AIBU to block in school mums parking on my driveway?

[Applepiesmum]

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)

YANBU but I wouldn't block anyone in simply because there are some nutters out there.

And it's not illegal to park on someone's driveway.

Yeah, this. Take a picture of the parent and their car, and send it to the school and ask them to speak to this parent directly, not a general ‘do not park’ email to the masses

Turn into a private parking space and start issuing fines. You and the company can split commission

Hey OP, I've not read the whole thread but I'm a few pages in and haven't seen anyone mention this yet.

Blocking them in might sound like a great solution. But really it will only affect that 1 person that 1 time. Unless this is a solo repeat offender parent it will make you feel good but it won't solve the problem. It would be best if you made your driveway inaccessible to anyone other than people you want to allow onto it.

The wheelie bin plan is a good one. A slightly more convenient long-term solution could be an electric gate or something similar.

Surely visitor bays are for people visiting people who live in the street - not to use to visit adjacent streets i.e.School? They are usually allocated so each house has its own / shared visitor bay. I would absolute park my allocated bay, wait for an entitled parent to park on or block my drive and then move my car and block them in. (Unless of course, they are happy to pay my rent for hire of my drive?)

In order to block someone in their own driveway, the OP would have to park across the dropped kerb leading to it.

And that would be a clear breach of the Highway Code at least. The driver who is blocked in would be justified in calling the council to enforce parking rules and get the property owner fined. Even if they've parked on the property owner's driveway.

OP would be better off installing a foldable bollard to prevent anyone accessing their driveway AND contacting the council about getting a white line painted in front of their driveway.

Anything else would risk physical altercations. Maybe even vandalism.

Visitor bays are not allocated to particular houses! Otherwise they would come with deeds etc.

Some of you are crazy.

@rwalker

That's for you to sort out.

The area outside our kids primary is maddening.

I walk about a mile and half to pick the kids up... about half way, I pass one particular parent I see every day getting into her SUV, by the time I get to school she's just about overtaken me (the walking route is slightly shorter) and parking up, either right on the corner of a side road, or half over the yellow school markings (because, half on doesn't count, right?), meaning its taken her the exact same amount of time to drive as I walk. I pass her again on my walk home.

At pickup time, the exact same thing, and the kids and I pass her again, unloading at home....

Judging by the traffic outside the school, and the parents I know, this is repeated ad infinitum....

There's a morrisons 5 minutes walk from the school, surely between more people walking, and an arrangement to be allowed to use the morrisons car park, a solution can be found?

I think keep reporting to the school. Take photos every day, email daily or weekly. If they happen to spot you taking the photo, so much the better.

There is more the school can do. PPs have mentioned shaming in newsletters. We've had school call in PCSOs. You don't need to make it impossible to park there, just introduce enough risk of enough hassle or embarrassment that it tips the balance and they find another solution.

I know some us of us need to drive to school, I've been the working parent who needs the car for work. But it's a separate argument. It doesn't ever justify parking on a random stranger's drive.

Because I'm a petty and vengeful person.

I’d do it and have done it. It may only inconvenience one person but word will spread and more than one person will see.

Parking across a dropped kerb is illegal, even if it's your own driveway.

I would get a cheap, clear but greasy lip balm, Chapstick or similar, and write a polite message on the windscreen of anyone who does this, asking them not to park on your driveway. They won't do it a second time.

This happens round here. The vast majority of kids attending our school live in the local town. Basically you can walk most of the catchment area to the school in under 30 minutes.

I live across the road from the school (can literally see it from my house, less than 2 minute walk from my front door to DSs classroom door). There are parents who live further up the street from me who drive whenever it rains.

Our school has started asking the kids how they got to school each morning and parents are encouraged at pickup to complete a short survey about their journey to the school including where they park if they drive. They're asking for some volunteers to go around at drop off and pick up and put parking reminders on car windscreens. Feels like they are trying to make changes but I can't see the lazy parents caring

@Limth certainly at e

As the weather improves, I'd take to having a late afternoon work break on my drive - behind the CFs car. Deckchair, small table, bottle of (non alcoholic) wine, some nibbles, the works. I'd sit there until my husband arrived home.

As soon as they started any nonsense, I'd start filming them, including the princes/princesses they'd collected from school, and let them call the police to have the police remove me from my own drive.

That said, I wouldn't be misusing a local visitors' space in the first place so my car would already be on the drive. 👍

Fuck it, if they're on your driveway. Block them in. They won't do it again in a hurry.

Of course they shouldn't be parking on your driveway. Just park on your driveway instead of the visitor spot, problem solved. It's also cheeky to park in the visitor spot all day though.

No you wouldn't.

Yes - that baffled me too, @Brefugee. And I'm equally baffled by people who think it is OK to park on someone's private drive. I'd be tempted to follow them home, find where they lived, and park on their drive! But blocking them in is probably easier.

I mean you could but you would be breaking the law.

You say hog a visitor bay but it’s a visitor bay outside my house…. For my visitors to use there’s quite a few for the other houses too where everyone parks their additional cars.

these aren’t public parking spaces

Well if they have an appointment they can't get to, it serves them right for parking on someone else's drive. You kind of hope they do have somewhere they have to be, it teaches them a lesson

I think it would take some massive balls to call the police about being blocked in when you've dumped your car on someone else's property.

Grow up !!