To stand on road to stop parents parking illegally

[ChimneyPot]

Parking at our primary school has been hazardous for years. There is a crossing guard on the main road at the school gates but not on a side road lots of kids have to cross. Parents park on the double yellow lines at the junction of the side road blocking lines of site for pedestrians and cars trying to turn in and out. This often results in the road getting blocked and cars reversing back on to main road.
School sends repeated communication to parents without impact and has asked local authority for bollards and this is under consideration but hasn’t happened yet.

I used to collect my DC from the gate because of the risks but DC wants to be more independent and meet me further away.

I started asking parents not to park and the junction but have been largely ignored so I have started standing on the edge of the road to prevent people parking and this has been effective.
Today someone I know signalled to me to move but I smiled and shook my head and they had to park a few metres down the street . They are not happy with me.

AIBU to block the road?

Her children attend the school.

Nob comment

Who thinks parking on a junction on the school run is ok? She’s clearly NOT stopping passing drivers, just idiots who park dangerously,

Good for you OP, that’s great.

Have you contacted the local council? If illegal parking is a persistent problem they could make a few quid by send a warden to ticket people at school drop off / pick up times.

Take photos/videos of their cars either parked or driving dangerously and report to the police. That might put them off?

I know, invested in the safety of her own and other children, imagine that...

Do it if you want.
I wouldn't. I live 2 minutes walk from my ( adult) childrens old primary. Things get very congested and people stop where the hell they want. There are a lot of men who just stop the car and let there kids run out.
Quite frankly they are aggressive men who I wouldn't want to antagonize. You dont know how it may end if they decided to confront you . You seriously dont know who you are dealing with.

I've been doing the school run for precisely 3 weeks and cant believe the jostling for space when there's a free, enormous car park 3 mins away. There's loads of kids crossing the road and the parents just sort of drive at them

The junior school a few hundred yards from my house has this same problem every year. The school send out letters, then a traffic warden magically appears a couple of weeks later. Problem eases for a while, then the whole cycle starts again.

I once had a word with a woman who was trying to squeeze her car into a non-existent space on the dropped corner kerb. Told her she shouldn't park there, that it was blocking the dropped kerb, that parents with prams couldn't use the pavement, that it was dangerous for the children... All she kept bleating was that she was late, and it would only be a few minutes, and there was nowhere to park. I helpfully pointed out the supermarket car park five minute's walk down the road but nope, she cba.

Some people are just dicks. Always will be.

This is a countrywide problem, at next school in a local town the police attended and the owners were ticketed. It did improve for a bit. Until the drivers stop being entitled sadly nothin will change.

Sounds a good idea but all the other parents who want to park there will hate you/refer to you as the one who stands in the road. Stand your ground you may save a life.

Why are so many parents driving to do the pickup? Can’t people walk these days, surely with school catchment areas usually being so small the walk can’t be that far!

Unfortunately too many lazy parents also making for lazy children. Why can’t they walk to and from school?

Our primary bought some bollards that looked like little children to position on the zigzags and double yellow lines.

2 of them now have tyre marks across them. Some parents on the school run are a menace.

Yes school near us puts them
in the road on zig zags they are like those yellow cleaning in progress signs but different words.

Ours does too an entitled parent knocked one down the following day she bay parked in between them school have requested traffic wardens they show up randomly

You sound like a jobsworth to be honest.

I made a nuisance of myself to the local councillor. Every single time somebody parked illegally I'd email/Facebook/tweet them and the highways department of the council requesting a traffic warden at the very least at school pick up time (drop off not so much of an issue).

Some of the other parents clocked what I was doing and joined in. We pretty much ended up being a regular on the traffic warden's rotation, really helpfully on a random basis so parents couldn't predict when they'd be there.

Eventually the council opted for the school streets initiative and now cars entering/exiting the school street or those nearby at clearly signposted times will be fined £35 automatically with minimal exemptions. It's so much safer and the buffer zone is big enough that people driving only use the local car parks rather than other streets.

Be stubborn, be politely loud. It's the only way to change things.

Is a crossing guard a lollipop man/lady??

Bloody good on you.

Spot the person who thinks they can park where they like 😀

That diagram looks exactly like the road where the school I work is on. If it is and you're stopping people parking where they shouldn't then thank you!!

You sound like one of the selfish twats who parks in these places to be honest.

That diagram could literally be of the street I live in which is the next street to a large primary school. If cars are parked where the double yellows are then it makes it a single lane access road and you also can't see who is driving towards you when you are turning into the street. If you are lucky enough to avoid a head on collision driving into the street you are then often faced with having to reverse back onto the main road as there is already a car coming towards you which you can't see because of the cars parked on the double yellows.

My sister in law told me of a very clever system when she lived in the US where each class had a roundabout that parents would drive up to slowly and their child was then ready to hop in the car. No getting out or parking necessary. I assume the walkers did something different.