Man keeps putting traffic cones on road outside school

[lottieandmia]

There is a road outside my dd's school where parents have to park to do the school run. A man who lives opposite this road has started putting cones up on the raised curb opposite his house to stop people parking. These cones take up about 5 parking spaces. The situation with traffic and parking before this happened was chaos anyway and now it is even worse.

Are there any legitimate reasons why he would be allowed to do this? It seems to me he doesn't have the right to stop people parking and this has now been going on for about 3 months.

[lottieandmia]

The road is wide and he has no problem getting in or out of his drive.

[lottieandmia]

'but why is it so annoying for you'

Because he doesn't have any right - he does not own the road.

[FreudiansSlipper]

i have said in my posts if there is a reason why you need to park outside school fair enough the school should be doing something about it

if there is not you can park close by then walk

[lottiegarbanzo]

I'm always amazed at how compliant people are when cones have clearly been out out by residents, not the police or highways authority. Just move them!

He's blocking the public highway, which is illegal, so if it becomes more of an issue, call the police non-emergency number.

If I was putting cones out because I had a skip or a removal van coming - so as an indication of a request to leave the space free - I'd tape a note to them, making that request clear. In that case I'd hope people would be nice but they don't have to be.

[CalamityJ]

OP I'd agree some people have missed the point. If you have to drive your kids to school (some people cannot walk their kids to school that's just a fact of life, some can but choose not to, that's also just the way life goes, the OP is not looking for a discussion on whether people should or should not walk their kids to school) then people who live near schools should expect parents to park outside their house. Not on their driveway like a famous recent post, nor across dropped kerbs, H bars, yellow lines or zig zags. OP is quite clear none of these are the case. What OP wants to know is is it allowed and if not what should she do to free up the 5 spaces the man is coning off. As others have said if parents don't park outside his house they will park outside someone else's because not all parents can walk their kids to school


So OP you have several choices

A) talk to the man, ask him why he's doing it and ask him not it
B) talk to the school and ask their advice
C) phone the local authority and ask their advice
D) phone 101 and ask for police advice

How does that sound?

[lottieandmia]

Most people live quite a distance from school, hence the chaos at pick up time with cars - the school is not in walking distance for most people.

[ICantRememberWhatSheSaid]

Can you just park there anyway?

[FreudiansSlipper]

do you have to park right outside? do all these parents that cause chaos have to park outside

if not and a few do take it up with the council and school if not just shrug your shoulders, park elsewhere and walk

[hamilton75]

Freudian the man is committing an offence whereas the OP is not. He can be prosecuted. Its up to the highways authority to consider whether he is causing an obstruction or a danger, not the OP.

[ArbitraryUsername]

Freudian: but parking close and walking just means parking outside someone else's house. Should everyone who lives within 20 minutes walk of a school all start coning off the public roads outside their house?

Maybe he's expecting the queen, and has been for the last few months, so he feels the need to save sufficient spaces for her and her entourage.

[lottieandmia]

'Maybe he's expecting the queen, and has been for the last few months, so he feels the need to save sufficient spaces for her and her entourage.'

[lottieandmia]

Yes, in the surrounding roads the residents are even more annoyed if you park outside their houses. And on one of the roads there is nowhere that you can legally park.

[memphis83]

Call the pcso or council, my friend had an accident which meant he was in a wheelchair for a few months and asked if he put cones outside his house so he could be dropped at the door and was told it is illegal so couldn't do it.

[FreudiansSlipper]

i am not saying he has the right to but i can understand why

what i am saying is do you need to park right outside the schools there are so many threads on here about having the right because blah blah blah

i often have to pick up ds by car after work there is one space and one disabled parking space if the space is free great if not i have to either pay or park a few roads away and walk not a big deal sometimes i even have to run if i have been stuck in traffic while many will park in either space or on the lines, double park and so on because they are only going to be a minute and cba to walk

[Montybojangles]

Does he possibly have a disable relative who is at daycare/school and is dropped off by an ambulance around school time daily that requires a wide turning point to get back out of his drive?

Is he worried about the children's safety after seeing on almost get knocked over crossing next to parked cars?

Does parking there make th road too narrow for emergency vehicles to pass if the school is on fire?

Who knows unless you ask him.

He really needs to ask the council to put lines on the road if he has concerns, but there is likely to be a reason (however odd) behind him doing it. It's not like he has put them on the road directly outside his home, but opposite, so not related to saving a space.

[Montybojangles]

Grr iPad.
Disabled
After seeing one
The road

[TheRealFellatio]

Freudian do you always park a five minute walk away from everywhere you need to go? What about if you were nipping into a local shop? I bet you don't, I bet you park in the most convenient, legal place. And why shouldn't you? If the person living closest to the shop doesn't like it then they should not have bought a house next door to a shop. I sympathise with people that have to tolerate illegal or obstructive parking, I get that it must be tedious living near rail stations or schools, but I am afraid that so long as it is legal they will just have to suck it up. No-one has the right to an exclusive parking space outside their own home unless they pay for it.

Telling people they are lazy or selfish for wanting to park 'right outside' is pointless - if they listen to you then all that does is push the situation onto some other person who feels just the same as you do, but who didn't buy a house quite so close to the school, or the shop or the station!

[Imsosorryalan]

Another parking thread..

To be honest, until councils start providing a suitable car park for every school, there will always be parking issues. People drive cars, end of. Whether out of laziness, convenience or need, there will always be people driving cars.
It's not up to residents, parents or schools to sort out these problems. You sould all be lobbying your local mp for decent school parking.

[TheRealFellatio]

and I think you'll find that many people do park a few streets away and walk - no school has enough space right outside for everyone. But it doesn't stop people in the further off side streets get the hump as well.

[PrettyKitty1986]

I've only skimmed the thread but haven't seen the most obvious answer (to me).

Pull over as near as possible to cones.
Jump out (give a quick apologetic wave to any cars waiting behind you).
Collect aforementioned cones in a pile and leave on the side.
Park where the cones were.

Can't imagine the man will bother for long if you do this every day. Plus, if the cones are keeping all others away, you have the equivalent of a kept space just for you- bonus!

[FreudiansSlipper]

if there is a clear space outside a shop i will park there

if it is chaos as so many people are trying to park in a few spaces why add to it i park elsewhere and walk no big deal

i know how lazy a car can make you i have caught myself being fucked off by having to walk 50 meters and realised how lazy i was being as i am able to walk without any problems

it

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

hellooooooo there yup. It's been suggested she move the cones and park.

[TheRealFellatio]

they will never do that Imsorry because it will be seen as kowtowing to drivers, and going against all government attempts to get people to cut down on car use. But the trouble is, public transport is often very poor and very expensive (outside of major towns and cities) people are afforded 'choice' when it comes to picking schools out of their catchment, or they are allocated far away schools due to over-subscription within catchment. And parents often have to get straight to work so cannot afford the time to walk back home again to get the car.

I don't know what the answer is, and I suspect there isn't one to suit everybody, but whining NIMBYs could make everyone's lives a bit easier by just accepting that it's not all about them, and they don't have a right to dictate where people can and cannot legally park. It gets on my tits.

[Latara]

Just move the cones and hide them.

[Latara]

Or wear them on your head like a student... ok hiding them is better.