School drop off C U next Tuesdays

[ItsOnlyRainFFS]

My primary school is right in the middle of a residential area. Loads of side road parking but for some reason a significant proportion of parents insist on trying to park right outside school gate. And when it rains it’s chaos! They will drive at 30mph, park across driveways, reverse right in the middle of the path crossings to obtain some holy grail parking space that saves them an extra 30 seconds walk. They are barely looking as they drive like lunatics to then drop their precious 5 year old outside the gate all the while risking hitting other kids. Year 5 and 6 are allowed to walk alone to school and I really get scared for them when I see this chaos. The biggest risk to these kids walking home alone is not some random stranger danger but bloody other parents driving!
I don’t get it!
AIBU to think these parents are total next level of C U next Tuesdays? And how the hell does anyone get them to stop being so selfish and reckless.
For info I work full time and regularly school run is a stress on top of work commute for me! I leave a couple mins early and account for parking a 1 min walk to school. It’s not exactly rocket science. I just don’t get the thought process that I need to park outside the school gate to hell with everyone else.

Just write cunts for goodness sakes.

yes, agreed. Bunch of selfish parents. Same at my sons school

I get it, I was walking distance to our primary school and the chaos especially when it rained was ridiculous! Abandoned cars in dangerous places, often blocking traffic, as you say all so they can get as close as possible to the gates! A child did get hurt as a car pulled up to park on a wide pavement and since then the local community officer has been there, and they are trying to look at taking an area off the school field to make a drop off zone… It made me stressed even seeing it. My kids have left now and I am unbelievably pleased I don’t have to go near that place!!

And the Chelsea tractors who leave their engines running outside!

Hardly considerate of a school environment.

But so many will vote that you are right and continue to think that they are the exceptions to the rule.

Complain to the school.

Pavement parking is my pet peeve. Being made to walk on a road because a car is taking up the whole pavement. I had a run in with a woman the other day who blocked my right of way on a pavement and instructed me to walk on the road to get past. Her reason there was nowhere else for her to safely park and she thought I was being unreasonable.

Things never change. My children are adults now but went to a small primary where the pub at the bottom of the road made it quite clear that they were happy to allow parents to park in car park for school drop off and pick up. It was about 100m from school gates- yet everything described in the op still happened. Unbelievable

I used to live near a private primary school and the parents would park outside the gates until lines were painted, then they all started parking in the next street til they got resident permits, then they started parking in the gym til they started clamping, then they started parking in the pub til they started locking the gates, then they started parking in the resident parking of a block of privately owned flats. All because they couldn't be bothered to walk a few minutes. This school was served by 4 bus routes, none of which were used by children at the school. I now live near another primary school and none of the parents park in our cul de sac. They all park over people's drives outside the school. It's madness because there's plenty of parking if you just walk 4 or 5 minutes.

I have to drive past 3 primary schools on my way into work, and they are crazy. One in particular is a small school in a village right next to a junction. They park on the bend next to the junction, and its impossible to see past them to know if there is anything coming the other way. The traffic build up in this small village is incredible as its next to a main (ish) road. Throw in a few tractors and its carnage.

I don’t remember this at all growing up. I live in a better area now and tbh it really feels like an entitlement issue. Lots of people, especially local residents, have complained to school. We must get a letter to parents every other week asking parents not to park on people’s driveways and be aware of pedestrians. Nothing changes. Depressing to think this has gone on for years and all over the country

You are completely right. I walk my kids to school but had a run in with a Grandad who drove his massive pickup truck onto the pavement on the corner of the road to park it. No respect for the fact that people might be walking on the pavement or might need to be able to see around his fucking massive truck. He started swearing at me when I asked if he was aware he was on a pavement.

Another parent who is a teacher at another school regularly drops her little darling off on double yellows.

Mine are capable of walking themselves but I take them because of the parking twats making it unsafe. I would be embarrassed but they have no shame.

We also get texts / newsletters from the school saying park carefully etc but nothing changes because obviously the people who do that don’t care.

Cunt, cunt, cunt.

Either say it or don't. Alluding to it is worse than using it.

Our school had a school street put in to prevent people doing this. They now pull up onto the pavement at the corners just outside the camera controlled zone where the children are trying to cross, completely blocking visibility. We have twice nearly had some impatient idiot run into my 6 year old because they are driving their car on the pavement - when you confront them they get all defensive and say things like “everyone else does it” or “I didn’t actually hit her”.

I’m seriously considering buying a wearable camera and sending footage to the police as pavement driving is illegal,.…

Who the fuck are the 15% of readers who think the poster is being unreasonable? Some mumsnetters never fail to astound me with their ignorance and self entitlement.

I used to walk my sons to school in all weather. School was a ten minutes walk but the parents who always had to park next door....my son was nearly run over as some selfish bint decided to do a 3 point turn in the school gates! Got a right telling off from me....

This has been an issue for a long time now. I have been a school governor on and off for 35 years when my children were at primary school and we were talking about it then
It's a result of increased pace of life, parents having to drop children at different schools then dash off to get to work on time and the fact that schools are now often surrounded by intensive housing
Not an excuse for twatish behaviour but there's no easy solution. You could ask your local PCSO to have a presence for a few days. That sometimes improves things for a while 😏

We walk in all weathers. We are close (7 mins) but still people who live the same distance drive. They put double yellow lines down and people now park the other side of the double yellow lines on the grass!

The people who simply must park as close to the school as possible, and don’t give a shit about anyone else, I’m guessing.

Yes it’s a madness op. I used to live near a secondary school and it was the same! Even though all kids were 11 and older - no the parents had to park right outside the bloody gates! 2 minutes away was a massive road with no parking restrictions and no houses but no - they had to get as close as possible. I often had rows with people who’d parked over my drive.

My kids school is inner city and the school sent soooo many emails about this, signs outside the school that people would park between. A HUGE banner that said ‘don’t be selfish, don’t park here, you could kill a child’ nothing stopped them. In the end the school applied for permission from the council to close the street to cars during drop off and pick up. Unbelievable it had to come to that but some people really are selfish fuck wits.

Exactly the same problem at our primary too. I’ve mentioned it to the head multiple times but I know she would rather have people parking on the pavement and yellow line dangerously, than have a bunch of complaints from the local residents having their driveways blocked.

Dropping off on double yellows? Annoying, irritating, frustrating, but actually totally legal.

Madness. Why can’t kids be walked to school. I guess some are then driving into work but for goodness sake be sensible.

I do have to question a school that allows 5 year olds to be dropped at the gate - as per the OP? Don’t schools require them to be handed over in the playground. Would be a safeguarding concern surely?

Well he’s only 6 so it involves her getting out the car, crossing the road with him and taking him to the gate. So I guess that’s parking even if for a short time.

All as bad as each other and from my own perspective, they are welcome to it. I got involved once with a dangerous situation with parking around a school bus pick up point where i ended up in an argument with one of these idiots who not only was making it difficult and dangerous for children crossing the road but was blocking the path for parents pushing pushchairs. Not a single other person backed me up, in fact they turned their backs whilst holding their pushchairs. My children are way past school buses now but i sent a letter to the school pointing out how dangerous this parking situation is for the bus, the children and the parents. It wasnt even acknowledged.

Although i dont wish hurt on any child, i would not give a parent, a child (of a parent who drives in) or a parents car a second thought if something happened. Its just a race to the bottom for them all.

Solution is to make children attend nearest school regardless of anything else. No if's or buts. It would improve schools, it would remove so many having to drive, it would give children time and make them fitter.