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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
SoShallINever · 23/03/2023 12:02

It is really very rude to park on someone's actual drive, but if you parked your own car there (where it should be) then there wouldn't be an issue would there?
I work in a district nursing team and its bloody annoying when visitor parking spaces are blocked. It means I have to walk carrying or dragging heavy items of equipment (if you've seen an ETAC Turner, you'll appreciate what I mean).

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 12:02

BellatrixLestrangesHeatedCurlers · 23/03/2023 12:01

Ooh the things I have done to cars parked in shitty places. I can't recount them here. Look up the Tyre Extinguishers for an idea.

The power of a lentil!

rwalker · 23/03/2023 12:03

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:20

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

there was no way I could walk kids to school then get to train station to get my train to work without dropping them off on route
what would you suggest
unable to drop the kids off earlier in playground and later train would of made me too late for work changing my hours to start later wasn’t an option so as an able bodied person what should I have done

EigerMum · 23/03/2023 12:03

I honestly actually can’t believe that people do this, I really can’t.

BellatrixLestrangesHeatedCurlers · 23/03/2023 12:03

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 12:02

The power of a lentil!

Show quote history

This girl knows what she's talkin' about!! Hail the humble lentil.

TheChoiceIsYours · 23/03/2023 12:03

idonttalkaboutthat · 23/03/2023 11:56

But the CF isn’t visiting the OP’s housing development. It’s a visitors space, not a ‘picking up from the nearby school’ space. So while the OP is a bit of a cf to be basically reserving it and stopping any other visitors using it, it’s absolutely not for the CF school mum to use!!

So where do you suggest school mums (and dads!) park then?

How on earth can I possibly answer that?! I don’t know where the school is, the road layout or any number of other variables needed to answer that question! Not in other peoples driveways or the visitor bays of their housing developments would be #1 though!

If there is no safe and legal parking near the school then parents need to make other arrangements for travel or choose another school. Illegal parking isn’t justified 🤷‍♀️

idonttalkaboutthat · 23/03/2023 12:04

@TheChoiceIsYours

Visitor bays are for all visitors. School drop off included

Rinkydinkydoodle · 23/03/2023 12:06

I can’t believe people actually park on stranger’s driveways🫣 Vicarious cringe.

lieselotte · 23/03/2023 12:07

There are obviously people who need to use their cars to get their kids to school on the way to work, or because it is too far to walk/there isn't a safe route to walk etc. As long as those people park considerately when they reach the school, nobody is complaining.

What I do complain about is the people who arrive 45 minutes early (though they live a 10 minute walk away - and where I live there are no dangerous country lanes to negotiate, so they have safe routes to walk), sit with their engine running, and block driveways, turning areas and park on pavements and verges. They are the CFs and something needs to be done about them.

Amy1992Brighton · 23/03/2023 12:07

If you work from home do you need to have 2 cars? It sounds like you routinely hog the visitors' space outside your house so-as to reserve your driveway space for your second car.
How do your elderly neighbours feel about this - what if they have carers or relatives coming round given they are older people, and they can't park nearby? It all sounds very selfish and entitled to me.

Moveoverdarlin · 23/03/2023 12:08

I wouldn’t block someone in. But I would park outside your house in the visitor spot and I’d stand on the driveway at 3ish. Surely no one would park on another’s drive whilst they were stood there?

Whiskeypowers · 23/03/2023 12:08

clearly other people parking on your drive is outrageous but honestly I think you should just park on your actual drive

it’s really shit of you to take a street space when they are at a premium and you have an empty drive. All because your poor husband can’t cope with having to find elsewhere to park.

ifonly4 · 23/03/2023 12:09

I can't believe anyone would have the nerve to park on someone else's drive. Block them in, and come back and start a thread on MN so we can follow what's happening. If they knock on the door, I suspect you won't hear.

lieselotte · 23/03/2023 12:09

I've not seen the OP mention any elderly neighbours? Anyway, elderly people can and do drive themselves.

However, there is a wider point of people having too many cars for the available parking. We can fit two cars on our drive, three at a push. Our neighbours currently have five. Two for the parents, two for the sons, and one for one of the son's girlfriends!

Catspyjamas17 · 23/03/2023 12:10

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 11:35

@Catspyjamas17

What about them?

It's not anybody else's problem but their own.

We're parents, presumably competent adults.

We each have the ability to make decisions on how to live our lives.

If we make decisions which require daily driving and parking in urban areas, that's our own fault. We do not have the right to impose ourselves and our cars, on others like this. Cars pollute, they take up space, damage infrastructure such as pavements, kill and injure thousands.

Why are people setting their lives up like this? I can understand people driving on the school run in rural areas or if disabilities are a concern but most of, should be taking some responsibility and not setting up our lives up like that.

Who the hell do people think they are?

Tell it to the automobile industry, local authorities and government, not individuals. Individuals are merely responding to what is most convenient for them in terms or cost, time and effort- as human beings have throughout history. Most of the country for the last 50+ years has been built around most people having a car., and it is still the case.

Kids from our village, for example, could just walk the 2.2 miles to secondary school but, at one point, an additional motorway junction was envisaged in between where we live and school and the road speed limit goes 30 - 40 - 60. There is pavement on one side all along but it's not a pleasant or safe walk, or safe cycle route. School bus services have just been massively cut- there is just about still one bus from the village to school. For most people trains are too expensive vs other options and a lot of people aren't near a station anyway. These are not the decisions of individuals but government, local government, and those who have the ear of them and this happens up and down the country.

I think personal vehicles are needed (especially if public transport keeps being cut rather than expanded) but they don't have to look like current cars and could cheap, be simple golf buggy like electric vehicles/bikes/scooters limited to 20mph for most short journeys, with larger electric vehicles available in a pool for longer distance use.

Limth · 23/03/2023 12:10

Years ago, I lived near a school.

I didn't have a car. But I had a driveway.

A woman started parking on my drive for school pick-up/drop-off. She started off once or twice a week. I just let it happen while I planned by response. Then it got more regular until she was doing it twice a day, five days a week.

I think she assumed no-one was home because there was no car and the blinds were slatted so no signs of movement from inside.

One morning, I covered the drive in tyre puncture nails, made myself a brew and watched the action unfold. It was glorious.

FishChipsMushyPeas · 23/03/2023 12:11

I would do it, or put nails on the drive/out front (remove them before your partner comes in obviously!).

Stopped my neighbours CF neighbour parking over my drive.

lieselotte · 23/03/2023 12:11

Rinkydinkydoodle · 23/03/2023 12:06

I can’t believe people actually park on stranger’s driveways🫣 Vicarious cringe.

Well quite. I don't even park opposite a driveway because I want to make sure someone can get their car in and out; never mind across it or actually on it!

FishChipsMushyPeas · 23/03/2023 12:11

Limth · 23/03/2023 12:10

Years ago, I lived near a school.

I didn't have a car. But I had a driveway.

A woman started parking on my drive for school pick-up/drop-off. She started off once or twice a week. I just let it happen while I planned by response. Then it got more regular until she was doing it twice a day, five days a week.

I think she assumed no-one was home because there was no car and the blinds were slatted so no signs of movement from inside.

One morning, I covered the drive in tyre puncture nails, made myself a brew and watched the action unfold. It was glorious.

After my own heart. Superb.

Dentistlakes · 23/03/2023 12:11

It never ceases to amaze me how entitled drivers can be during school pick up. It’s utterly ridiculous they have been using your private driveway to park. I wouldn’t hesitate to block them in under these circumstances.

KarmaStar · 23/03/2023 12:12

Do it!they are c.f.
Will the council paint a white line across your drive due to the circumstances?they have taken it seriously around here with double yellow lines,and even closed off the gates to the school to prevent exit and entry from the area where residential houses are and put the main gates on another road with double yellow so now parents walk.

rainbowstardrops · 23/03/2023 12:12

I can't believe how bloody rude, selfish and ignorant some people are! I live opposite two schools and drop off and pick up times are a nightmare!
People blatantly parking across peoples driveways WITH CARS ON THEM and then casually strolling off to the school because they can't possibly park in a surrounding road and WALK!!!
I would 100% block them in and I wouldn't answer the door to them for ages. CFs!
As others have said though, why don't you just park your car on the driveway during the day?

Flossflower · 23/03/2023 12:14

I would report it to the school, along with a picture of the parent . I live near a school and if you complain about bad parking they will ‘tell off’ the parents in their newsletter.

idonttalkaboutthat · 23/03/2023 12:14

Limth · 23/03/2023 12:10

Years ago, I lived near a school.

I didn't have a car. But I had a driveway.

A woman started parking on my drive for school pick-up/drop-off. She started off once or twice a week. I just let it happen while I planned by response. Then it got more regular until she was doing it twice a day, five days a week.

I think she assumed no-one was home because there was no car and the blinds were slatted so no signs of movement from inside.

One morning, I covered the drive in tyre puncture nails, made myself a brew and watched the action unfold. It was glorious.

You sound stupid. Why didn't you just talk to her?

(I don't actually believe this happened though, by the way.)

QuertyGirl · 23/03/2023 12:16

Limth · 23/03/2023 12:10

Years ago, I lived near a school.

I didn't have a car. But I had a driveway.

A woman started parking on my drive for school pick-up/drop-off. She started off once or twice a week. I just let it happen while I planned by response. Then it got more regular until she was doing it twice a day, five days a week.

I think she assumed no-one was home because there was no car and the blinds were slatted so no signs of movement from inside.

One morning, I covered the drive in tyre puncture nails, made myself a brew and watched the action unfold. It was glorious.

I need to hear more about this!