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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think I should be able to park near the school?

218 replies

zagazig · 02/05/2025 15:19

Got a call from the school. DD had vomited so they asked me to come and pick her up. Got there about 2.30pm and had to park several streets away because so many parents had already taken the prime parkin spaces. Many of them were in their cars already with some younger children in the bank. Also quite a few with their engines idling to keep the AC on as it is warm.

Are parents really parking up an hour before to get the best nearest spaces? I had to walk poor DD several streets away to get her to the car. I normally walk her to school and walk back but I took the car as I was coming from work and she was unwell.

OP posts:
HeChokedOnAChorizo · 02/05/2025 16:17

Must be the area, i live 5 minutes walk from the local primary and the road i live on is one of the main roads, but there are about 5 roads that lead to the primary school. Kick out is around 3.30 and the earliest i have ever seen parents parking up is 3.00 pm, so not that early really.

It might happen on one of the other roads that parents arrive early or the small car park right outside the school but its never happened on the road i live on.

faerietales · 02/05/2025 16:20

It’s ridiculous. There should be restrictions on how long you can park outside schools at certain times.

Strangeworldtoday · 02/05/2025 16:22

Wahsingday · 02/05/2025 16:12

Yep. On my driveway, not just blocking it.

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I would be getting some cones for sure!

Fairislesweater · 02/05/2025 16:23

I work in a school, we encourage people to park further away and walk, or just walk given our radius is less than a km and we are secondary…. people are convinced their children will melt away if they have to walk further than the length of their body. However when parents are collecting an unwell child we always tell them we’ll buzz them into the car park.

ExpressCheckout · 02/05/2025 16:23

@zagazig Are parents really parking up an hour before to get the best nearest spaces?

Yes, they do, and it's getting worse. They're a bloody nuisance near where I live, parking half on pavements, engines on, fumes spreading - it's selfish and lazy.

Most annoying is that most of them ignore the 'no parking 7-10AM' sign and even the 'no parking' signs that the school children have made themselves!

Schools and councils are missing a trick here. They need to bring in school parking permits and, with the money raised, pay someone to police the system.

Obviously the charge would need to be linked to postcode to ensure that wealthy drivers are penalised/punished proportionately.

Obviously blue badge holders would be exempt, and any money left over could be given directly to the school(s) concerned for essentials such as books etc.

MikeRafone · 02/05/2025 16:26

I live between two schools. I just mostly plan to leave before 8.20 and not come back until after 9 and same in the afternoon, if I have friends round, then they arrive before 2.30 and leave after 3.30

I have asked people to switch their engines off - they've done so and turned it back on - so I went out again and asked for them to turn it off as its not pleasant with the fumes. I think they thought I was walking past and didn't realise I was coming out of the nearest house.

every afternoon they arrive and claim their spots at 2.30 and sit in their cars for 30 minutes. some have small children in the car, I often wonder why they don't park by the park or further away and walk a bit. They certainly congest the streets and make it difficult for themselves and anyone walking

HappiestSleeping · 02/05/2025 16:27

How times change. When I was at school, there was a sick room. We didn't get sent home. And we all walked to school from primary onwards.

No parking issues then. Mind you there were less than half the people on the planet then, and car ownership was significantly less.

Mareleine · 02/05/2025 16:30

Bonsaibaby · 02/05/2025 16:03

You can normally park in the hazard lines until 2.45, the odd parents who arrive earlier for normal pick up wouldn’t be able to so they would have been free.

WTF?! Of course you shouldn't park on the hazard lines! They're there for a reason! You should never ever park on the hazard lines of a school, unless there's one somewhere with hours of operation (I've never seen one with hours of operation outside a school).

"Yellow zigzags without accompanying signs advise motorists not to wait or park there at any time for the safety of children and others. We can and do issue tickets for parking on them, based on causing an obstruction to other motorists or pedestrians." https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/parking-outside-schools/

TheNightingalesStarling · 02/05/2025 16:32

Live near a Primary school and Secondary school. They start arriving from 2.15 for the Secondary school, and then wait for the Primary school at 3.30.

I have some sympathy as not all the Primary catchment is walkable (but within 2 miles in a straight line... you just can't walk across an airfield!) But the parking is often dangerous.

mit123 · 02/05/2025 16:34

Most definitely - I live on the same street as a junior school and yes parents arrive at 2pm to get as close to school gates as they can - then sit on their phones with engines running - it’s a nitemare for people who live in vicinity - and yes some people are going to say ‘well you chose to live by a school’ - yes I did but not knowing people would arrive 1.5 hrs before school finishes

DollydaydreamTheThird · 02/05/2025 16:36

Absolutely mental. have they got nothing better to do? What a massive waste of time assuming school finishes at 3.30pm. If they can get there that early then surely they have time to walk to school! Better for the kids, the planet, local air quality. Fuckin cretins! 🙄

HowDoYouSolveAProblemLikeMyRear · 02/05/2025 16:36

One friend would drive her children to school and leave the car parked by the school all day before driving them home.

She could do this because they lived less than a mile from school, so she just walked home in the morning and back in the evening.

So why leave the car there? Because the children were too tired to walk the 10-15 minute walk home at the end of the school day, even though when they had to do it (eg car in for a service, she would carry all their bags🤣).

HelloCanYouHearMe · 02/05/2025 16:36

Mareleine · 02/05/2025 16:30

WTF?! Of course you shouldn't park on the hazard lines! They're there for a reason! You should never ever park on the hazard lines of a school, unless there's one somewhere with hours of operation (I've never seen one with hours of operation outside a school).

"Yellow zigzags without accompanying signs advise motorists not to wait or park there at any time for the safety of children and others. We can and do issue tickets for parking on them, based on causing an obstruction to other motorists or pedestrians." https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/parking-outside-schools/

Edited
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The signs outside my child primary school state you can park on the yellow Zigzags at certain times of the day - as per your post... (once id read it properly!)

I don't because we are close enough to walk. What gets me is those parent who park on corners with double yellows....

MathsMum3 · 02/05/2025 16:36

It really is laughable. Many people claim they want/need a car for the freedom it gives them to go where they want, when they want. It seems to me that many people are actually a slave to their car - can't use it when they want for fear they won't get a parking spot, can't take it where they want because there's too much traffic or parked cars. Oh the joy and freedom of a bike!

imbolic · 02/05/2025 16:37

Wahsingday · 02/05/2025 16:12

Yep. On my driveway, not just blocking it.

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Put up a notice with parking charges and head outside with a book of cloakroom tickets when they arrive 😉

Bushmillsbabe · 02/05/2025 16:39

Wahsingday · 02/05/2025 16:12

Yep. On my driveway, not just blocking it.

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I would park my car at the far end of my driveway so they can't get onto it, because I'm stubborn like that 😂

Joinedinhistory · 02/05/2025 16:39

Wahsingday · 02/05/2025 16:12

Yep. On my driveway, not just blocking it.

Show quote history

I would take great joy in going out to move my car ( quick 5 minute drive around the block) every single day. She would have to move twice each time!

UndermyShoeJoe · 02/05/2025 16:40

faerietales · 02/05/2025 16:20

It’s ridiculous. There should be restrictions on how long you can park outside schools at certain times.

There was at the old school a max of 30
minutes. But that would mean wardens actually being out.

TakingMyChancesWithTheRabbits · 02/05/2025 16:42

It's worse round here than it used to be, because of the "school street zone". If you drive into the road nearest the school in the 45 minutes around opening or closing time you get a ticket, so quite a few parents arrive early and park up in the afternoon.

IllustratedDictionaryOfTheDoldrums · 02/05/2025 16:43

I live one road up from a school. Parent parking perplexes me. Coming up to home time, my road and the school road are double parked, people on double yellows. There've been a few times when everything has been at a complete standstill, no one able to go in or out because of this.
And yet, one road up from us, there's 'one hour free' parking bays which are always free. It's around a minutes walk and avoids getting into all the little roads near the school. Hardly anyone parks there.
I don't get it at all.

Joinedinhistory · 02/05/2025 16:44

HowDoYouSolveAProblemLikeMyRear · 02/05/2025 16:36

One friend would drive her children to school and leave the car parked by the school all day before driving them home.

She could do this because they lived less than a mile from school, so she just walked home in the morning and back in the evening.

So why leave the car there? Because the children were too tired to walk the 10-15 minute walk home at the end of the school day, even though when they had to do it (eg car in for a service, she would carry all their bags🤣).

So why leave the car there? Because the children were too tired to walk the 10-15 minute walk home at the end of the school day, even though when they had to do it (eg car in for a service, she would carry all their bags🤣).

What a shame!

My DC’s are older now, but our fondest memories are of walking home together.
We made friends with other families ( still my friends years later), bought ice creams, sometimes called for other shopping, played in the park and generally discussed our day as we walked.

Such great times.

frozendaisy · 02/05/2025 16:44

HowDoYouSolveAProblemLikeMyRear · 02/05/2025 16:36

One friend would drive her children to school and leave the car parked by the school all day before driving them home.

She could do this because they lived less than a mile from school, so she just walked home in the morning and back in the evening.

So why leave the car there? Because the children were too tired to walk the 10-15 minute walk home at the end of the school day, even though when they had to do it (eg car in for a service, she would carry all their bags🤣).

This is utterly insane

noworklifebalance · 02/05/2025 16:44

I thought state school catchment areas were really small. If coming from work that early surely you would drive home, have a cuppa and the walk to school?

UndermyShoeJoe · 02/05/2025 16:47

noworklifebalance · 02/05/2025 16:44

I thought state school catchment areas were really small. If coming from work that early surely you would drive home, have a cuppa and the walk to school?

Little jnr school here and my neighbour drives it’s not even quite 10 minutes walk as we live just down the lane with a footpath.

pinotnow · 02/05/2025 16:48

I teach in a school in which the vast majority of students live nearby and could walk. Every day the car park just outside classrooms fills from around 2.15. Yes, they sit with engines idling and, in this weather, windows down and music playing, disturbing lessons. It's absolutely ridiculous.