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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ignore the school parking diktat?

456 replies

Ginmakesitallok · 25/01/2017 10:28

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??

OP posts:
AskBasil · 25/01/2017 22:52

Look everyone who drives is part of the problem.

But there is no point haranguing individuals when what is needed to solve it, is a cultural change.

People drive to school, because a) they need to get to work straight after and b) it's cheaper than the bus / train and c) there is no law that says a driver is automatically at fault in a collision with a cyclist unless s/he can prove otherwise, as there is in other European countries, thus putting most people off cycling themselves and allowing their children to cycle to school. And d) a tiny minority, the ones everyone disproportionately concentrates on, are just very lazy, thoughtless and philistine and could realistically walk, but don't.

Until those problems are solved, there is no solution to this problem. School run cars, most of which are driven by women, account for about 20% of cars on the road in rush hour in term-time. Everyone goes mad about them. The 80% of cars, which are doing other stuff and are driven equally by men or women (probably slightly more men) are ignored.

People always complain about drivers. But not enough people want to give up their cars and pay more tax to completely re-design our infrastructure so that cyclists and pedestrians have right of way and it becomes more inconvenient and expensive to drive a car, than it does to make a journey any other way.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 22:53

If everyone just took their cat instead of their car the problem would be solved! Grin🐅

LittleCandle · 25/01/2017 22:54

My goodness, Mary you really are over invested in this thread. Calm down! Francis made herself perfectly clear each time, yet you still got the wrong end of the stick. Tell you what, you come and park in my drive and watch the fun and games of a morning when the parents are parking over speed bumps, drives with cars in them, on the pavements, on dropped kerbs, on corners, on both sides of a narrow street, on the 'no parking' lines by the school and in all the residents' parking bays. Oh and try to get your car off the drive while all this is going on. You can do it every day for a term if you like - i'm sure you'll enjoy it...

As soon as I saw the title for this thread, I knew it would be someone saying 'but this doesn't apply to me'. OP, you are wrong and what is more, you know it. But just you crack on, then, and continue to do what you are already doing and being inconsiderate, whether you think you are or not. These things always apply to other people.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 22:55

Basil- of course there are solutions, just not solutions to please everyone. In my area they are (and have been since the beginning of the school year) piloting an exclusion zone round two of the schools in the area. Sadly not my DS school!

AskBasil · 25/01/2017 22:57

LittleCandle if that's happening in your road you need to get on to your local councillor and get some parking restrictions for non-residents put in. If most people want it, your local council will do that. But it will get done much quicker if you have a local councillor pushing it.

FrancisCrawford · 25/01/2017 22:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

elektrawoman · 25/01/2017 22:58

If the school have sent a letter THERE MUST BE AN ISSUE OP. They wouldn't send it for the hell of it.
As I left school the other day our headteacher was getting a big earful from a local resident about all the drivers who obstruct her drive. Thr school newsletter keeps asking parents to be considerate when parking but people don't listen. When teachers ask parents to move off the zigzags they just get abuse.

It's not just about not parking across driveways, it's also about making it safer for families crossing the road and residents pulling out of driveways. Why can't some people get that? Since when did car drivers rights trump those of pedestrians?

Yes I walk to school and we have all the same issues - drivers reversing / doing 10 point turns without noticing who is behind them (it's not a cul-de-sac), parking on corners so you have to walk into the middle of the road, stopping in the middle of the road to drop kids off, sitting with engines idling polluting the air (which is actually illegal). Etc etc. There are a few disabled kids at our school (it has good accessibility) and it makes it difficult for them to be dropped off.
Never mind the occasion a fire engine couldn't get into the playground due to the fire gates being blocked by a parent who was only there 'for 5 minutes'. Yeah 5 minutes in which your kids could have died. Thankfully they were only there for a fire safety talk but what if it had been a real fire!

oneleggedfatbird · 25/01/2017 23:00

As a one legged fatty, I hate that I have to get to school half an hour early to be able to park anywhere near. Don't do walking and there's no blue badge spaces anywhere near.

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:00

Well Waitrose what a bunch of entitled inconsiderate parents you are.

I'm really fine with that, honestly.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:03

legged your circumstances are different from the OP. You are limited in what you can do. OP just doesn't want to walk.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:05

waitrose glad you are happy in your own skin but you do rather make the point that people seem quite happy to put theirs and other people's children's lives at risk just so you don't have to walk.

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:07

As I said above, we can't walk. You cannot walk to DS's school.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:08

legged sorry, re read your post, same entitled people are making it difficult for you to park, would the school not allow you to use the staff car park to drop off?

Dilligaf81 · 25/01/2017 23:08

If people are parking illegally punish them (its quite easy to call the council who will send parking control officer's at drop off and pick up) then to punish everyone.
Theres a st near our school who a group of elderly residents (with driveways and garages) all take their cars off their drives to park on the roads so no parents can. They do this twice a day everyday its selfish and a little bit crazy.
My friend also lives in the same road and when she moved in they told her they done this as parents are lazy and have it to easy nowadays Hmm

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:09

If it's legal, I will park there, considerately of course, but I will park there if I have to.
It's the odd occasion that I have to do it but if I get to the car park late and it's full up then I will do it.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:09

waitrose you didn't really qualify why that is.

garlicandsapphire · 25/01/2017 23:09

Why I chose to live near to schools so my children could walk to and from school and get a good bit of exercise. And generally I think people should, where possible, be encouraged to walk or get public transport (where its available) to limit the environmental damage of all the car fumes and congestion around schools. I know not everyone can, but thats my wishful thinking.... sorry to annoy you all.

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:10

Because it's on a country lane..

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:12

Then that is not the same thing Waitrose. If there is no safe walking route you don't really have a choice. That is quite different from what OP is saying/doing but you seem happy to be lumped in as the same?

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:14

Why does it matter to you Confused

I'm just here to let the OP know that if what she is doing is legal and considerate then she can carry on doing just that.

BigGrannyPants · 25/01/2017 23:17

It doesn't really matter to me at all. Just to put what you are saying in context.

WaitrosePigeon · 25/01/2017 23:21

It's still the same situation with regard to not being asked to park in a public road. If it's a public road, OP can park there. It's not great but people do what they have to do.

Wdigin2this · 25/01/2017 23:23

Haven't read all of this thread, but I would say....no they can't tell you can't park in legal spaces, but a) it will make life difficult for residents, and b) it could endanger children's safety!
I pick grandchildren up from school and park two or three streets away, it won't hurt you or your DC to walk a bit further, indeed it might do some good!

GColdtimer · 25/01/2017 23:27

But she doesn't have to park there does she? She said she could park 5 mins walk away. She just doesn't see why she should because she is entitled to park there, despite being asked not to by the head teacher of her children's school.. She (and you) clearly do not care about the safety aspect which has been raised numerous times. Probably because inconsiderate and entitled people generally couldn't give a crap about anyone apart from themselves.

Bestthingever · 25/01/2017 23:32

I live in front of a school. I don't find the congestion a nuisance. What does bother me is how unsafe it is for children. It's usually a quiet suburban street but at the beginning and end of school, it's packed full of cars parking any old place and shooting off recklessly. A child was hit by a car at a school nearby last week. Residents have been complaining for years that the area was too congested. I doubt lessons will be learned. What's so hard about walking a few hundred metres? No wonder we have an obesity crisis.