To ignore the school parking diktat?

[Ginmakesitallok]

I drive to drop off andpick kids up from school - too far to walk and on my way to work. Its busy, but i usually get a space in the street beside school.

Theres a note in a recent school newsletter to say that parents shouldn't drive into this street, that there's no parking for parents there and that the yellow lines are for kids safety.

Now - it's a public road, no restricted parking, only yellow lines are at junctions where I'd never park. Surely the school can't think that it can stop parents parking where they want if they are parking legally??

Golly gosh mary you seem terribly invested to prove all resudents who object to parents causing chaos in their streets are unreasonable.

I'm not "invested" at all and certainly don't think that residents who complain about people parking illegally or very inconsiderately are unreasonable. There are those people (not just residents near schools) who seem to think that only they can park on their street though and don't seem to get the fact that everyone has as much right to park there as they do. There might be many reasons for driving to school and if it isn't illegal and they don't park inconsiderately it is unreasonable to complain.

I know several parents who drive a couple of hundred metres and have zero disabilities. They just can't be bothered to walk. They'll cheerfully tell you this

I'm sure there are people who are capable of walking but equally not every single person you judge to be lazy will be. Do you actually ask people if they have disabilities. I certainly don't discuss mine with anybody and unless you see me walk for more than a certain distance (when my legs get tired) you wouldn't have a clue.

Please don't ignore. An ambulance couldn't get down our school's road last week due to parents parking on both sides.

You do seem incredibly invested, more so with each post

Not at all. I actually lived very near to my children's primary school so did walk. I wouldn't have been able to if we had lived further away though. I just don't like people making assumptions about who should and shouldn't walk.

Of course I am not crass enough to ask strangers if they are disabled. What a peculiar thing to suggest. If you'd bothered to read my post instead of rushing to try to validate your stance you would have seen that I said they admit to driving because they are too lazy to walk. It really couldn't be much clearer

I asked if you would ask anyone if they were disabled, not just strangers. I presume you don't as it would be rude and therefore you are unlikely to always know if people can or can't walk. As I said, I wouldn't tell you and you wouldn't know so you would think I was lazy.

And it is perfectly reasonable to complain when parents park across drives
Park in disabled bays
Drive at speed
Do three point turns in a cul de sac full of other cars and kids
Sit in their cars for 30 mins with the engine running (that's actually illegal)

I've haven't suggested otherwise.

I think some of these people are so pig headed they won't stop until they have no choice. The sooner roads around schools are made permit parking only the better.

Mary you do love the emoticon don't you?

Inconsiderate parking winds me right up when our kids were at primary the amount of arguments my OH had with lazy inconsiderate parkers was unbelievable we had to drive to school as it was 5 miles away from our home and never ever parked illegally or inconsiderately. Sadly I've seen children hurt by cars rushing to get that 'parking spot' at all costs. Make the streets near the school resident permit parking only

It's not just one entitled person parking though is it, it's cars turning into a street, cars backing into parking spaces, cars pulling out of spaces, cars waiting to take the freed up spaces so blocking the road to other road users, cars even trying to do three point turns in a street, all cause inconvenience, noise and most importantly potential danger for parents, children and other pedestrians trying to cross the road outside a school.

I am horrified by the number of entitled " it's my right innit". who think only of their own convenience and who clearly imagine their farts smell of roses.

I should have added the arguments he had were with other parents who felt they could park anywhere and it was their right as ' I pay my Road tax' got said a lot

I will never forget the day I dropped my daughter near school, complying with the schools policy for cars and parking and saw a selfish cow who was ignoring the policy hit her with her big shiny car, she flew through the air and narrowly missed hitting the kerb with her head. She was in plaster for 7 weeks and 15 years later still has pain from the accident.

Guess, go on guess if I think YABU.

And as a person who has been disabled since birth I don't need you lecturing me on disabilities, hidden or otherwise.

I am not lecturing you on hidden disabilities. I am questioning your opinion that you always know whether someone has disabilities ie. you assume that even if they are hidden they would tell you or that it would be common knowledge. That isn't always the case. I certainly don't let people know.

Mary you are going off on a bit of a tangent here though. Most people who park inconsiderately are not disabled, just pig headed and thoughtless.

Granny then you have been through my worst nightmare . I am so sorry.

Our school is next to a public car park (probably 30-40 spaces), opposite a private car park that we're explicitly allowed to use, and less than five minutes down the road from a public car park which we're explicitly encouraged to use.

Why don't people walk their kids to school anymore? It's like they suddenly lose the use of their legs once they have kids. Unless you live miles away get off your backsides and bloody well walk. I don't ever remember being driven to school as a child, I walked every day rain or shine. Ive obviously lived to tell the tale.

I had a SAHM; my DC have two working parents. That's the difference in our family and a reflection of changing times.

I never park in the nearest car park. Usually the second nearest; if we've left the house without WW3 breaking out and I'm not immediately driving to a meeting then the further one. The parking is noticeably straighter in the further car parks - I've seen someone take up three spaces in the nearest one by "parking" so inaccurately. And agree with pp re drop off zone - a certain 4x4 driver arrives at least twenty minutes early to bagsy her favourite "parking space" in the drop off zone

We are so lucky to have proper parking. Congestion is an issue but parking less so (except for events like Nativity). However we have a very high sibling rate so there's maybe a car per two or three driven children, rather than one each; we are also oversubscribed with a small catchment so non-siblings are all very local.

We live opposite a school, there's a coliseum in the same street with a massive car park behind it and they have given permission for parents to use the car park every day for the school run, it's less than a minutes walk from the car park but people are still too lazy to use it as would rather park right outside the school blocking the pavements/roads. One time I couldn't get out of the house with my baby in the pram as someone was parked on the pavement right up against my gate! I had to wait 15 minutes for the parent to come out if school so that I could leave the house

Don't be so lazy and inconsiderate!

I would love to hear from OP or someone else in the 'park where you like if you're not breaking the law - fuck the school' camp about an issue which I raised upthread.

If the HT has put this notice in the newsletter, there will have been complaints from local residents. I have a particular insight on this as I am an assistant head and DH is a deputy. At both of our schools, and those of our colleagues, parents' parking is an issue. Senior leaders literally lose hours every week dealing with the fallout and complaints from this sort of thing; hours which should be spent on matters which directly affect your children's education.

Are you OK with this?

If I was a head teacher and folk were complaining to me I'd tell them that I didn't have the authority to tell people where to park and that if they witness dangerous/illegal parking to contact police/ council. I wouldn't spend hours talking to them about something over which I had no control

Pieface, thank you. I didn't realise it was still so raw. I try not to dwell on it but it happened at this time of year, week before half term and I always get a bit upset about it.

I can never understand the unreasonable people that live near schools.

1. They think that they own the road because they have brought 1 house in it
2. THEY HAVE BROUGHT A HOUSE IN THE SAME ROAD AS A SCHOOL WHAT DID THEY HONESLY EXPECT
3. Parents are only parked for 5-10 mins twice a day for drop offs and pick ups.

I can no longer drive down the road of my daughters school as there is a strict £100 fine for all parents stopping in that road (parking or not) between the times of 8-9 and 3-4. So now the parents are parking in adjacent roads and the residents of those roads are now starting. Honestly we can't win! We are just trying to get our child in and out of school safely!

I live very near a school. I don't care who parks on my road, and I certainly don't think I have a 'space' outside my house. I do however find it antisocial and rude when parents block me in especialy when there is carpark oooh about 30 metres from the school. People park on my road and obstruct traffic just so they can save themselves the trouble of getting in and out of the car park and walking 30 metres ...I have complained to the school but only when a staff member was blocking my exit as she was being dropped off and insisted on having a chat with the driver....Other than that there is little I can do about the generic rude arseholes...

Charlottelouisa, I bought a house near a school but not near enough to have people parking in my road. The school has been rebuilt, it originally took just over 200 children now it takes over 600. Obviously they travel further so as well as more children a higher percentage travel by car, when my kids were at the school and my neighbours children went there most children walked, now most are driven.

If you want to get your child into school safely and ensure safety for all the other children then park further from the school and walk. If people park further away they get spread out more than if they are all trying to park within 50 yrds.

Yeah it may be legal to park there but may be dangerous, you cant possibly be sure of every safety aspect of it.

Id just park somewhere else....im sure it wont hurt you to walk a bit further