To lock DD's scooter at school?

[Eurydice84]

DS (5yo) asked for one of those Micro scooters with light-up wheels for Xmas. It was her main Xmas present and an expensive purchase (£140), but it should hopefully last her for many years. AIBU to lock the scooter at the school gates? Most kids just leave them unsecured but this is a brand new expensive one and DD would be so upset if it goes missing - she's been wanting one for ages.

Why risk it
locks can be broken, just take it home or don’t let her ride it to school

Agree with the lock. A friends DS had his stolen from middle school bike shed. Luckily there was CCTV. The Headteacher made it to the culprits house before he did!

I ride the scooter home, there isn't an easy way to lock it up and it makes the walk home faster.
I lock up bikes though, loads get stolen from our school, mostly when the gates are open at the end of the day but after school clubs are on, so some bikes are still there and nobody is really watching them

I used to lock DSs at the bike rack. No issue doing that.

Me too! It's not the school's responsibility if it gets taken or something happens to it.

Blimey, if they've got random people coming onto their premises in school hours then they've got more to worry about than missing scooters.

Last year we could use the bike shed on school grounds and didn't lock it then but her classroom now is right at the entrance so we use the public accessible rack which is unsecured all day which is why I lock it. School is also a big school in a very mixed area and I scrimped and saved to get her a nice bike. I may get her a cheaper one next time.

Take it home, otherwise it will be out in the Rain and will rust. I dragged them backwards and forwards for years.

It was perfectly normal to lock bikes and scooters to the bike racks at my children's school.

Theft wasn't a problem but kids taking the wrong ones home by mistake was sometimes a problem.

At that price a good lock is a very sensible decision.

I used to put a plastic bag over the handlebars, which meant they were dry if it had rained, but also immediately obvious that it was ours.

Although the school didn't suffer from people pinching scooters deliberately. It was more common you'd have a red-faced parent going round because they'd suddenly discovered they had two identical scooters because they'd accidentally picked up one from school thinking it was their's and then found their own (often in boot of car).

It's never occurred to me lock up DS's scooter. All the scooters most of which are micro scooters are left in the playground scooter racks and the gate is locked so I think they'd be hard to steal. But I guess I'm in the minority so in your case I'd lock it up.

There's building work going on around the school. Before that there were council flats for over 55's and they had a wall with enough of a gap that the school couldn't be accessed. The two school handymen/caretakers are having to act like security during the day. The building work will be finished in a few months.

I used to simply scoot home and back on DD's scooter to save time (we're a 12 minute run away)