Parking Wars AIBU to expect school to help do something!

[Parkingwarsaga]

OK have name changed as very outing.

We live a few doors down from a primary school. The school has a carpark at the church next door possibly 30 foot from school. We are in the other direction.

Our flats have a car park. It can not be closed off with bollards as the end property and a property across the back road are business and have spaces there.
Spaces are included in our rent.

We however have signs up informing people it is a private car park and each space is numbered to a flat. Some spaces are up to peoples front windows.

We have contacted the school endless times and they have asked parents not to park there and to park on the church but they continue to park there filling every space.

We had had residents with babies, small children and disabled residents who haven't been able to park in the spaces included in their rent, people coming home from work who can't park in their spaces. A registered disabled relative of a resident who can't walk far and had to park the other end of a long road.

We have faced abuse numerous times when politely informing people its a private space. Former residents in the past have been told they can park where they 'fucking well want'

One neighbour got annoyed and blocked someone in who was parked right up to his front window and was told he better move now or else cause the woman had a baby. The same women who had blocked another actual resident from coming home with her newborn previously.

Parents drive in to the car park at speed. I've been beeped at for not moving quick enough across the car park so parents who shouldn't be there can park. I've put my bins in my space so my disabled father can park when he comes that morning and they've been moved.

You might think it's only a few minutes but some people come half an hour early and wait or stay half an hour later and chat playing loud music or with their kids running screaming and shouting disturbing shift workers. It's every morning at breakfast club then school time, after school, after school clubs, every book club, every after school play or nativity or music lesson. it's infuriating and I'm sure half the people who do it would go bonkers if people parked up to their front window blasting music.

We have spoke endlessly to the landlord and the school. The landlord has told us that if we want it sorted we have to pay hundreds of pounds for an automated barrier with passes for all including the businesses one of which is currently empty and I currently don't have the money to do this.

School have basically said oh deary me we can send a letter home but nothing else we can do. (they have parked on peoples gardens and hedges before now!)

Surely rather than cause hassle with neighbours a couple of mornings of some member of staff walking the few feet to our carpark at the main time for ten minutes a couple of times would put a stop to it.

Their tag line is all about giving to, being part of and being an asset to the community which is a joke.

www.self-ticketing.co.uk/

www.flashpark.co.uk/parking-enforcement/

These companies do it for you
M

The top one pays you £10 for each fine paid

FYI - If you want to issue parking tickets like a car park, you probably need your landlord's consent.

I’d have a meeting with your landlord and the school and let them know you want to publicise what’s you’re going to do

Get as much publicity as possible, the local paper the school news letter and explain that a parent could end up well over a thousand pounds worth of costs if they park in the car park

Your objective is to stop the parking and if you get enough publicity then hopefully it will stop before it starts costing - if not and they get big fines they can hardly go to the newspaper to complain...

Why don't you ask the school to put it a notice in their next news letter that from x date any cars that park there will be towed and put up signs to that effect. Give residents, guests and business owners stickers/hanging signs (likevthe kind you hand from your mirror). And start towing trespassing vehicles.

All the big parking enforcement companies offer DIY ticketing schemes... basically once you've signed up they send you the notices to display, you take a photo of any car parked there and not part of your residents scheme using your phone or whatever. They then send out a parking fine and give you a cut of the money

Towing cars is illegal Grinch.

Stick a sign up about parking at owner's own risk. Then superglue a 'residence private parking' sign to all the offender's car windscreens. Or make it 'permit parking only' and clamping in operation with a 150 pound penalty to release.

My inlaws had a similar problem at a holiday flat with an allocated space.
A simple solution was to concrete a metal loop into the floor at the front of their space, and have a block of concrete with another loop. They then attached them together with chain and padlock.
Concrete block not especially heavy, so easy for owner to move aside, but large enough to damage the underside of a car of you try to drive over it.

I would start letting all the tyres down as you are causing no damage so haven't broken any vandalism laws incovnege the fuckers and they will soon stop if they have to keep calling out repair services.

I’ve seen a chain across the drive mentioned. You could have a code padlock on it rather than a key to make it easier for residents

I think my DS school might have found the answer!! They log how many times they walk to school or park and walk at least 300metres. If they do it 10 times a month they get a special badge. The badge changed each month and all the kids are really competitive about it. It seems to have worked and my DS is really proud of his badge. We’ve had to get his dad and grandparents to do the walking as I’m disabled. I’ve noticed the difference in being able to park close to school a little easier now.

I think you have to pay for individual bollards or suck it up.

I don't think the school can do any more than they already have. It sucks but I think everybody who lives near a school has the same issue.

DH plays golf and often at weekends, the car park is too full to park in so people use the lane that runs up to the club. There are several houses along there. DH had made sure that his car wasn't obstructing access in and out of any driveways but came back to a glued note on his windscreen saying DO NOT PARK HERE AGAIN. It was literally unmoveable, and he had to try and scrape it off with a credit card.... he drove him with minimal visibility and it took around 4 days to get off thoroughly with various chemicals to help!! The Club have now sent a letter and email out to all members telling them to double park someone in the car park rather than use the lane........so the house owners have had success with their campaign. I think it needs to cause enough annoyance to stop that person doing it again and telling others, but not sure whether the line lies. And I've never seen DH so angry in the 25+ years I've known him.............

Buy a wheelclamp. As long as you have visible signs up warning that clamps are in use, you should be fine and could make some money out of it. I'm sure Google can explain your rights regarding this.

JaneEyre70
If he wasn't blocking access or anything then the person who damaged his car in protest is just a bit of a dickhead.

We have a nutty neighbour who thinks they own an entire stretch of road and comes out yelling if anyone has guests because that's where 'they' park and their grown up kids.
Some people think they own the road.

bonfireheart
I know. I was visiting another school a few weeks back and arrived when the car park gates were shut but it was around picking up time (gates shut to stop parents using the staff car park as a drop off).
There was a traffic enforcement officer out policing the zig zags ans other markings. I did ask him if I could leave mine there whilst i asked the school reception to open the gates for me. He was very nice and said that was fine (alternative would have been to park 2 streets away, walk to school to ask about the gates, walk back ti my car and I had a meeting starting in school at hometime).
A part of me worried he'd say yes but then ticket me but he seemed nice and understanding, more so as the caretaker must have clocked me so i didn't need to walk far. (Bonus!)

Wheel-clamping on private land is now illegal.

As far as lawful options go, you can physically block entry. Or you can sort out the legal paperwork so you can issue penalty charges for unauthorised parking, then pursue the worst offenders in the courts.

I'd be wary of getting any third-party company in to enforce the parking, since they might well start charging bona fide visitors, or residents who misplace their permit.

For a possibly-unlawful option, an idea I find very appealing is an organised protest by the residents that includes blocking both ends of the street the school is on. During the morning drop-off. That should get the message across. On the other hand it will probably also attract vandalism in retaliation - the dickhead parkers know where you live after all.

As much as I don't condone this, the poster who talked about pain stripper and keying probably has the most effective solution. We had a load of people parking on our quiet residential street for a bus for their work last year. It didn't bother me personally as I have a drive. The local busy bodies were not happy though and keyed the cars . The cars did not come back.

Some of the residents close to the company where I used to work in a very 'naice' area did this to commuter cars, even though they were parked perfectly legally and not obstructing anyone's access. The residents just didn't want anyone else parking in 'their' street and certainly not outside 'their' front door.

People who'd had their cars damaged retaliated by doing the same to the residents' vehicles and it all got very nasty indeed.

Have only read the first page but WTF just all of you buy pull up and down bollards they are about £20 on eBay? Simples!

Yes I think the school should co-operate by sending letters out but I doubt it would do much good. Get the council involved. If It's private parking space then people shouldn't be parking there. What happens if people just decided to park on somebody's drive. There isn't really a difference IMHO. If nothing else works I agree with blocking them in.

Who are these cunty parents? You never see them owning up on mumsnet do you?

Fab example at my sons school. There's a car park at the front and the school would open it on mornings for drop offs, ie pull in and let the kids hop out. Of course the parents ruined that for themselves by all parking and nattering for ages so the que went right out into the main road. It's now only open to parents with a disability badge and they all moaned about that to.

I would try the chain thing in the mornings and afternoons. We've had pcso at the school and previous posters are right, it works for a few days then the same old entitled cunts are up to their old tricks again!

The school can't do anything. They have no authority to do anything. They are not responsible for other adults. The most they can do is remind parents in letters which will be ignored by the type of people who park like arseholes. I've lived near 3 schools with various measures in place and none of them work consistently. Traffic wardens, pcso's those little camera cards work while they are there and maybe a day after.

The staff at my dd's nursery had their cars keyed by residents due to parking issues. They obviously thought they could spur them into action using powers they don't have.

Your options are move, put up with it, very a bollard on your space.

OP I hear you - we are in a very similar situation. We live at the end of a cul de sac near a school - path leads from end of our street into the playground. Parking is ridiculous - parents parking so awkwardly to get as close to the path as possible so their precious pickles don't melt on the 20 second walk into school.

School send letters, texts, put it in the newsletter. It gets better for a day, then the selfish behaviour starts again. Basically, the parents don't give a fuck and the school has no power - they can only ask nicely. Police are overstretched - they do attend from time to time and everyone parks beautifully, but next day it's back to the usual shite parking on kerbs, opposite people's drives and so close together nothing else can get past.

It's worse at the local secondary - a new build with lots of disabled spaces which are filled with parents of able bodied children who god forbid might have to walk 50 yards to the other end of the car park. Never mind that there's kids in wheelchairs and on crutches who need the access.