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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to block in school mums parking on my driveway?

895 replies

Applepiesmum · 23/03/2023 10:49

i live down the road from a school and during the school rush parents park everywhere it normally worse in the afternoon at 3pm

I work from home and usually park in the visitor pay outside my house so my partner can park on the driveway he gets home 3.30-4pm

however recently people have been parking on my driveway last week I caught someone pulling in knocked on their window and they argued with me saying they need to pick up their child eventually they did move but moved to where they were just half way blocking my drive way and halfway blocking my neighbor so no one could access it!

I didn’t bother confront them again but in future I’m just thinking to block them in… is that too petty

I have reported it to the school but all they’ve said is they’ve already asked parents not to block residents in so I’m not sure what else to do.

(if I did block anyone in it would only be for 30 minutes to cause a bit of stress and a lesson learned)

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Seeline · 23/03/2023 11:20

I live near a station and a bus stop for a route into town. People park their cars all over the place. The local council routinely send an enforcement officer along the road and ticket anyone parked on pavements, across drives etc. And they do ticket any car - even if parked across their own drive so be careful.

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:20

Honestly, able-bodied people need to stop using cars for the school run.

xogossipgirlxo · 23/03/2023 11:20

Do it. It will be very satisfying for you to watch 😂

Viviennemary · 23/03/2023 11:21

I would. What a nerve. Or put a chain over your driveway.

Mariposista · 23/03/2023 11:21

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:15

Me too!

That or decorate the roof of the car with a few plant pots.

Show quote history

plant pots HAHAHAHAHA could we at least stretch to compost? Not eggs as that's wasteful.

OMG12 · 23/03/2023 11:21

get one of those barks that lift up from the ground and just raise and lock behind someone’s car after they drive on(they’re good for security anyway) - or just leave it raised and locked and your DH can unlock it when you get home.

Hesma · 23/03/2023 11:21

Just park on your drive and move to visitor bay once school pick up time is over

Dixiechickonhols · 23/03/2023 11:23

Can you block your driveway with plant pots etc.
I’ve resorted to this as I was sick of people turning on my big drive. We have oil on it from them.
Final straw was me in reverse on my own drive and some idiot turned on right behind me. Instead of apologising he smirked at me.

Whichnumbers · 23/03/2023 11:23

I’d park blocking your own drive & then crack open a bottle of wine and pour a glass…

tell them you’ll be sober by the morning, stay calm and thank them for any observation they make 😂

I asked a woman to move her car as she was blocking my drive & she shouted and screamed at me, strangely when I said I was going to film her, her attitude changed. She moved her car - blocked someone else’s drive and has refrained from parking in the street since ( she parks round the corner

cocksstrideintheevening · 23/03/2023 11:23

BessieSurtees · 23/03/2023 11:14

Oh the irony.

I wonder if anyone has started a thread about their CF neighbour who parks in the visitor bay so she can keep her drive free for her DH.

Do you park in the visitor bay all day and night @Applepiesmum are you not a CF yourself then?

That's what I thought!

The parking at Dts school is appalling, I occasionally give them a lift if it's pissing down and it is shocking. Over drives / on drives, parked way out from the kerb so cars can't gets past, on the pavement...

There is a house near the entrance that has a huge drive - six or so cars - he rents the spaces out on a trembly basis.

Timetochangetheoil · 23/03/2023 11:24

I agree you should block in anyone parking on your driveway without permission, however I am confused about why you need to keep the driveway free for your partner? If he comes home at 3.30-4 surely the school run traffic has gone by that time so he could just park in the ‘visitor bay,’ outside your property.

If you weren’t parked there, a parent could stop to collect their child.

It is maddening when parents park badly to collect their kids, but there is a lot of pressure on working parents nowadays who need to drop kids off and get somewhere quickly after and don’t have the luxury of a 20-30 minute walk to school and back (so nearly an hour out of your day just for one drop). I often find some of the worst judgement comes from people who have been retired for years or in some cases were stay at home mums or their wives stayed at home (thinking my parents’ generation) and just don’t appreciate the pressure someone else may be under and jump straight to an assumption that they are lazy and just can’t be arsed to walk.

Not accusing you of being like that btw OP just my personal experience since doing the school run!

beachcitygirl · 23/03/2023 11:25

I'd block her. And I wouldn't move when she knocked the door either. Id do what pp suggested & say. I'll be right with you after I do my jigsaw & watch cash in the attic & have a cuppa.

Tdcp · 23/03/2023 11:26

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:20

Honestly, able-bodied people need to stop using cars for the school run.

Depends where you live / circumstances surely. I can't walk to DDs school as it's too far but I also drop off and then go straight to work and pick her up straight from work.

WandaWonder · 23/03/2023 11:26

latetothefisting · 23/03/2023 11:14

Who do you think is going to fine her? The police don't even turn out for burglaries, you think they are going to send someone out on blue and twos for someone who will have to admit they are illegally parked on someone else's property? Even if police do turn up they'll just put it down as "advice given"!

Same with the posters who think the situation will turn "aggressive".
cf parker won't know who's car OP is!
They walk to school, she blocks them in, they come back to find random car in their way. They might assume that it's the car belonging to the drive they are on and ring the doorbell but she doesn't have to answer.

Then OP either waits until her dp is back if she's afraid of aggression or until the CF Parker wanders back to the school to see if its another parent who has blocked her in/try to find someone to give them a lift home.

No need for aggression or confrontation.

Show quote history

No idea, it was a thought I didnt think I had to write a Thesis on it

Brefugee · 23/03/2023 11:26

Honestly, able-bodied people need to stop using cars for the school run.

tripe. Our school was 5 km away and i dropped them (parking in an actual parking spot) off on the way to work and they were picked up by the childminder (who lived 7 km away) at the end of school.

too difficult to work that out?
Having said that: i never parked in anyone's actual drive. Who here does that?

Catspyjamas17 · 23/03/2023 11:26

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:20

Honestly, able-bodied people need to stop using cars for the school run.

And what about people driving to work short distances?

There was a big hoo haa on a thread where someone didn't want to walk an hour to work across central London while there was a Tube strike.

But I agree about blocking people in, parking in someone's drive is appalling.

qazxc · 23/03/2023 11:27

Park your car in your drive, and let DP park in the visitor bay when he gets home.

girlfriend44 · 23/03/2023 11:28

Dixiechickonhols · 23/03/2023 11:23

Can you block your driveway with plant pots etc.
I’ve resorted to this as I was sick of people turning on my big drive. We have oil on it from them.
Final straw was me in reverse on my own drive and some idiot turned on right behind me. Instead of apologising he smirked at me.

God's sake, why should you keep humping heavy stuff everything you want to go out.

Just inform the authority's it's an offence.

FinalHurdle2 · 23/03/2023 11:29

qazxc · 23/03/2023 11:27

Park your car in your drive, and let DP park in the visitor bay when he gets home.

OP has said the space will be gone by the time her DP gets home

Repetitivestraininjury · 23/03/2023 11:29

To be honest, it probably wouldn't bother them, they will either just wait there, as they've got FA else to do, or walk the 1/4 mile home, the mums at our local school turn up at 2.00o/c and wait with their engines running until 3.15.

premicrois · 23/03/2023 11:30

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:11

We need less cars.

This is all batshit

The only batshit thing I see is your repeatedly berating people for have cars. Going in and on about how we don't 'need' them yet can't back it up because you know absolutely nothing about anyone's situation or how the real world works.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 11:31

Why can't you just block your drive and leave your car there? Shift it for when DP comes home and put it right back at the end of the drive?

ScroogeMcDuckling · 23/03/2023 11:32

i have posted before on this subject, on the school opposite our house.

its private, the primary school opposite, and at the beginning of each new year, at least one mother thinks my drive is there for their convenience!

The day I blocked the drive (with them on it) with my old car was actually comical looking back on it, because the battery packed up and wouldn’t start, and the dog decided he was going to have a kip in the back, I must admit, he didn’t get no resistance from me.

The mothers were hopping about screaming and shouting they had to be at a coffee morning in less than an hoourrr, and they needed to go home and shooowwwer.

Eventually the caretaker jump started my car, but he wasn’t in a hurry either!!!

premicrois · 23/03/2023 11:32

OP has said the space will be gone by the time her DP gets home

That's what one would call tough shit.

Also, if OP parks OVER her drive she may as well park on it because either way she isn't going to be in the visitor space anyway.

CalpolDependant · 23/03/2023 11:32

I know this is slightly off topic but isn’t it just crazy how many kids come by car now?

I’d say well over 50% of the drop offs at our school are by car, and we live in a fairly normal small to mid size town, with a primary school every 2 miles or so. (I know not every town or school is the same, just using my own as anecdotal evidence). When I was little, almost everyone walked. Upwards of 90%, probably. The kids that came by car were the unusual ones. Similar sized town and primary school placements.

Ultimately, more women work full time now and more and more children are understood to be SEN, so I do get there are some legitimate reasons for it. I’m lucky because we have wrap around, so it’s a good walk for me or husband (we need the exercise! Ha ha) in the morning and the kids can be dropped from 8am. They’re 8 and 10 so also a bit older.

I feel like there must be solutions to this general problem though. The cars outside my kid’s school are a real problem and all the residents hate it! When I lived in Germany, school buses (even for primary aged children) were popular. I’m not sure about others, but school buses in my area begin at secondary school level.

Sorry for the detour.