to be furious at this school run parking nightmare woman?

[missced]

So, excuse me while I try to calm down..... it has only just happened you see! . Usual scenario,, busy residential street, school run parking at a premium. I always scrupulously avoid parking over residents driveway exits where there is a single dropped kerb. I have just been told off by some van driver's wife (house has four cars parked out front) for parking over part of their double dropped kerb. Their kerb is twice the size of everyone else's, no doubt to feed their car collecting fetish, but my point is, as I made politely to her, that I had left an exit for her. It just wasn't the one she wanted to use. I know tempers get inflamed at these times, but our local situation is terrible, and I try my best not to upset anyone. I used to live on the same road, it's a small community, and I don't want to be unreasonable but this woman was so condescending and entitled and told me off like a six year old with a toileting problem. If it was a question of access for pushchairs, wheelchairs or the blind it would be different. Why should she assume she can have two free spaces on the street outside her house when everyone else gets one? I am looking forward to tomorrow's parking battle .

DS primary school has arranged with a local church (about 3 mins walk away, no roads to cross) that parents can park there. They have the same arrangement with a pub about 5 minutes walk away (again no roads, one subway). They have a walking bus (used by about 10 children) - yet the same parents still insist on fighting to park directly outside the school even if it means parking illegally and driving dangerously to do so.

The school has a carchement of less than a mile too.

If people are selfish then nothing will change that!

There is some misinformation on here. The Highway Code isn't law but anywhere where you see use of MUST or MUST NOT, then there is a piece of legislation which covers the instruction.

In this case the issue is obstruction of the highway under the Highways Act. If you are blocking someone from entering the road then you're obstructing the highway. Same if you're blocking a pedestrian crossing.

As the owner of the adjacent property you have no right to control who parks in front of the dropped kerb, it is public highway not your land. However if someone is obstructing you they're causing an offence.

Sorry YABU. We have an off road parking space opposite our house, double dropped curb. We are also one road over from the school so it is busy at pick up drop off times. Doesn't mean that people are entitled to block access to our parking space. Also if it's anything like our road, people are not parking there because it's the only free space on the road but because it's the most convenient, which is probably why the woman was pissed off. She was wrong to speak to you in a patronising manner but it's not up to you to decide that she's not entitled to a double dropped curb and partially block it.

Except people are, technically, in normal circumstances, entitled to park over a dropped kerb, provided they aren't blocking anyone in, and provided there are no parking restrictions (double yellows, single yellows and signage; white lines apparently don't count). Ref my previous post about police staff constantly doing it to friend. It's mean if you're blocking someone out but as others have pointed out, paying for a dropped kerb doesn't magically give you ownership of the road outside your house. Unless the law has changed recently?

If she was parked on the drive and you 'blocked her access to the highway' then yes, you are in the wrong. If she could still get off of the drive or wasn't parked on the drive then you CAN park there. Police would not ask you to move the car except to keep the peace.

well done op fair dos to you for coming back

our close ha a couple of dropped kerbs-none of us park over them wther theyre in or out we just have manners and lucky enough the school isnt right on top of us

At my children's junior school there were 3 dropped curbs, not for drives but purely for pushchair access. These were almost always parked over by people (of one gender) that really should know better.

It was just over a mile so I opted instead to walk them to school and that way the dogs got exercise too :O) Now they've moved up (years 8 & 9) they walk themselves...so less cars on the road. Although I do notice that some parents that live on my street who's children attend the same school choose to drop their children to the same school...also predominantly of one gender.

Is it a coincidence at:

a) The use of a car unnecessarily?
b) The poor parking etiquette?

Flame suit on!

Well done OP!

Can the people writing 'school mums' stop. I live next to a school and, guess what, the arsesole drivers are not just female, or mums for that matter. Hate it when women are stereotyping other women. Ffs it's like reading the dailymail.

Rant over. As you were.

Oh god yes claire

I was talking about a child that got hit by a car outside a SECONDARY school

Friend (a bit fogged from perscription drugs) started blethering on about it being school run mums

I got annoyed as its a major road used by everyone!!!!

Took me a while to realise that she was talking about the INFANT school

Still not all bloody mums though although to be fair to her the vast majority at the infant school are mums...still not all of them

I wonder what people's thoughts are on my parking problems. I have just moved to a small village, all old cottages, not designed for cars. My house actually has a drive, however it is between two cottages and my current car (a SEAT Alhambra) is too wide to fit down. As a result I have to park on the road. Parking is an issue as we have a very successful pub with a very small car park. I've had a note on my car requesting I don't park on the street I live on so the residents can park directly outside their own house (some of the street is wider - directly outside my house it is too narrow to park and not obstruct traffic) then yesterday a neighbour shouted and swore at me for parking opposite his house. I was very polite and did explain that my next car purchase will be small enough to fit but that given I've just bought a house it's not possible in the immediate future he continued to shout at me for being in his way. Now when I say opposite I mean not obstructing anyone (his wife parks on the pavement on his side of the road) there are no houses on the other side of the road and there are no parking restrictions. I was so shocked I moved my car further away from my house. I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable, I'm not the only resident that needs to park away from their house because of the narrow street and lack of driveways. Would you park the half mile away out of the village or continue to park on the village road given that legally I'm entitled to park anywhere and that actually parking opposite his house doesn't inconvenience him in any way other than he looks at my car and not a wall. What would you do? Oh and I have 7 year old twins so the further away we park the further I have to walk them to the car with all their school things (not in itself a huge problem).

rach, your neighbour is being completely unreasonable and you have no need to justify your car purchases to anyone. I'd carry on parking (legally obviously) as close to your house as you can. If your neighbour carries on shouting and swearing at you perhaps one of your community police force could come and have a word with him about parking laws and harrassment.

I agree with cat

Don't park further away, rach

Buggies,pushchair do not need a dropped kerb to negotiate up/down
Most buggies have adequate suspension,air filled tyres etc they can do kerb

'Kerbs', people, Kerbs.

Wheelchairs do though gimmee

Curb your annoyance, Blu.

A wheelchair is quite clearly not a buggie though,built to different spec.require a dropped kerb
McLaren,bugaboo,etc don't need a dropped kerb

Good advice Lweji.

If you park over a dropped kerb, you could be trapping someone in a wheelchair on the pavement. This happens to my mum loads, she goes to shops near her home, comes back along an irritatingly narrow pavement as it is and quite often finds that someone has parked a van across the only drop available for miles, leaving her either to wait for the driver or go back, get off somewhere else and attempt to drive her wheelchair along a busy road and risk getting hit or hold up traffic leading to a stream of abuse about how she should be on the pavement! Please think before you park - it's not just for cars and pushchairs!

Eh, dropped kerbs for buggy's ?
Dropped kerbs usually at corners of roads are to allow easy crossing for wheelchairs, people with sticks etc. And yes buggies but not exclusively for them.

As previous posters have said about 90% of idiots who park over my drive at school drop/pick up are female. They are also quite gobby, when you ask them to move. Don't care you pay your f'ing road tax, get of my dropped kerb.
It's not 5 mins either. One woman was conducting a 'business' call for half an hour blocking me in my drive despite the road 3 feet behind being free to park legally.

Ah it's a refreshing change to see that a unanimous YABU is taken on the chin by the OP. I'm almost disappointed OP that you haven't done a "you're all wrong and horrible aren't you supposed to be MOTHERS"

I also used to live in a block of flats on the same street as a school. Out of 12 flats, only 3 of us had cars. This led parents to believe they could park (badly) in the car park spaces, and some would regularly block the car park entrance, which made getting to work fun. Some simply just didn't look before pulling out and on the street itself there'd be cars parked either side of the road, meaning only one car could drive down the road at a time. Very often, parents unable to find a space would actually stop dead in the middle of the road, no way for me to get past, and fucking take their kids in leaving their car in the middle of the road

I always challenged these twats and not once did anyone apologise - they were all "but Tarquin has to be in registration for 8.50. I don't think I you realise how special my Tarquin is". nobs. Never again would I live near a school.

We used to live near a school and parents frequently parked across our drive. Some things you can't be late for and I was absolutely furious to have to call a cab for my son when another "Sorry. I was a bit longer than I thought" woman blocked him leaving for his A level. Surely a short walk for the kids isn't too big a price to pay for a little consideration?