Turning in a private road

[RoadyMcRoadUser]

Preparing to get flamed for this…..There is a large private road literally next door to my kids primary school which is situated in a cul de sac. The public road gets massively congested in this cul de sac as you can imagine. I have sometimes had no choice but to turn my car in the private road. I have never parked there and doing the school run twice a day have never seen anyone else parked up there either. There’s a guy who lives in the road who will literally stand and glare at me if I turn the car round in his road on the school run. It’s like he comes out of his house specifically at school run times to observe this.
I know you aren’t “supposed” to put an inch of the nose of your car in a private road. But equally, there’s a part of me that thinks if you are that enraged by your private road being used by anyone other than the people that live there, then why would you buy a house directly next door to a school in a cul de sac with no other turning options? Am I being an arsehole? Or is this man overly precious?

If you use this private road to turn frequently, you may be considered a nuisance. Although the owners of the road cannot fine you for this, they can sue and if the court finds against you, it can be rather expensive.

There’s no justification for you using the drive/ private road. It must be frustrating for the owner to see many people just don’t care about infringing on someone else’s space. Quite selfish really.

People turn in my driveway all the time when the gates are open -an hour or two every day. I honestly never thought about it. I like to see Mister Obnoxious Expert Driving Man getting pissed off when someone is turning and holds up the traffic. 😀

People like OP think they are so entitled. I live at the end of a private road, which has CCTV camera on. It’s not just one car a day that turns its many. I also get people using it as a toilet. I own this road so wear and tear has to be rectified by me. Park further away and walk you lazy, arrogant woman.

Except that ‘private road’ does not necessarily mean that no-one is allowed to drive on it. It means it hasn’t been adopted by the council. Pps upthread have posted links about it. It’s not necessarily the same as a private driveway at all.

I appreciate that parents at school pick up and drop off can be a complete nightmare. I personally cannot stand the entitled pavement parkers, driveway blockers, bus stop parkers and sling-their-child-out-in-the-middle-of-the-road twats, but I think many posters are projecting all that onto the OP when she may well have done nothing wrong at all. Having said all that, if I were the OP I would avoid the cul de sac where the school is altogether.

That's a very sweeping statement! My kid's primary school was 35 minutes walk away and as I had to get to school for 9am after the school run I'm not sure how I could have walked there and back before picking up my car and driving to school. Not all people are you.

I live on a private road and the residents have to pay for the roads upkeep- so I can sympathise with people getting pissed off with entitled parents using it to turn around….

Oh and we have had people park right by the “Private Road - no parking “ sign many times…. Then they get stroppy when asked to move…. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Surely it depends on whether it has only private right of way or has public right of way. If the latter you can drive on it/

I lived in a private road adjacent to the back entrance of a school. My area has a 0.5 mile catchment area.

The entrance to the road is dual lane, but after two car lengths or so it filters to single lane at about when the houses start.

In the 2 lane section, parents park on one side of the road. Not lined up like you would usually park on a road, but like in a parking lot so 4-5 cars can fit there instead of 2. That lane being blocked is also on a fairly blind corner so if you don’t automatically clock it’s school pick up/drop off time and swing into the road you have to emergency brake. And yes parents also get their kids in and out of the car here which is extremely dangerous.

parents stop completely blocking the road, run round the back to open the door and let their kids out. Some let their kids walk to school from their alone, some just leave their care there for 10+ minutes blocking any residents who need to leave, or any ambulances etc that needed to get in.

Those are the most dangerous and disruptive activities, but I also see 3 point turns onto the main road, completely blocking the main road, dangerous child entry and exit, leaving younger children alone in the cars on main roads.

if it was just parking on the road safely fine, we live near a school, expected. But this behaviour is so selfish and dangerous. And it’s made so much worse that it’s a half mile catchment area, a ten minute walk. I know not everyone can walk, but there are hundreds of cars down small residential streets, and there are 2 entrances to the schools … this is only one.

If you can’t drive and turn safely, then park 2 minutes walk away where you can drive and manoeuvre safely. If you’re doing a 3 point turn right next to a school there’s a huge risk of accidentally knocking down a child in busy times. Stop prioritising convenience over safety.

Why not leave for school ten minutes earlier, you’d probably be able to park. Would you like it if I turned around on your driveway every day? If you only had one parking space outside your house would you have the same attitude if people used that every day? You’re being entitled.

This sounds very like a primary school close to me. In recent years, it has been enlarged extensively but has not provided any more parking on site. This means that parents park on the roads approaching it. On one road in particular, this reduces the road to a single carriageway, which is incredibly dangerous as it's actually a hill leading up to a blind corner and people park right up to the bend in the road.

There is an area about a minute's walk from the school where parents could park (and some do) but most of them are determined to park on the closest roads, regardless of the danger (the other road is a main route into our local town). OK, sometimes it's raining - what's the matter, are they afraid their children will melt?

If you can’t drive and turn safely, then park 2 minutes walk away where you can drive and manoeuvre safely. If you’re doing a 3 point turn right next to a school there’s a huge risk of accidentally knocking down a child in busy times. Stop prioritising convenience over safety.

Ok, cool. I'll tell my physio I don't need my wheelchair and should walk to school then 🤪

Seriously, there are so many ableist comments on this thread it is ridiculous.

As it happens, I park in the disabled parking spots in the service yard. I have to do a 3 point turn coming out because some idiot always parks on double yellow lines to the left of the gate, meaning I can't turn left without damaging that car or the one parked across the road that also on double yellows. I have to turn right, towards a dead end. Because everyone is parked everywhere except for over drivers, I have to use a driveway to turn in the road. I cannot reverse out of the service yard as I have to drive over the pavement to get to it and would rather not risk running children over, I need full visibility.

I won't apologise for using other people's drive to keep children safe and my own car free of damage when people choose to park illegally.

Most primary schools are within walking distance of kids homes

I used to walk dd to school and then walk home to get the car to work

I used to love walking my daughter to school. Sadly the hill on the way back is too steep for my wheelchair. Not everyone has the option to walk.

Always best to check with the council. They have the definitive list of road that are unadopted (with a public right of way) OR are unadopted (no right of way).

if there is no right of way then legally you have no legal right to use it.