Page 3 | Bad parking, I don't feel bad.

ancientgran · 26/11/2021 12:50

I live close to a school that was doubled in size a couple of years ago and they opened a preschool. It is chaos now and the roads round here are narrow. I'm always amazed at how they park on bin day, our bin men arrive during the school pick up.

I am an evil person as I had to smile when the bin lorry hit one of the cars. I did offer to be a witness for the poor guy trying to navigate the chaos. Within a couple of weeks they were doing the same thing so it didn't discourage them for long.

ancientgran · 26/11/2021 12:51

@thisplaceisweird

If I lived close to a school I would have a sign outside saying I'm not going out please feel free to park over my drive and another one saying I need to get out today please leave clear.

Wow guys Mother Theresa is not only back from the dead but she's on Mumsnet!

Nah Mother Theresa was no easy target. She'd have been out moving them pronto.

landofgiants · 26/11/2021 12:54

While we are on the subject, wtf is all the parking on the pavement/dropped kerb/wherever else you think it's reasonable to put your car/van/SUV and waiting in the car with your diesel engine running about? Surely kids should be able to come in and out of school without having to breath excess traffic fumes. FFS, it's not that cold!

disconnected101 · 26/11/2021 12:55

@Upamountain43

Ok - well most parents now drop the kids and shoot off to work so have little choice about taking the car - maybe we should ask why after years and years of this being an issue no one is tackling the key problems surrounding parking not just outside schools.

Personally i think if you did not need to go out and they were only just over the dropped kerb it was pretty mean spirited to involve a traffic warden.

If I lived close to a school I would have a sign outside saying I'm not going out please feel free to park over my drive and another one saying I need to get out today please leave clear.

If you can only be one thing in this life - be kind - you are actually in a position to try and help out this difficult situations.

Hahahahaha!!!!! Another 'let people do whatever the fuck their entitled arse wants to' disguised as 'be kind'. This would give CF people absolute free reign to use the OPs drive/space. You give an inch - CFs take all the miles. I wonder what kind of closeted world the 'be kind' brigade live in?

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 12:56

@Branleuse

I wouldnt involve the traffic warden if it hadnt actually inconvenienced me. Obviously if you live really close to a school then you are going to get parking issues at dropping off and kicking out time. Thems the breaks. Like if you choose to live next to a pub there will be noise, or next to a restuarant there will be smells, or in the countryside, youll get animal noises. parking in this country is so shit, and yet loads of people get given school places miles from home since the right to choose schools came in and yet public transport is also ridiculous in many areas.

Umm.... it is an offence to park across someones' dropped kerb in my borough. It doesn't matter how close you are to shops or a school.

It is not an offence for a pub to have a certain level of noise until after certain hours, it is not illegal for a restaurant to have smells unless there is an issue that needs to be addressed, it is not illegal for animals to make noises.

If a pub has noise after hours, it is an offence. If a restaurant has significant smoke or smells that need to be addressed by safety officers, it may be a contravention of that councils regulations for operations.

You are making false analogies.

Once a pattern is set, those parkers will continue to do this every time unless they are ticketed.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 26/11/2021 12:57

I really believe that a child will be run over getting to school opposite my house. There's a small number of parents who have decided its acceptable to drive over the pavement/cycle path to get to the grassy area between the main road and a private road(which is residents only which is another story...). Metres from a busy bus stop for the neighbouring secondary school/college. I've nearly been hit a few times.

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 13:00

Other than sending out 'a wet sounding letter' what exactly do you think the school should do for your convenience? Patrol the area?

Our school started to post pictures in the newsletters. The message got across.

Stellaris22 · 26/11/2021 13:01

YANBU. I understand people have jobs to get to, so need to drive. But we've nearly been hit a few times by parents driving dangerously around the school.

It's the parents who have no consideration for child safety I hate, who drive too quickly without looking for small children. Or who sit with their engines idling outside the school. Nothing defensible about those parents.

RocksOnTheHill · 26/11/2021 13:01

Just to say, snap. I live by a school and regularly have people's cars parked across the drop kerb of my drive. I have on occasion confronted them, as I'm waiting for them to come back so I can drive my youngest to nursery. Half the time I get either a mouthful of abuse or a defensive, "I was only gone 10 minutes". The other half I get apologies. Sometimes people ask if it's ok beforehand, and if it's not a nursery day I say ok. But I'm not making any signs!

The worse thing I find is the actual walk to school. Although it's only three minutes I'm always on high alert because a lot of parents, once they've dropped their kids off and they're now in going to work mode, seem to forget pedestrians exist and start driving down the pavement towards me and the kids as they pull away. They check for cars but not people. Twice I've literally had to tackle my kids into someone's garden to stop them being hit and I've lost track of the times I've had to say, "stop kids, that car is driving down the pavement".

In conclusion, no, I don't think you're mean. There people need a wake up call.

PipeOfPringles · 26/11/2021 13:06

it was pretty mean spirited to involve a traffic warden
If you can only be one thing in this life - be kind

Are you being kind by calling someone mean-spirited? It's almost as if "be kind" is utterly meaningless as an instruction for all situations.

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 13:11

Are you being kind by calling someone mean-spirited?
It's almost as if "be kind" is utterly meaningless as an instruction for all situations.

NowEvenBetter · 26/11/2021 13:14

UpaMountain cringing for you 😄
Also, how is someone dropping their spawn at school a ‘difficult situation’?

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 13:14

It is these moments that I wish that there was a UK version of the app in the US that allows people with phones to take a pic and send it to the borough for a commission on the ticket that gets issued.

I would have made a mint just from my dropped kerb CF'ers.

fabricfanatic · 26/11/2021 13:17

Why would you feel bad that someone who parked illegally was fined? Oh, is this something to do with the ridiculous notion that when someone behaves badly, the rest of us have to put up with it, because "snitching doing something about it is somehow wrong?

Of course you don't feel guilty! Why would you?

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 13:18

Seriously though OP, the parking management at my Borough got rather tired of my complaints (although their parking wardens loved the tip offs) that when they resheeted our street and redid our guttering, they actually widened my dropped kerb (I had to pay to fast track the approval but they did it) AND then when they did the road markings they added double yellows all along all the dropped kerbs in the street.

Maybe you could get your street to get together to get double yellow lines. It has significantly reduced the numbers parking across our dropped kerbs.

IamnotwhouthinkIam · 26/11/2021 13:18

YANBU. We live close to a small rural primary - the parking was so bad that the school built an extra car park on their land, so now there are plenty of parking spaces. Parents still stop in the road to pick up, park over drives and right on corners of verges (so you can't see past them for traffic). All because they don't want to risk having to queue to get out of the car park. It's annoying at best, and dangerous at worst so I'm sometimes tempted to take photos although I'd have no idea who I'd send them to.

Stellaris22 · 26/11/2021 13:20

I'd love to live somewhere where people cared about not parking on double yellows.

NearlyThereMum · 26/11/2021 13:23

@Scoobydoobywho

We live very close to a school, our 2ds go to this school. So thank God as of yet we don't have to tussle with finding a place to park. But it annoys the hell out of me that people think it's ok to park either a little bit over the drive or completely blocking it. How do they know I'm not going anywhere. So anyway I get back with ds5 and there is a car 2 feet over the dropped kerb. Luckily there were parking/traffic wardens out, so I spoke to one of the who came and had a look. Took down the car details and photos and gave them a ticket. The amount of times the school has to send out messages saying please park considerably is ridiculous. Is it wrong that I don't feel bad about it.

I think that's all you can do until they get some respect- hit them in the pockets. £30 fine every drop off? Won't last long

Helleofabore · 26/11/2021 13:24

And to all CFer parkers who also think that they know just how much space someone needs to get in or out of their drives, are you engineers with specialist knowledge on the turning circles of other people's cars?

The number of people who simply could not see how narrow our street was, where there was a traffic calming device causing restriction also to the access of a reversing car. Because, of course, we should be reversing into our driveways.

MLMshouldbeillegal · 26/11/2021 13:33

Just as bad as parking across a dropped kerb is parking your large vehicle directly opposite someone's drive in a narrow street. Impossible to get off without a. 76 point turn.

Staryflight445 · 26/11/2021 13:34

Yanbu.
I know parents dash to work after drop off but that doesn’t give them to right to park like this or close to school.
There’s absolutely no reason they can’t park and walk 5-10 minutes.

The cars outside our school gates drive me bonkers atm sat with their engines on, walking past the fumes of 3-4 cars all sat with their engines on and exhausts pointing to the pavement is not pleasant. Selfish inconsiderate morons.

Staryflight445 · 26/11/2021 13:35

They’re not even allowed to park there either. There’s plenty of parking on the street a 3-4 minute walk away.

I love it when the wardons are about, it’s much safer and less polluted.

Staryflight445 · 26/11/2021 13:39

Any of you know how much money a school would have to raise to sort an issue like this?

Might be worth asking your schools to fundraiser for it?

Staryflight445 · 26/11/2021 13:41

@Helleofabore that sounds amazing!
People ignore double yellows here too.

MLMshouldbeillegal · 26/11/2021 13:42

But in many cases there is a solution already, no fundraising needed. Park further away. Use existing car parks. Walk.

I am well aware that school has no power over parking and can only make polite requests. Which are ignored by lazy fucker parents.

Now fundraising for a private parking warden I would support.