To be incensed that a drunk mother is collecting her kids by car and not being stopped from hurting herself or other innocent children?

[PantiesInABunch]

My child catches the school bus to his primary school.

On occasion when I'm able to leave work early I collect him.

I met up with an old friend whose child also attends the school and we were talking and she was upset that yesterday she'd approached the headmaster because another mum was so pissed that she couldn't walk properly down the road and then she promtly got in her 4x4 and raced down the road, drunk.

The head said that there was nothing they could do? WTF?

My friend and another mum who joined us confirmed she was "stinking" of booze and wobbly down the lane.

I was baffled and asked why nobody said anything to her, or why not just call the police.

I'd be wracked with guilt if she knocked down and killed a person whilst drunk in charge.

I have name changed because I dont want to be identified. If I called the police anonymously to tell them there's a parent doing this- do you think they'd go down a couple of afternoons to see if she does this again? Ive been told it's not every day.

Another parent had also told us that he'd stopped to help her during the summer holiday because she'd crashed into a tree (smelling like booze)and wrecked her car but wouldn't accept his help and she didn't want the police involved (she'd told the dad who stopped to help that a taxi cab had run her off the road)

It's really awful if the lady is having problems but surely it's best- someone says somthing? If I wrote to the school surely they have to do something?

People who are saying 'its not down to the school' do you not realise this is a safeguarding issue? A parent who is inebriated and isnt capable of caring for a child by being drunk?

Rubirosa yes they can.

It's illegal to be drunk in charge of a minor so they won't hand them over.

Do you have a link for that Worra? I'm interested because our safeguarding training said explicitly we cannot refuse to release a child to someone with parental responsibility, and to call the police.

She is probably an alcoholic. That 'smell' combined with the behaviour. Sad thing is, when breathalysed she may well be at risk of prison, as the blood alcohol just gets topped up. I knew of exactly, exactly this situation. Poor woman got 3 months. SS intervention any better?

fut I have never been checked for alcohol levels when picking up my children. The school may not know.
I don't believe the OPs friend who said the HT knows that this happens alot and can not do anything. They would be leaving themselves wide open (legally) if they knew and she had an accident.
I think the 'friend' has probably blown this out of proportion and would rather be all outraged because the school won't act. I think she hasn't called the police because its nit how she said.
For example mum over heard saying she had a tew drinks at lunch. Gets kids and leaves. The OPs 'friend' assumes (but doesn't see) that the woman has driven drunk when intact there was another adult in the car who has not drunk at all.

I would take down her registration number and give time, date and call police, they will follow it up, I know someone who was breathalised in their home following a call.

Police AND the local authority. I am appalled at the school. DH is a primary teacher and one of his pupil's mothers turned up drunk once - DH and the head wouldn't let the mother leave with her daughter, even though she was on foot.

I suspect in your case, as in the one my DH was involved in, this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the children are seeing/suffering through. If she's willing to be that drunk and irresponsible in public, God only knows what those poor children are going through. The child in DH's class was clean, tidy and doing well in class too - yet she was suffering so much that she's now in SS care.

Whatever the parent's going through, no child should be allowed to suffer. Please call the police NOW.

Chelvis- when I used to drop off and pick up she and the children we all immaculate-she is a friendly, chirpy lady the children are lovely and well behaved-mother used to have strong links with the school.

Is it worth me calling the head and telling them I plan to contact police if they do nothing about it or writing a letter, if there's a paper trail and they do nothing surely it leaves them (the school) very vulnerable. From what I can understand this happened once at the school...before outside of school with other parent witnesses.

Shit, if she went to jail and her kids were not with her I'd feel like shit :-(

I would definitely speak to the HT and express your concerns .

Call the police now. To be honest though, the witnesses should be calling the police and I'm deeply shocked that no one has. At least if you take action now, you can relax knowing that you have done something to protect peoples lives..

The school should have not released a child into the care of someone drunk. They have been negligent in their duty of care. It is their responsibility to keep hold of the child and try the numbers they have for another relative or listed person. If there is no-one available they should call social services.

By law the school is responsible for kids on route home anyway these days. So the school is responsible in a roundabout way. Especially if they knew the lady was drink driving.

Shit, if she went to jail and her kids were not with her I'd feel like shit :-(

But how much worse would you feel if she went unreported, crashed her car and killed her children? Or ran over a pedestrian?

Its a no brainer for me.

If you report your concerns now, hopefully the scenario of her going to prison will be avoided as some intervention should take place.

Do you have a link for that Worra? I'm interested because our safeguarding training said explicitly we cannot refuse to release a child to someone with parental responsibility, and to call the police

I don't have a link but I can only tell you from an experience at my DS's school. The Head teacher refused to hand the girl over to her drunk Grandad and rang SS.

They spent hours trying to find the parents/another family member to take her home...in fact the HT didn't leave the school til nearly 8pm that night!

Why should the school have to call the police? Surely that is the resposibility of whoever witnessed this mother driving while drunk.

PantiesInaBunch-
this lady chooses to drink and drive.
I'm assuming she took a driving test so is aware of the law.

So if anything happens to her ,then it's in her hands.

Picture yourself sitting down with the newspaper next week to read that she has ploughed into a group of small children on the pavement.
Or her 4x4 has rammed someones car, killing the occupants.

If she goes to jail, then her children are her family's worry.

Your concern for this woman is misplaced to say the least.
It's her children, the other children and your child you should worry about.

Was she drunk or is she ill?

It may be that the head said "we know" because he knows more than you or your friends do.

What do you mean Boney surely if she was stumbling around even if it was illness, she should still not be driving.

-she was stumbling
-couldn't talk properly
-stank like a brewery staffed by very clumsy people

my friend said- "that lady stinks of booze, she is drunk and drove here..."
HT "we know, I'm afraid there's nothing we're able to do about it"

am paraphrasing.

Call the police if it happens again. I would also report to social services as she's putting her children in danger.

This is actually doing my head in. Your friend should have called the police. If you see her acting drunk at pick up tomorrow, you call the police. Personally, I wouldn't be involving school or SS about something I didn't witness myself. But I would always, always, always phone 999 if I saw a drunk person attempting to go near their car. What happens next I actually don't care about - what I care about is a drunk driver not running my DS over at a crossing.

It really makes me sick that people let other people get away with this. My ExDP works in a restaurant where people will frequently come in at lunch time, drink a couple of bottles of wine, then get in their giant cars and drive around the narrow winding roads!! When i asked him why he doesn't say anything to them he says the same 'there's nothing we can do' err... yes you can, you can call the police because IT IS ILLEGAL!!!

School should not be releasing children to drunk parent. They should call police and social services and not hand over the children.

However as the school aren't acting you should. If you see it happening call 999.

As an example I have had labyrinthitis couldn't walk in a straight line and was told by the doctor to carry on as normal.

labyrinthitis

This was when I worked with heavy machinery, I had to ask to be signed off work, something that you can't do with kids.