To think the school should sort this out?

[hibbledibble]

I live near a school where lots of the parents drive, this is despite the school being in London with excellent public transport links.

The really annoying thing is the inconsiderate and downright dangerous parking. The school is on a narrow road, which is also quite busy.

The parents park on the road opposite the school on double yellow lines, which completely obstructs the road as there is only one lane left on a two way road. Nobody then gives way on the other lane and it becomes gridlocked.

It is also very dangerous for the children as they are emerging between parked cars. The parents also seem to park and drive like lunatics.

I have tried talking to both the school and the council to resolve this, but nothing changes. The school just says they have asked the parking attendants to come, but clearly parking fines do not put off these people.

Aibu to think the school should do more?

That is shocking harry.

Shouldn't the cars be towed if they are parked on the pavement?

The cars here don't park on the pavement, but there is an issue that they leave the doors wide open, which completely obstructs the narrow pavement. They really are inconsiderate shites.

Could the council put up fencing around the pavement?

Pretty much all the schools here in Los Angeles (and I believe it's fairly common around the country) have what we call "kiss and drop" organized and "staffed" by volunteer parents. There is a section of road by the school gate which is designated (usually with orange cones) for parents in cars to drop off their children. Several volunteer parents stand at the gate, open the car doors and usher the children into the gate. The parents line up nicely in their cars and it generally runs extremely smoothly. A similar situation happens at pickup although, maybe not quite so smoothly. When I lived in London, it was a nightmare getting my ds to school, as it was too far to walk there and back and still get to work on time and parking was extremely scarce. At the same time, we lived directly across the street from the Japanese School (a private school) and they had a "kiss and drop" type of scheme that worked extremely well....rarely if ever did a car park in front of our home or block our drive. I suggested several times to my ds' local state school that they try such a scheme, but they insisted that they didn't have the staff and such a scheme couldn't possibly be run by parents. I was very surprised to find when I returned to the USA that in fact such a scheme could in fact be run by parents and work extremely well.

Sofia that sounds interesting, but it sounds like it would still be a nightmare at pick up time?

I suppose technically they should be towed away, but they're not there long enough. In and out. That's why they think it's ok. Our school is in a 'Grove' so it's a round road and the school road branches off so there are lots of 'edges' and pavement corners to park on. I think people think they're being less obstructive parking on the whole of the pavement corner but it's the opposite.

The council have put bollards on the worst parts now, but like I said - it's not unusual for cars to squeeze in between the bollards.

I'm just not sure what else we can do. I have wondered about having an official volunteer parking enforcer who is backed by the council (therefore can issure fines etc) but who would want that job? I know I wouldn't feel safe

I also wonder, with the culture we have here where children should be encouraged to walk, that it would be a non-starter, as the school wouldn't want to be seen to encourage driving.

In London there are so many schools, and such good public transport, that there really is no excuse to drive.

The reason its not an issue at the other local schools is that they often have tiny catchments. This school is religious, so church attendance comes ahead of locality.

harry maybe if the council parking attendants cracked down it would make a difference?

Or could you campaign for fences instead of bollards, as they aren't working?

At dds previous school, The police would patrol at 3.15pm. Just as the kids were about to come out. Most parents are out of theirs cars by then. If they do it too early and leave then people will start parking like knobbers.

if no one is illegally parking there is little they can do. I drove even though the school was close, because I would have to go straight to work after. If I walked home and got the car I would be late for work.

I now work from home so 5 minutes here or there isn't an issue, so i park further away.

Sofia I like that idea. However schools over here usually have markings outside the school that 'should' stop parents parking outside the school. I would imagine this would confuse the situation.

Most Parents at our school work, not sure there would be enough people free to help with this 5 days per week.

"staffed" by volunteer parents

I guess the part that surprises me is that the parents have time to do this. Almost all my relatives in LA county with school-age children also have to work FT (both parents). One of my cousins doesn't have to work and all the other cousins are in awe of her. So nobody has time to stand around at school twice a day directing traffic. Most kids get to school by bus, anyway, at least the over 8s sure do.

sending staff out during collection and drop off time

surely it would make more sense for the residents (i.e. you), to do this rather than the staff. teachers and other staff are overworked already and I doubt they have time for this.

It's a little more chaotic at pickup, but I think that in some/many cases, the working parents do the drop off by car and then the nanny does the pickup on foot/parked farther away after school, or the children are in the after school program, so pickup doesn't happen until much later when there are only a few cars. In the 7 years that my children were at our local elementary, they never had a problem getting enough (only takes 2/3) parents to volunteer. Since the scheme works so well, the parents are only there for 20-30 minutes before school starts. At school starting time the gate is closed and locked and all stragglers have to park and go through the front office and sign their child in as late.

Markings telling parents not to park are standard outside schools...it doesn't seem to cause a problem with the "kiss and drop" as parents are not parking, they are just unloading a passenger. It is also all sanctioned and approved by the school and the City as it's so much safer than a lot of random cars parking and people walking/running every which way.
It does seem that perhaps trying to prevent parents from parking is not working because their need is greater than any disuasion. I know that for me, it really was not possible. I had a 3 year old who couldn't walk any great distance without drooping (we found out many years later that he actually had a medical reason for this) and an infant in a buggy which made for a 40 minute walk there (30 back) and a job with a start time that was not coordinated with the school start time and which didn't pay enough to pay someone else to do school drop off/pick up.

I asked the school, they had details, but you could probably find out from your local police force website.

OP I have already made suggestions - contact a local councillor who might take this up as an issue, contact community police, get some other parents on your side, campaign for a zebra crossing or other restrictions on parking that might be more attention-grabbing than a double yellow.
Did you just not read these as you are annoyed I don't think individual staff should be sent out to police the parking?

iggi I'm sorry I didn't realise you made those suggestions, and yes of course I read all the posts.

I'm genuinely interested in people's suggestions.

There are zebra crossings on either side of the school so that will probably be a bit of a non-starter. I contacted all my local councillors 2 weeks ago over a separate issue but still have had no reply. PCSO sound like a good idea, I will look how to contact them.

You need those really hard to remove stickers that say Stop Parking like a complete Twat

You need those really hard to remove stickers that say Stop Parking like a complete Twat grin

I wish there was a like button.

Unfortunately there is very little the school can do besides communicating to parents the need to drive and park considerately. As you know, the selfish parents that are responsible for the problems won't change because the school has written a memo in the weekly newsletter.
It's a public highway, the school has no control over it at all. They can speak with the council and the police, but sadly can't action anything.

There is a scheme in Haddington, East Lothian that only allows residents car access to the streets the schools are in at start and finish times. It's patrolled and patents sneaking in are fined. It's run by the council.

If one council can do this, presumably others can too?

I still don't understand why one wouldn't put effort into making things easier and more convenient for parents rather than more difficult.....just saying...if it's the same amount of time and energy) which it sure sounds like from all these proposals that everyone is coming up with to ban parents from dropping their kids by car)...why not have a positive thing like a "kiss and drop" rather than a negative thing like police and stickers and council schemes (all of which are expensive and time consuming).

How about asking the local fire station to visit at drop off time? make the point that if the engine can't make it to the school then the parents bad parking could mean their children burning to death?

I have four children at four different schools (2 in 2 separate high schools and two in separate infant/junior schools) I don't have time to park miles away from their schools, I have to pick one up and then be on my way to pick up the other, I've had three separate Parkin tickets and it doesn't bother me.

parking

Because there is a huge difference between the US road infrastructure and that in the UK.
My local school is in a residential cul de sac. There is no room for such a scheme, as the school is at a road end, the street is narrow and there is nowhere for cars to drop and then move on. Cars have to reverse and do a three point turn in the street that other parents are driving down.
The next nearest school is in a similar position, again it's position means there is no space for such a scheme to operate.
Good point about fire safety. Access by the emergency services was one if the points we raised with the council and they took it seriously. Not just for the school but also local residents