 minute period, twice a day, when the three or four streets surrounding the school are full of parked cars. About twice a term, we get letters home telling parents that local residents have complained about this. We're never offered a solution.

This only really affects me on a Friday, as my DCs go to after school club Monday-Thursday, but even considering that, I'm starting to get fed up with the letters home telling us off.

So AIBU? The school must pre-date the majority of the residents. If you choose to buy a house within spitting distance of an enormous primary school, shouldn't you just accept that parents might need to park in your road to drop their children off?

Most big urban secondaries have a school rep on or some contact with the local residents' association.

agree with the OP - lived directly (shared 2 party walls with - and the school hall was 1 meter away from DS1's bedroom) next to a school for 5yrs. And there was another school literally at the top of the road.

Yes from about 8.30am until 9am it was manic, and again from 2.45ish until 3.30ish. And on parents evenings/other major school events it could get hectic. Though generally with evening events most people were home from work and nabbed their spaces back before the evening enourage arrived.

But those were the only times, (yes the odd lurker/straggler but nothing major) when it was a problem.

We also had a church opposite the school, and on the next street (where I am now) the church hall which is used for Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, parties, dance lessons, etc.

If you buy a house near train station, or shopping area you have to make the same considerations.

oh - and local schools always hand deliver letters to the local residents each term warning them of dates/times of "outside school hours" events that will/could affect traffic/parking problems

xstitch - that's , that's not 'parking in the streets around the school' though is it - that's beyond rude (parking in the driveways) and disgraceful (what the driver said).

TaintedPaint - if they need to do that, for whatever reason and I'm sure it's not for fun, what's the problem (so long as they are legally and repectfully parked)?

Op- I was thinking along similar lines myself this morning after dropping off my dd then going straight to work.
We have had a letter stating that:

1. A resident has complained about cars parking along the street where she lives.
2. The only place to possibly park which is not along a residential street,ie the chrch car park, will be patrolled by wardens and they will issue fines to anyone who parks there collecting children from school. My dds school is in a picturesque village with NO parking at all except along residential streets. There isn't even a shop, and more and more parents seem to drive to school. The problem is exascerbated by the fact that it serves several surrounding villages and as such the vast majority of children have to travel a mile or so to school so most parents drive. When I was a sham I did walk but now this is impossible. There are some parents who must be able to walk but choose not to.

However the vast majority of complainers have come from outside and bought their way into the village and imho shouldn't be complaining about parking. They know what to expect twice a day!!!!

Fellatio, re teachers driving in to school and not walking, I have crates of marking & a 52 mile round trip.

< Packs donkey saddlebags & sets alarm for 1am, passes parent parked up for school>

That's the point though Chipping, it's not respectful. My local primary (my nephew goes there, he lives with me) is right in the middle of a residential area and I don't think it's at all respectful to start clogging up the streets an hour before pickup time. I know of at least four parents who arrive that early who do it because they think their DCs shouldn't have to walk far. They also hang around the school gates nattering for roughly half an hour after that, which means their cars are blocking residential streets for an hour and a half on a daily basis. Strictly speaking it may be legal, but it's certainly not respectful of the local area and its residents. There is a car park near by as well, but of course the DCs couldn't possibly walk, could they?

My son's school regularly calls the community police out to deal with parents who park badly. We have the community copper around about once every six weeks. Makes people behave for a short time, then they go back to parking illegally. Selfish and stupid - why on earth would a parent, picking up their kids, choose to put children in danger? I really don't understand.

The school I walk past on my to ds's is even worse. The parents think they have a God-given right to do million-point turns mounting the pavement in their ruddy great 4x4s that they can't see out of. Selfish gits could just as well go round the block - it wouldn't take them any longer than all these crappy manoeuvres.

YABU choose a school you can walk to. I always walk to school (we have no choice I don't drive, but even if I did we would walk it takes 10 minutes) and the amont of cars driving and parking inconsideratly is ridiculous.

Honestly you cannot even get across the road half the time they are that backed up with cars. Surely it would be quicker just to walk?

Have you looked at the 'parking' that goes on around schools though.

Today at DS's school I was on foot. The pavement was pretty much impassable with a buggy or in anything other than single file, because of the number of parents who'd not only parked on the double yellow lines and zigzags but also bumped up on the pavement as the roads are impassable with cars parked on either side. The traffic comes to a standstill and pedestrians are not safe.

I can totally see why residents get pissed off about this. If the parking was all considerate and legal, I'd say 'suck it up', but it so often isn't.

Taintedpaint-I agree with you. If you can hang about for 30 mins plus then surely you can walk, and then the parents who have to drive eg like myself who have a very tight amount of time to then get to work after school drop off hjave more choice as it were where to park. hope this doesn't sound bad but seriously if I didn't have to drive then I wouldn't.
Also I would welcome a school walking bus which was supposedly to start at dds school but then was dropped, when I queried why I was told due to lack of funding.........

Dooin OP has already stated it is not walkable.

YANBU.

I live on a major A road. Although I don't enjoy the heavy traffic I am not so obtuse as to complain about it

btw, by putting children in danger, I mean the selfish drivers don't just park on the pavement, they think they can drive along it. Not just bumping the kerb during a three point turn (which would be a fail on your driving test so you shouldn't do it anyway) but treating it as the road. Or park on the pavement, forcing people with buggies out into the road. OR park in a way that makes it very hard for pedestrians to see to cross the road - especially children who are obviously shorter. 4x4s are a particular problem as their drivers especially seem to think they don't need to look out for pedestrians, or just can't see anyone shorter than their back window.

If you've paid your road tax and aren't blocking somebody's drive way then you have as much right to park in the road as somebody who owns a house in it.
It's not a case of do you have to drive to school ? I want to and so I will.

I live directly opposite a primary school, and it's none of my business if someone parks in front of my house as long as they don't block my drive (this has happened twice in four years).

On a theoretical level, I wonder why more parents don't park in the large car park about 150m further down the road, because I agree that the jockeying for position can be dangerous, but parking legally at the side of the road isn't a problem.

Mama - the list is a bit longer than that. No parking on zig-zags, no parking on the kerb, parking considerately so you don't block the field of vision for pedestrians OR other drivers.

By 'respectful' I mean not parking in or over a driveway etc. I don't see the problem with 4 cars parking in residential streets around a school...

Dooin - yes it would be quicker to walk... if you only lived a 10 minute walk from school, you should read the thread and see how many parents don't and can't.

Damsel - I can understand why people would complain in the parking was like that, it's not at our school - it's busy/congested but people park legally.

Ah right. Sorry I just read the op and I am still just a leetle annoyed by the four cars that sped across the pelican crossing while we were waiting to cross to school this morning. At least one of which had a child in the back that attended that school. Dd1 was slightly ahead and it's very lucky I have taught her that some drivers think they have a god given right to drive in anyway they please, irregardless of the safety of others so she should always stop at the crossing until the cars stop.

It happens all the time. Along with the illegal parking. Like another poster the traffic wardens come and everything is better for a few days, then it goes back to normal.

My nan picks the dds up when I work and she lives a good 40 minute walk away so she drives to collect, but parks outside my house and walks the last 10 minutes. She says it's quicker than trying to navigate the traffic and find somewhere to park.

I live near a school. Fortunately my road is small and no one in their right mind would drive down it unless they had to so we don't get school parking issues. The road outside the school is a nightmare at school drop off/collection times. Parents regularly block driveways, park on pavements, are aggressive on that road and the surrounding (narrow) ones.

The solution is either to send your dcs to a school with a car park if you insist on driving or go to the local school and walk.

edam - I would assume that all went without saying.
We don't even live in a road with a school in it and some residents feel they have the divine right to park outside their house, well nope it doesn't work that way.
The local primary is in a road called School Lane, you'd think they'd get it before moving in wouldn't you ?

Mollie - not everyone can get into a school that is a walkable distance away and some parents need to drive straight to work, they don't have the time to walk home again to get the car... and really, just how many schools do you know with a carpark?

Dooin - I'm very glad your DD is so well 'trained'!!

By the way, lots of 4x4's have rear parking sensors, so if a child does walk behind it, the driver will know. I know not all of them do, but some people like to get outraged about 4x4's for this alone, when they dont realise that the highness factor is cancelled out by the fact that all hell breaks loose with annoying beeping the minute anything comes anywhere near the back of the car...

I get that some people cannot walk to school, but if all of those who could did so, it would not only be easier for the pedestrians but easier and safer for the drivers who cannot walk to school.

I see a woman who lives off the side street that runs off our street drive to school. We often get there before her.

Dooin - where does she go after she drops the kids off? If she goes to work fair enough - if she goes home again then Hmmmmm it's a bit lazy!