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.

All our local schools are no car zones for an hour at drop off time and an hour an pick up time. You could suggest this to your council.

A local business had to close their car park at these times to stop these entitled parents parking in their car park.

I find the level of entitlement amusing. OK, enraging rather than amusing.

OUT OF MY WAY! I HAVE CHILDREN! I AM A PARENT!

Dont bother, i was pushing my pram and almost got taken out by someone turning into the junction and pulling across in front of us. Police didnt even reply to my email form for dangerous driving.

our school is walkable and limited to people who live within half a mile so it baffles me that anyone is driving, let alone driving like king of the road maniacs. These are the parents of the kids in my kids community ffs!

Where i live (not UK) all the primary schools and kindergartens in our area have a car exclusion zone around them so that cars dropping off/picking up can't get closer than (i think) 150 metres. Unless they are blue badge holders or residents of that street.

But then, children here often take a bus to school from primary age, walk, or ride their bikes.

YANBU - this is playing out around every single school in the UK.
Dickheads are everywhere.

Seems as though people in the UK often think their children are too precious to get a bus though. There might be strangers on it. Or germs.

Same people who think that walking is too dangerous these days - they're too daft to realise that by jumping in their car every time they need to walk more than 20 yards, they are hugely contributing to the danger.

YANBU.

These parents are totally lazy arseholes. They should just fucking walk. They might lose the baby weight or the beer belly ...

For fuck's sake, there's no need to be so twee. Just call them cunts.

Oh that's what it means.
Yeah, just use the word cunt or a different word if you don't like cunt.

I was really wondering what a “C u next Tuesday”-type was!!

I was wondering if it was a term like Nimby and thinking I was behind the times…

Ever was it thus..
Maybe the answer is to stop trying to change the world and embrace the problem.
Historically, mums walked their children to school and then walked home. Nowadays many more people drop off on their way somewhere so they are in a car.
With very little effort schools could create a drop off "portico" where the car drives up, child gets out, Teacher is there to ensure child gets in safely, car drives off. 2 cars at a time, 30 seconds each car.
The system works and works well.

Cannot agree more, I've emailed the school, the police and the council who were all really helpful but every year there is a new influx of entitled twats in 4 by 4s who think they are the only ones trying to get their kids to school, I absolutely hate the fuckers, I live 30 seconds walk from the school and there is usually an empty space outside my house but its too far for these idiots to walk 🙄

The arguments for driving primary school children are and have always been

it’s raining/snowing/windy/cold
I’m on my way to work
My child has an injury

I spent a proportion of my teaching career visiting schools and I rarely encountered a primary school that didn’t have issues with parking. I think it’s much worse now too. If people really needed their car to take their children to school, they wouldn’t need to sit in it with the engine running for half an hour. If the pupils are all local, very few should need to drive. A five or ten minute walk isn’t going to make people late for work and who knows how many are working from home anyway.

Schools send out reminders in newsletters and some have staff outside reminding parents about where they can park, but the minute they go in, or the PCSO stops coming, it reverts to chaos.

I’ve seen roads reduced to one way because cars are parked both sides. I’ve seen stand up arguments between parents who refuse to back up. I’ve seen more near misses and more entitled behaviour around school gates.

aside: if you listen to The Rest Is Entertainment, "see you next tuesday" is how they end the Thursday ep. It is absolutely hilarious. /aside.

First primary was crazy - especially on bin day - but fed up residents would also pull out without looking - and other parents as well as mad driving and parking (often said residents drives and paths ) would also let kids run ahead on scooters or legs and then get arsy if anything happened.

Second just wasn't that issue - less houses with cars nearby - more parking at end of road and much longer side onto road and school parking for disabled and teachers at compeletly different entrance. Nearer school ( no places) we passed had three entrances - well two unconnected roads leading to alleyway to one school entrance limited parking one side none other and back of school car entrance.

i used to drop my DCs at school on my way to work (45 minute commute and too far to walk with them anyway)

So we left home 15 minutes before school letting in time, parked outside the car exclusion zone and I walked them in. Rain or shine. Snow or sleet. Whatever. And i really cannot comprehend why that is so much of an issue for so many people.

TBH it really tightened up here after a 5 year old was reversed into by a parent driving an SUV and squashed against a wall. The child had crossed at the crossing right in front of the school and was walking the 20 metres into the school gate. Her father had waved her off on the other side of the crossing (with crossing assistant) as had most of the other parents. The school had sent many many letters and had info evenings/afternoons literally begging parents not to be selfish cunts and drive near the school.
Emission zones may help too?

Good grief! Was she hurt?

Some will likely be disabled. I have to arrive 45 mins before school finishes to park as close as possible as often can’t physically walk any further but still need to collect.

A citizen science project in Dublin carried out by some students and supported by the EPA revealed that idling and starting ignition of cars at school gates and within 100m of the gate was the highest level of exposure to NOx emissions that children experience in their day. Especially younger ones who are smaller and nearer exhaust emission points before full dilutions. The same parents who would be obsessing about food sources or clean living are literally poisoning the children for 2 minutes of convenience.
It did actually shame some changes by parents at one private school subject to the monitoring.

My eldest is nearly 50

Nothing has changed except the number of cars

Why aren't parking enforcement there?

At our primary school drop off the cars park on the zig zags outside the gate, the corners directly opposite the gates, AND up the pavements and across the bumps for the kids to cross the road, it is insane the level of entitlement.. but not a parking warden to be seen anywhere? They would make an absolute killing so why don't they bother?

Maybe some people don't want to use the word but like thinking the word?
People's prerogative....

she was, unfortunately, killed. So that is why it is a particularly hot topic. it's a good while back now, but meanwhile outside that school the road is actually blocked with locked bollards and the residents have to get out and unlock them to get to their houses. Naturally they are all annoyed at this, but it is to protect the children so they have to lump it.

The road was "access only" already prior to the accident so the car shouldn't have been there, but only when there was a police officer checking it, people behaved properly.

Absolutely devastating (the woman didn't see jail time unfortunately, but she and her family moved away)

but how many people need that facility? clearly that should be available to some - but not everyone.

At our school parents with disabilities (or parents of children with disabilities) are allowed to use the school car park for drop off/pick up. They're given special permission to do this as otherwise its only for school staff. Doesn't stop other twatty parents trying to use it as well, which then results in school staff having to stand outside the entrance to the car park every morning to turn entitled fuckers away.

Honestly, it is lazy people. People who can't be bothered to walk, or are too disorganised to get to school in time to park further away and walk. Or think that rushing off to their important job is more important than anything else (and don't want to pay for breakfast club to enable them to drop the kids and get to work without endangering/inconveniencing everyone else).