Chuffing on a fag at school drop off

[Mumofchimpanzee]

AIBU to think that the mum standing waiting for the school gates this morning surrounded by children was being a t**t standing there with a fag on the go.

I'll add that I'm also a smoker and would never think this was ok, and the waiting area is tiny. Think standing outside your mate's terraced house on the pavement and the road directly behind you.

Was she on the school premises or outside the gate?

Well it isn’t ideal but if she was off school premises it is allowed.

if she's not on school property I wouldn't care

Not great but it's outdoors so far less of a problem than indoors.

we have just become less used to seeing people smoking.

I smoke - I don't have children of my own but I avoid smoking near any children (or, indeed, near adult non-smokers in public places), so I agree, this was inconsiderate.

Definitely inconsiderate and you should be able to wait till you aren't around children. I also get infuriated at the parents sitting in their cars outside school with their engines running.

Not appropriate but not as bad as dds primary where parents were lighting up at the sports day

@Suitcaseseverywhere

Was she on the school premises or outside the gate?

She was outside the gate but at the front with all the kids down wind from her and no where for any of us to go. It took me a minute to work out why there was a wide berth around the gates this morning ...

@Stellaris22

Definitely inconsiderate and you should be able to wait till you aren't around children. I also get infuriated at the parents sitting in their cars outside school with their engines running.

The school run to the school is a nightmare as we're a village with a one way system... parents honestly abandon their cars, engines running in the street to drop kids off and no one can get passed them....

It's pretty inconsiderate to do this, I think most people wouldn't be that thrilled by it.

The primary up the road from me looks like a smoking shelter at school times. If they're not at the gates smoking they're in their cars puffing away over all the car seats. The ground is littered with fag ends. It's grim.

I’d think it was pretty appalling. My parents are heavy smokers - always have been, I have many memories of hanging around waiting for them to finish smoking so we could go into shops etc - but even back in the early 90s when I was at primary school my mum wouldn’t have ever dreamt of lighting up on the school run. And this was back when they still smoked in the house with 2 young kids, so not like they were wildly virtuous.

Yuck it's a bit Mutha Bacon from Viz.

I think anyone who smokes around kids is behaving disgustingly. I grew up with smokers - dad smoked a pipe, and mum smoked cigarettes. He gave up, when I was in my early teens, but mum smokes to this day.

I remember asking my mum not to smoke in the car with us, because it made me feel sick and gave me a headache, and she refused!!

I'm a former smoker who loves a very occasional cigarette and always will, and I think that's pretty yuck. If she's not on the school premises then she's not technically in the wrong but it's not especially tasteful.

While it’s “technically allowed” if she’s not on school property, it’s still pretty gross and inconsiderate.

My parents were chainsmokers until very recently (I think they quit almost a year ago), so I get that people fee defensive about their right to smoke in public places- but at the end of the day it’s pretty minging to have to walk through someone else’s smoke. I was stuck behind a couple of smokers in the high street the other day, walking painfully slow and holding their fags in their hands while trailing smoke pretty much directly into my son’s face. It’s just a nuisance, but one we all have to put up with unfortunately.

Bit grim, but I did LOL at 'chuffing on a fag!'

Hate it. I complained to OFSTED about it when they asked us to fill in a survey shortly before covid hit. There was a big issue at the time with a certain group of parents standing every single day directly outside the main gate smoking. I was pregnant at the time and pushing a toddler in a pram past them, absolutely vile and I could taste it some days because it was such a thick cloud of smoke. No way of avoiding it because they were right outside the gate. DH complained to the head teacher about it one day too, head said he agrees but can’t do anything because it’s not school grounds. Anyway after I complained to OFSTED a big no smoking sign was erected on the gate and it seems to have stopped now thankfully.

I once gave a lift to a new staff member who I was mentoring. The journey was about an hour and the first thing she asked about was would I mind if she smoked in the car. No one had ever smoked in the car and I wasn’t going to let her be the first.

When we arrived at our destination, she leapt out of the car and lit up, puffing furiously. I had to wait until she finished the cigarette and then go in with her smelling of smoke. She’d made us late too.

Just to clarify..... Was she smoking a cigarette or did this incident take place at v posh school in the mid 20th century. Of so, I think the sixth formers are entitled to do what they like with their fags
(Light-hearted)

I think that's grim.I'm a smoker but wouldn't dream of smoking anywhere near the school.

Our school put a sign on the gates asking parents not to smoke on the pavement outside the school as other parents and children would have no choice but to walk through their clouds of smoke as they entered or exited the school. They now all congregate on a grassy patch a little bit further up on the opposite side of the road. However there are houses just behind that bit and the owners are fed up of the smokers congregating outside too now as it stinks their gardens out. I’m an ex smoker and on the whole it doesn’t bother me, but it always seems a bit rough that people are that desperate for a cigarette.

I smoke and this pisses me off too. The school have sent out many many reminders to parents not to smoke by the school gates but really there is not much they can do. People are just knobs

I think anyone who smokes in a busy public place is a twat to be fair.

If people want to smoke that's fine but nobody else should be forced to be impacted by their second hand smoke.

It's just bad manners to smoke near a school, around children etc

I can't believe that anyone still wants to smoke in 2021. It's extortionately expensive and more than just a bit gross isn't it.