Lifts and petrol money conundrum

[Juicypineapple]

Ok I'm going to be intentionally vague so apologies in advance.

A lives in the same street as B but they don't really know each other although the kids are good friends. Both peoples dc start at the same school which is some distance away.

A takes her son to school in the car which takes 20 minutes
Bs dc go to school on the bus which is 45 minutes to an hour in traffic and includes a bus change.

A starts to offer Bs dc a lift home when she sees them at home time.
This isn't daily as sometimes the son and other dc are in afterschool sessions or not in the same classes or simply don't see each other that day.

Bs dc continue to catch the bus to school and home when not with As son.

B has not offered petrol money to A as B feels she is paying £70 a month for her two children's bus pass which covers them to school and back and doesn't really want to be paying even more out.

B feels it is silly to leave the two children to navigate the buses on the days they are in class together when they live in the same street but would appreciate a gesture of a small offer towards petrol

Who is in the wrong

Should Bs dc refuse the lift if they aren't offering money?

Should A stop offering to take the dc?

Over to you.

As A is already making the journey back and forth to school, it costs her no extra to give B a lift home.

If A tried to charge 'petrol money' she would be in fact making a profit and therefore an illegal taxi driver.

A can not charge B for lifts.

I would be embarrassed if someone gave me anything-even flowers- if I was A.

Absolute nonsense that anyone even suggested the parents of the child getting a lift should even offer anything. Fairly incredible that the lift giver didn't just say "Don't be ridiculous, I'm doing the trip anyway".

Over years I've taken and dropped other dc all over the place, I wouldn't dream of taking any money, and that's on a weekly basis - can't believe itwould even enter anyone's head for a sort of an ad hoc, just happened to see them as passing sort of a lift !

If B or B's DC had asked for lifts or if A was providing regular lifts so no bus pass was necessary then a monetary contribution would be very reasonable even though A isn't incurring any extra cost or time - it would be the decent thing to do. But A is volunteering & B still has to pay the same amount for buses whether her kids are on them or not. So A is being grabby (and a bitch). B's DC need to be told that if they accept further lifts they'll have to be paying that "taxi fare" out of their pocket money - that'll teach them

Hmm...I'm 99.9% sure I know who the OP is and she's "A" if I'm right.

I apologise if I'm wrong but this situation is identical to nasty gossip I've heard and "B" is absolutely not the type of person to post on a public forum whereas "A" is.

I might be wrong, it could be entirely different people in a different county or country even but the situation is identical to something going on at the school my children attend. FWIW I'm not "friends" with either party but I think "A"is in the wrong for agreeing that "B" should be paying.

What do you mean - the type of person to post on a forum? Is there a type? I'm not so sure there is. I consider myself to be a good kind person but equally there will be other sorts posting

A shouldn't expect cash. B should slip her a bottle of wine at xmas and the end of the year as a good will gesture.

Even if OP is A, does it really matter? It's fine for people to get other people's opinions.

I read the original post, I did not read 6 pages for OP to give more info.

Sounds like A & B need to speak to each other to sort it out rathe than leave it to the kids