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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My colleague has been reported to school for using her mobile whilst driving?

126 replies

scottishegg · 21/05/2015 19:01

Hi all a teacher at my daughters local school was driving through the local town apparently on her phone when driving and has been reported to our headteacher by another parent the head has taken no further action but just informed her she was seen ( she hasn't yet confirmed or denied this) It was on a weekend in her own vehicle (no one else was in the car)

Who's being unreasonable? The parent for reporting it or the staff member for doing it?

OP posts:
ilovesooty · 21/05/2015 19:51

Feminine I got the impression that the parent who apparently saw the incident and the parent who reported were different people.

Feminine · 21/05/2015 19:55

You are probably right sooty l've read it back three times, and it is starting to read like gobaldy goop!
Not op, me! I have a virus. ;)

cricketballs · 21/05/2015 20:06

Teaching is a job, not a way of life pseudo something I have to remind my own DM about when she hears I've been a bit tiddly

Pseudonym99 · 21/05/2015 22:28

Its not a job. It is a professional career, and with that comes responsibilities and a professional code of conduct, which has to be adhered to outside as well as inside work.

DocHollywood · 21/05/2015 22:36

So if you saw a teacher doing 40 in a 30mph zone you'd report them? To the HT? To the police?

Gabilan · 21/05/2015 22:48

Using your phone whilst driving is illegal. But as others have said, there's naff all the HT can or should do.

Personally if it had been me I'd have confronted the teacher personally rather than going to HT or the police. The police generally need fairly concrete evidence. Pointing out to the person on the phone the dangers, the facts about how much it slows your reaction time and the penalties they could incur is fair enough. I've known motorcyclists snatch mobiles off drivers. As a cyclist unless the traffic's bad you can't guarantee you'll get away fast enough but it's tempting.

RooftopCat · 21/05/2015 22:48

People complain to companies if their employees are driving like arses. This teacher was unlucky to be seen by a parent. As others have said the police probably couldn't do much anyway so what not embarrass the driver by reporting to the employer - it's dangerous driving.

DuelingFanjo · 21/05/2015 22:50

The staff member for doing it.. That's my final answer.

Gabilan · 21/05/2015 22:52

"People complain to companies if their employees are driving like arses"

I've done that but then that's when they're driving in a company vehicle and representing the company.

Tbh I'd be a lot harsher with people who cannot be bothered to concentrate when driving than the police and justice system currently are.

Handsoff7 · 21/05/2015 22:53

The parent was unreasonable.

Teachers should face the same level of law enforcement as everyone else, not have parents of pupils acting like Stasi informants.

ComposHatComesBack · 21/05/2015 22:57

These are the actions of a cowardly snitch whose sole motivation seems to be to land the teacher in bother at work. Doubly so if the person who had approached the HT hadn't witnessed the incident and was just relaying second hand gossip.

If this person was genuinely concerned by public safety they'd have alerted the police, but their actions seem to be motivated by spite.

MysteryMan1 · 21/05/2015 23:18

The head teacher was unreasonable. Should have reported to the police IMO. Was it texting near the school? All well and good till she kills a child. Then they will put up a speed camera.

26Point2Miles · 21/05/2015 23:22

Lol at its 'not a job it's a professional career' Grin

Seriously, it's just a job these days.

Police can't act unless they have proof. Headteacher also has no proof.

PrettyInPinkPan · 21/05/2015 23:25

Let's face it though, phone use whilst driving is absolutely rife. People who ride bikes have a unique position to witness it all - checking other traffic/driver movements is an essential riding skill. The evidential problem is one where the use must be observed by a police officer and this is highly unlikely to happen, so a massive deterence is required to reduce the incidence.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 21/05/2015 23:26

Yep, as infuriating as it is there was really no point in anyone reporting it anywhere. Unless they happened to video the incident.

The Police can do nothing without proof. The HT can do nothing full stop.

DejaVuAllOverAgain · 21/05/2015 23:28

Teacher was BVU to be using the phone while driving.

I suspect the parent reported it to the head because they knew the police would do nothing and thought being named and shamed to the head may make the teacher think twice before doing it again.

stargazer2030 · 21/05/2015 23:29

There is no proof this actually happened. It could be s malicious report from a parent with a grudge. Without evidence what can anyone do? It seems bizarre to report it to the head and not the police?

ThereIsNoSuchThingAsRoadTax · 21/05/2015 23:53

Would you all be talking about 'grassing' or being a 'snitch' if someone had been drink driving? Using a mobile (or even driving when tired or around 4am) is about as dangerous as being slightly over the drink drive limit. It massively impairs your awareness of the road and your ability to react quickly.

kungfupannda · 22/05/2015 00:03

Well, it was a bit pointless from a legal point of view as the HT doesn't have the power to do anything.

But from a practical point of view, getting a bit of an informal bollocking from her boss, and knowing that she's being gossiped about among the parents, might make her paranoid enough not to do it again. One less person driving dangerously on the roads.

People on phones are a bloody menace. They all seem to think they're about 1000% cleverer than they are - clever enough to be able to keep a fast-moving vehicle in a straight line while entirely failing to look where they're going. Someone I know slightly was injured, and had her car written off, in a head-on collision with a driver who veered onto the wrong side of the road while on her phone. The driver was prosecuted.

ComposHatComesBack · 22/05/2015 00:17

Would you all be talking about 'grassing' or being a 'snitch' if someone had been drink driving

To my mind the difference between being a snitch is the motivation. They had no proof and may have been acting on second hand tittle tattle so the only motivation was spite.

NRomanoff · 22/05/2015 07:11

The teacher was bu if she was driving on her phone. Because its illand dangerous.

The person that reported her to the head was bu. If she felt the need to report her, this was the wrong person to do it to.

The head was not bu, to not do anything. All they have is one persons word for it (and the reporting comes across as spiteful). Even if they knew they were driving whilst on their phone, unless there is something in the teachers contract there is nothing the school can do. Possibly they could had she been caught by the police. But probably not even then.

What did this women expect the school to do?

AuntieStella · 22/05/2015 07:16

Dangerous driving is a shit thing for anyone to be doing in a town.

If you're a person who is readily identifiable in that town, then you have to accept that people will know who you are if they see your offending. And being talked about goes with that.

I also agree that telling head is preferable to telling the police (from the offender's POV).

Your colleague should that her lucky starts she's essentially got away with it. And cut out the illegal actions in future.

BaronessEllaSaturday · 22/05/2015 07:24

Do you really have to ask if the staff member was unreasonable to be using her mobile while driving it is illegal for a reason. The parent who saw her wnbu to report her but the police would have been a better option.

Reddragon116 · 22/05/2015 07:26

I do find it quite bizarre that the assumption is that the teacher is guilty. Even more bizare than its the heads job to 'police' teachers driving at weekends.

Littlemonstersrule · 22/05/2015 07:36

I don't think it's off to tell the head. Teachers do drive children in their own cars at some schools and as a parent wouldn't everyone want a driver they was safe rather than using her mobile?