To be dreading leaving the house shortly and running the gauntlet of the parents who pick up kids from school in the car

Hve a look at this It may not help but it may make you laugh

Is it a private road or a road with residents only parking? If not the parents can park there all day.
Must be annoying the double/ triple parking though every morning/afternoon!!

Contact the school or local police station, they can send a traffic warden round to issue tickets.

Why don't you walk?

I don't get all this angst. It's 15 minutes max and then they clear off. All the teachers at my DSs school park beside it all day and no one minds.

Inconsiderate bloody mindedness from parents without an ability to park - surely not!

Just take pictures with all number plates and if possible people in view of the illegally parked cars, then send to police and ask for action. Also Council as this is a clear safety issue.

Or move, really is ain't going to change that much!

The mornings aren't too bad here because the parents dump and run but home time is horrendous.

Some of the parents arrive half an hour before the end of school so their precious darlings don't wear out unnecessary shoe leather walking 100 yards down the road to their waiting car.

Mostly they don't block our drive totally but park half on half off the pavement right up as far as the gateposts, not very safe for those sensible children walking home (all aged 11 and over) or very afe for us trying to exit or enter our drive in a narrow lane. If we go out and arrive back at school hometime we sometimes cannot get into our drive because parents just park over the entrance if there is no space. DH now stays in the middle of the road and sounds his horn until they move out of the way.

We wanted to leave for an appointment last week and someone was parked over the drive and I asked her to move so we could get out. The woman had the cheek to say she woudn't be there for much longer because it was nearly home time. I said we neded to leave then not in 10 minutes so she'd have to move and she swore and muttered but moved eventually.

There is no reason for most of the young people to be picked up by car, most live well within walking distance.

Every so often the police arrive and blitz them with tickets but they soon revert to their old ways. The lane is narrow and anyone parking is technically causing an obstruction as the police tell them. Some seem to see the zig zag lines as reserved parking for idiots.

One day a child will be knocked over, how can people be so selfish and careless of the safety of others?

I would imagine - honestly - that most of the problems occur because there is nowhere else to park, or not easily anyway.

I hate parking at school, even though it is all empty residents' bays at that time of day - I hate causing any sort of nuisance to anyone. But the fact is, you have to take your children to school, and sometimes you have to drive (mile and 3/4 here) and therefore you have to park.

I'm sure no one wants to cause all these issues. But many schools do not have sufficient safe, easily accessible parking and so this is what happens.

that website has to be one of the most bitter, nasty pieces of work I have ever seen. It isn't funny, it's just wall to wall abuse. Particularly not liking their use of the word 'pissflaps' for 'woman driver who parked badly'

I'm sure no one wants to cause all these issues.

If that is true then please explain to me why the OP is talking about parents who live only a five minute walk away. Driving a child to school when you live less than a mile and it sounds like in some cases considerably less than a mile is so irresponsible. These little kids are not going to have a planet left to bring children and grandchildren of their own into the world and it will totally not be their fault.

A young boy was knocked over at DSs school the other week and we've nearly been caught a couple of times by somebody's fender as they've pulled onto the pavement whilst we were walking along the pavement. The police came down for a week or so after the accident, moving people on but as soon as there were no police, they were back again, covering driveways, double-parking, pulling onto the pavement as people went past. Thing is, there is plenty of parking in the nearby streets if you are prepared to walk for an extra two minutes and it would stop them having to wait for five minutes because they can't get pulled back out into the traffic. It is so bad where I work (3 schools, two on one side of the road and 1 on the other, opposite to each other) I get to work an hour early as otherwise I would spend an extra 20 mins trying to weave in and out of the parked cars/dodge children/avoiding being hit by the double decker buses forcing their way through.

Oh gosh yanbu!!!! I work during drop off hours, but am part of a school and am constantly shocked at the driving/parking by parents! Its so annoying because thet are so concerned about their precious kiddies but couldnt give a shit about anyone elses! The amount of close calls ive seen is unreal...we are in a town but on a narrow road so parking is an issue. Also lots of fun when the school bus gets stick halfway to school as people park like dickheads!

What really annoys me is these parents park at school from 2pm onwards so they can get the best spot, then wait for 90mins till the bell!!! What a waste of life! You would surely just tell your kid to wait 10 mins and pick them up after the crush rather than sitting with your engine on for 90 mins?! (Obviously older kids, wouldnt expect a 5year old to wait).

I don't know the individuals concerned. Of course there may be some unpleasant, selfish people among them. There are people like that everywhere.

However in a lot of cases - well at our school anyway - people do walk if they are able to, there are no parking spaces anywhere within less than a 10-15 minute walk, and even if people do rive a five minute walk to school it is probably because they need to drive on to work or other childcare etc afterwards.

I certainly wouldn't do it if I had other reasonable options.

Shabby, if I get to school less than half an hour or so before the bell, there are literally often no spaces left. We have to either park on a corner or omething or go round in circles for 15 minutes till someone leaves.

It's ridiculous, but that's the problem with some schools just being in places where there's no parking.

I realise parking is an issue for many but where i am there are many streets to park on, but people would rather get a prime spot outside the gate than walk the 2mins round the corner. Its actually funny sometimes, as you can see everyone fighting over spaces, then look out of the window opposite and see a whole street empty. People are just lazy. There are 2 roads jam packed, blocking drives, nearly killing various small children etc then there is nothing on the next road!

surely if people have 30 to 90 minutes to waste sitting outside a school to 'bag' a parking space they could have walked? You can walk miles in that time!

surely if people have 30 to 90 minutes to waste sitting outside a school to 'bag' a parking space they could have walked? You can walk miles in that time!

^^ This

Shabby, that does sound silly.

Our school isn't like that - there's no parking anywhere else.

Infamous - it might sound very easy when you think of it like that. But that ignores all the different reasons why people drive their children to school.

Perhaps it takes half an hour each way for some (it does for us)
Perhaps some travel from work, or have to pick up other children too, in a different place.
Perhaps people need to drive so they can pick up large essentials (pet supplies, shopping) on the same journey.

Perhaps people need their walking energy to do all the stuff they have got to do at home later...or perhaps they don't want knackered children for the evening. Perhaps they have a small baby and are simply too tired to walk.

It's not just a question of time.

People do that at our school too. I don't as I work full time so dc in breakfast and after school club where you actually get to park in the school for drop offs and pick up!

Yes they might live 5 minutes away but they might drop off & then go straight on to work

Or they might pick up & go straight on to ballet , swimming etc etc