School Parking - Is this fair?

[Powerless]

Just a quick one!

My 3yr old DD goes to a Pre-School within the grounds of an Infant & Primary School. I am disabled and have been told it's ok to use the Disabled Bay to park when picking DD up. Great!

She finishes at 3:20pm

Problem is, they close the gates at 3pm until 3:40pm, during which a coach reverses in (which they open the gates for, obvs) and this unfortunately, blocks us in!

The blocking in until 3:40 I'm not overly worried about. Plenty of play equipment for madam and it's no big deal. But having to be there by 2:55-ish before gates closed, then sit for 25 mins in my car before Nursery finishes is really getting to me.

Yes it's only 25 mins and yes there are worse problems in the world. However she's there 4 days a week so it's 1 hour & 40 minutes per week of wasted time. It also means that from setting off to getting home, it's an hour. Just for pick up. When we live less than a mile away.

I had a word with Reception today and the lady just told me it was tough luck! That if I want to use Disabled parking then that's what has to happen!

Do I complain further? Or just suck it up?

Please be nice, I'm not insisting on special treatment, I'm not insisting I'm right, I'm just asking your opinion on it....? Thanks

@AvoidingDM Correct

I would argue they should be allowing you to enter at 3.15 and leave at 3.25

So 5mins before the children should be in the playground and 5mins after they should have left.

I'm assuming the school comes out at 3.30 so you are leaving before the school children come out too.

The bus might need to move and let you out. I really isn't acceptable to expect you to spend 40 mins every day waiting in the car.

How does it work at drop off?

Except Monday when she's there all day, she starts at 12:30 so drop off isn't usually an issue

I would argue you are being treated equally: every single car user in that parking lot between those two times will be required to stay in that car park so the children who are walking off the school grounds can be safely walked off. Staff, parents and visitors alike.

You are one of those car users.

If you don't want to be trapped, arrange to collect a bit early or a bit late, or park outside the gates.

She isn't really being treated equally.
Other parents collect children at pickup time and go.

She due to a disability needs to use her car.
Why should she have too loose so much time sitting in a carpark?
Collecting the child early is unfair on the child who misses out on education time.
Is the nursery going to enable a later pickup, ie op arrives after the bus has gone?

What about moving the child to morning nursery sessions, would that avoid having to spend time waiting in the car?

Whats going to happen when she starts school?

40mins a day for 8 or 9 years is a heck of a long time!

No, she isn't being treated equally, Beware. Other car users in that area have the choice of parking elsewhere at the relevant time; OP doesn't.

You seriously think she's being treated equally??

And this is why us disabled people have to fight for every single thing.

Sorry if this has been answered - can't you park in front of the gates blocking the coach in? You'd be there after the coach arrived and gates were closed and leaving before the coach left. So no harm done?

"can't you park in front of the gates blocking the coach in?"

Without a diagram (no pressure OP ), we can only guess but at our school this would be parking on a zigzag area.

"Which puts the OP at a disadvantage compared to people without a disability."

Not really, they're all parked a walk away while op is on the staff car park.

Bloody hell - I despair, I really do. It scares me that you can't see the problem with this statement.

Good point Boom

this is a parking thread OP - and we all know what the rules are about parking threads ...

A reasonable adjustment can not be one which places all of the children at risk. The reasonable adjustments would be a staff member walking the DC out to the car or allowing the OP to park in front of the gate once the bus has passed through.

I probably need to start my own thread for this but you’ve made me think.

Would it be a reasonable adjustment to request secondary school parents evening consultations are held in a separate room as dh has a hearing impairment & cant cope in the noose of the school hall?

Absolutely.

DS' classroom is up some steps. I can't access the parent's evening due to my wheelchair so it's being held somewhere else.

I don’t know how it would work with the 5 min appointment slots & all the different teachers though.

OP I support you wholeheartedly. The school needs to be working with you to find a solution. I can’t believe that pp would think otherwise. Speaking as someone who was brought up by my mother who was a wheelchair user. Can your daughter be brought to you by a member of staff at an external parking spot? What would need to be done to make the “normal” pick-up procedure accessible to you?

can't believe the number of people who think this is ok. It sounds like the receptionist was rude!

I am not disabled but think this is clearly discriminating against you because you are and back you writing in. If you are happy with the suggestion given of driving in behind the bus then put that in your letter but ultimately it's for them to solve. Good luck.

I definitely think you should speak to the school again to see if there is a better solution. It’s not unreasonable to lock down the car park for safety reasons, but there may be another solution.

However I don’t think parking in front of the gate after the bus has entered is a good idea. Gates need to be left clear for emergency vehicles.

There is no legislation that says that schools have to provide parking for parents, even those with disabilities. There will be some schools that don't have car parks at all. A blue badge does not give permission to park in a private car park even when one is available. It is not discrimination because it is a service not provided to other parents.

They are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled parents to support their child's education. IMO allowing you to use the staff car park is their reasonable adjustment.

Expecting the bus to pick up elsewhere, blocking the bus in, blocking the gate, expecting a member of staff to leave site, manoeuvring on the car park while pupils embarked the bus, would put the children's safety at risk and is unreasonable.

Just get there at 3, which is probably not much different to the other parents who have to park elsewhere and walk up to the classroom.

The purpose of the duty to make reasonable adjustments is to provide access to a service as close as it is possible to get to the standard normally offered to the public at large

The school in question has to provide access to a person with a disability in a way that is as close as possible to the standard offered to everyone else.

it is all very well saying just get there early but she also has to stay really late! Lets say for the sake of argument that OP has a job which means she can't get there before the bus as she finishes at 3 and can only arrive at 3.05 and so essentially can't get there full stop so she is forced to pay for after school club when an able bodied person would just park up down the road and run into school. Is this fair? I don't think this is reasonable and can't believe there isnt a way round it but without seeing the layout of the school we cant possibly know what the options are.

"The school in question has to provide access to a person with a disability in a way that is as close as possible to the standard offered to everyone."

Parking is not a requirement for providing access to education. It is not a requirement that op can drive there, and the school is not responsible for her journey. If parking was part of equality provision then every shop on the high street would have to provide disabled parking bays outside their door. Their provision under the equality act amounts to making sure you can access the building with ramps and such like. They cannot discriminate in the services they do provide, but parking is not one of those services provided.

You can ask nicely, and most decent schools will do what they can to accommodate, but they must weigh OP's convenience against the safety of many children.

Parking is not a requirement for providing access to education

Correct. But the school in question need to ensure that people with disabilities have a service which is as close as possible to people without disabilities. If parents without disabilities can park outside the school with a reasonable walk into the school, then parents with disabilities need to be able to collect their children with a similar level of convenience.

" If parents without disabilities can park outside the school with a reasonable walk into the school, then parents with disabilities need to be able to collect their children with a similar level of convenience."

No, the journey is not the school's responsibility. Some schools will not even have car parks. Some schools will have a blanket ban on parents using their car park at all (mine). Some school car parks are locked 9-4.

They have to make sure that op is not blocked from accessing the school, but it is not a legal requirement that op can drive there.

Most decent schools will want to help, not because they legally have to but because it's the right thing to do. It sounds like they want to help, and so they should, but must weigh this against the other demands on them.

Actually, it is a legal requirement for the parents to be able to access the school, which includes parking if the parent is mobility impaired. I've just been through the same with DS' school and able parents using the disabled spaces. They HAD to sort it so that I could park there and not be blocked in. It's taken a year, but we got there.

I've also taught children with disabilities and those with parents who are wheelchair users. Those parents need to be able to access the school equally, meaning that if they need to park closer than able parents, this has to be put into place and if it's completely impossible, a staff member will have to take the child out to the car, or the child is released earlier/later with no charge.