Jobsworth lollipop man

[badheadday]

Due to moving house and not wanting to change my kids school we have to drive past a couple of other schools before we get to ours.

There is one particular lollipop man that seems to make a point of stopping as many cars as possible. He's constantly on the lookout for people walking towards the crossing and will stop cars before the pedestrians have even reached him. This includes parents that have already dropped their kids at school and clearly don't need any help to cross the road as they are fully grown competent adults. He has been known to cross a group of people, let one car go through and then stop the next car. Surely he needs to let at least a couple of cars through to help keep the traffic flowing?

Would I be unreasonable to complain about him?

[Clocktopus]

I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to cross adults over unless they are with a child. I think there is an insurance issue but I'm not 100% sure.

No insurance issues, they are there for anyone who wants to cross the road safely regardless of age. They're usually associated with school crossings as children are one of the most vulnerable pedestrian groups but there are no rules about who they can and can't help.

nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/school-crossing-patrol#:~:text=use%20a%20school%20crossing%20patrol,crossings%20and%20report%20any%20faults

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

Surely the job of a Lollipop person is to help people cross the road safely, not keep the traffic flowing. Therefore he is doing his job correctly. Inconveniencing you doesn't make him a jobsworth. Adults using the crossing even without children encourages children to use it as well.

[iglpgl]

@bendmeoverbackwards

YABU

Pedestrian safety always comes before the convenience of motorists.

As for the traffic - you ARE the traffic 😂

This.

[QueenofKattegat]

What weird responses.

He's "helping" grown adults cross the road, thereby holding up traffic, but OP is unreasonable?

[3scape]

Of course they can let children cross without adults how else would our year 5+6 get over the crossing? If you're with an adult they will make the child wait but that's just reinforcing safe road crossing as a child should automatically check with their adult.

[3scape]

They can stop the traffic for anyone crossing. The problem exists because so many drivers apparently don't understand crossing a road and put all the responsibility on pedestrians. Crossings are in residential areas. It's unreasonable of any driver to NOT expect to give way to others on such a journeym.

[quitefranklyabsurd]

Leave early so you have time to wait. I imagine you’d be the first to complain if he wasn’t stopping the traffic fast enough for you dc to cross.

[DDiva]

Theres something about the school run that makes crossing the road dangerous for everyone !

Personally I would change my route to avoid driving past the door of another school at this time. Dealing with the chaos outside one school is enough !

[yossell]

Oh no -- a driver can't do whatever tf she likes. Call the Daily Mail!

[Franklyfrost]

You want to complain because the lollipop man is stopping traffic to let people cross the road? Wow. It would be more reasonable if someone complained that you’re adding to the traffic and pollution by not moving schools.

[ApplePippa]

Am I the only one reading this thread who had no idea lollipop men still existed? I have never seen one locally, and thought they were a thing of the past!

(Nostalgic memories of Bill the lollipop man outside my primary school in the early 80s )

[TinaYouFatLard]

I get you OP! We had a similar Lollipop Man near us. He stopped every, single car, would stop traffic while waiting for people still up the road etc. I always thought the idea was to wait until you had a small group of kids and THEN stop the cars.

For all the sanctimony on here, it’s important to keep the traffic flowing too.

[KatherineofGaunt]

At one school I worked at in a busy part of London, we had a lollipop man even for a crossing with lights!

I used to get frustrated he'd push the button for me when he saw me approaching on my morning walk to school. It was usually about 7:45am so few children. I guess he felt the need to do what he could for us few who were around!

[JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon]

@HoppingPavlova

I remember when my kids were little, the lollipop person at their school was hit by a car 3 times with the last resulting in a lengthily hospitalisation (and obviously workers claim). Using common sense this means they saved 3 kids from being run over instead, or potentially more. Given this, I tend to cut all lollipop people a bit of slack and may eye roll to myself but wouldn’t complain.

Or perhaps this person required additional training and were doing a poor job.


There used to be one near me who was dangerous. No appreciation of stopping distances. They would march out into the road causing cars to slam their brakes on in an emergency stop to avoid them.


Not saying they are all like that of course.

[girlmom21]

@QueenofKattegat

What weird responses.

He's "helping" grown adults cross the road, thereby holding up traffic, but OP is unreasonable?

Yes because crossing the road is most dangerous in busy, built up areas during rush hour.

[ancientgran]

[quote Clocktopus]I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to cross adults over unless they are with a child. I think there is an insurance issue but I'm not 100% sure.

No insurance issues, they are there for anyone who wants to cross the road safely regardless of age. They're usually associated with school crossings as children are one of the most vulnerable pedestrian groups but there are no rules about who they can and can't help.

nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/school-crossing-patrol#:~:text=use%20a%20school%20crossing%20patrol,crossings%20and%20report%20any%20faults[/quote]
Have the rules changed? I used to work in police admin a long time ago and I definitely remember senior officer having to deal with a crossing where this was happening and the lollipop man was advised to leave adults to it as it wasn't his job. Or maybe local rules? I can't imagine my old boss made it up.

[ancientgran]

@ApplePippa

Am I the only one reading this thread who had no idea lollipop men still existed? I have never seen one locally, and thought they were a thing of the past!

(Nostalgic memories of Bill the lollipop man outside my primary school in the early 80s )

Bizarrely I can only think of one in my town and he isn't outside a school, he is on a route to a couple of schools. I've never thought about it before but it does seem odd to have a lollipop man where there isn't a school. He does his job well though, won't stop traffic for people who haven't reached him yet and he does manage to signal he is on the move by sort of raising his lollipop and he carefully leaves the pavement so I think he protects himself which is also important.

[Somethingsnappy]

@Comedycook

Just leave it. In the grand scheme of life's most awful people, an over zealous lollipop man is pretty low down on the list.

An over zealous lollypop man...

[Georgist]

@girlmom21

"Dear council,

I'd like to formally complain about the lollipop man (not his official title) at x school (that I am not associated with in any way).

My complaint is that he's making sure pedestrians can cross the road in a safe and timely manner.

This is causing delays to my long morning commute, which exists because I chose to move to an inconvenient location.

Please ensure he is reprimanded accordingly.

Yours,
Professional complainer"

There you go OP. Saved you a job.

Complaining that the lollipop man is stopping too much traffic would be silly.

But saying that people have a long commute because they chose to move to an inconvenient location is ridiculous.

[Clocktopus]

Have the rules changed? I used to work in police admin a long time ago and I definitely remember senior officer having to deal with a crossing where this was happening and the lollipop man was advised to leave adults to it as it wasn't his job. Or maybe local rules? I can't imagine my old boss made it up.

Possibly? Road traffic has increased so much since my own school days so I'd guess they've had to expand the role quite a bit.

[Flipflopblowout]

The lollipop man adds 10 minutes to your day. What would you reasonably do with that 10 minutes? Why does he have to wait until people are at the kerb to stop the traffic just for you? Have you ever tried doing his job?

[Dojacatpaws]

Misslucyeyelessbarrow, if we could reduce private car use, that would indeed be a start for reducing traffic, leave the roads for deliveries etc. Plenty of people do not own cars

[Sirzy]

But saying that people have a long commute because they chose to move to an inconvenient location is ridiculous.

But in this case that is exactly the case, the op has chosen to have to do this trip. She has moved house and has decided not to change schools - as such she needs to accept that traffic may be present on her trip. To avoid that she could decide to use the local school instead and benefit from the safer route provided by the lollipop man

[Rosebel]

The lollipop man at my DDs school was fantastic. It was a narrow road but lots of cars used it as a cut though so it was busy. He used to see everyone across the road and he was hit by a car too.
Don't report him. Can you avoid the school or leave a bit earlier so there's less traffic and it's not an issue if you're held up?