Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

can anyone who parks on double yellow lines in front of their school please explain....

164 replies

braveandcrazy · 21/10/2008 21:29

... why they think they have a God given right to do this?

I am new to the dropping off at school thing and after one month I felt like a rant.

why oh why do you do it?

OP posts:
Skramble · 22/10/2008 00:42

Great minds and all that .

lou33 · 22/10/2008 00:44

and before that when i had no car i had to walk 4 or 5 miles a day to do the school run , half of it uphill pushing a wheelchair, which nearly half killed me lol

Skramble · 22/10/2008 00:47

I have to admitt I was so bloody glad when I got my car and could drive the 1.5 miles up the 45% hill to school, especially when DD started nursery as it was 3 trips a day and I did it for 3 years on foot. Only a short journey but it was a killer. especially with a straggling child too heavy to carry.

nappyaddict · 22/10/2008 01:16

i know what you mean. i walk 5 miles a day taking ds to and from preschool.

FAQ · 22/10/2008 03:55

I'm going to have to speak (very nicely I hasten to add ) to the man that's moved in across the road from me - he parks outside my house.......as I said earlier it's not a major issue for me them parking up on the pavement - all of the streets around here are like that - people have just become accustomed to walking down which ever side of the street is the "non" parking up on pavement side (biggest problem on my side is not the cars on the pavements for wheelchairs/pushchair - but the bloody trees/bushes growing over the walls ).

However (I'm waffling ), he parks so bloody close to my gate I can't even lift the pushchair out!

Most cars I deliberately ram into if there's not enough space (and the thing is no-one really has an excuse - there's a HUGE van that occasionally uses that space in front my gate......and he manages to park leaving me easy access in and out......) unless I recgonise it to be one of my friends cars, as most of them are really cosiderate when they park there so it's usually a case of crap parking on a one off ocassion -so I just gently humiliate them at the school gates .

I did once have to go into the school and ask for one of the teaching assistants (actually she was on placement there) to move their car. I figured it was a car linked to the school as it had school bumpf in it and it wasn't picking up/dropping off time. She came out extremely apologetic, the school were practically groveling at my feet......but I let her off, she dropped a note through my door later that day apologizing for the inconvenience and enclosed a small chocolate bar

Jeepney · 22/10/2008 04:57

I did it once, at 17 when I had just passed my driving test, I went to pick my young cousins up from primary school. There was a space directly outside the gate. I parked and thought about my good luck at getting the best parking space.

I got inside the gates and the amount of glares I got from all the other women was shocking, one of them even said something to me about how stupid it was to park there. I replied that there were no signs saying I could not so what was the issue.

Obviously now I see the issue with it but at 17 I was really annoyed with this woman for having a go at me for something which was perfectly legal.

mm22bys · 22/10/2008 08:11

I park outside the school gates, not so bad in the morning as they have the US system where a staff member gets the kids out of the car for you (makes it quicker for all), but it is a pain in the afternoon.

There is a public carpark but it costs £3.50 for up to two hours, I am not going to pay £35 for the "privelege" of dropping off and picking my DS up.

There is public transport but it is already massively over-crowded and I have another DS2 still in a buggy...

That is why I park on the yellow lines outside the school gates!

If you can think of a reasonable alternative I'll take you up on it...

bozza · 22/10/2008 08:30

I am actually quite that people think it is acceptable to park on double yellows outside schools. If you have a baby you park where there is a reasonable space and get the pram or sling out. Even if you are going to take the baby to nursery and then go onto work. Otherwise you are endangering other children's lives.

Ashantai · 22/10/2008 08:31

Our school is very near a train station and the residents got so pissed off with people parking there and then getting on a train and leaving their cars there all day, that they asked for residents bays.

This had a knock on effect on us mums dropping kids off, and when the parking wardens started to appear, I discovered that i do actually have legs and started walking .

Had to endure months of "my legs are broken, carry me, i cant walk any further", but kids gradually got used to it.

Have to admit to getting back in the car if its raining tho, cos i dont do rain and i guess its not hard to find 30p

bozza · 22/10/2008 08:32

And when DS goes to secondary he will be on the service bus so there will be no worries about schools in two different directions.

Ashantai · 22/10/2008 08:34

Have to add tho that the parking wardens by the school, hunt in packs and are such a deterrent that you only see the most brave soul park on a yellow line.

Lately the lollipop lady has become a very good lookout for the foolish or brave! , and we often see parents sprinting back to their cars after she's given them the nod.

mm22bys · 22/10/2008 08:38

If you take reasonable care, and if other parents also take reasonable care, it's not dangerous, ie indicating, looking, waiting etc.

What is dangerous IMO is those drivers who park against the traffic in front of schools, having to cross two lanes of traffic, completely unnecessary when there is a roundabout just up the road from the school.

If I only had to "find" 30p it would not be an issue!

The school is moving soon and hopefully they'll have a school bus (it'll be much further away for us).

hatrick · 22/10/2008 09:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

needmorecoffee · 22/10/2008 09:34

having a baby is not a farking disability that rquires parking on yellow lanes.

OrmIrian · 22/10/2008 09:37

Because they can't walk more than 10 yards. I assume.

Parking is a pita in our area and you rarely get to park outside school, but you only have to drive a few streets away and there will be spaces.

ohdearwhatamess · 22/10/2008 09:41

Grrrr. A topic close to my heart this morning.

Some mothers at a local(ish) school parked on the double yellow lines by a roundabout, in such a way that nobody could turn into the road that they were parked on (a main road), thereby blocking the roundabout and causing a huuuuuuge traffic jam to build up. I was giving dh a lift and had to do a u-turn and go a very long and '3 sides of a square' route instead.

ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween · 22/10/2008 09:42

Unsurprisingly, the one day of the year this isn't ever a problem at DSs school is polling day when there is a policeman standing outside

needmorecoffee · 22/10/2008 09:43

thing is, more of them could walk than actually do.
dd is taken by a taxi usually but the other morning it broke down and I had to take her. There were walking talking people parked in the fucking disabled drop off inside the school drive.
In the end I blocked the drive entrance and made them all wait while I lowered ramp, got dd's wheelchair out etc and took her into the school.
Parking in the disabled bay wasn't quicker that day for the lazy ones.

ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween · 22/10/2008 09:44

"If you take reasonable care, and if other parents also take reasonable care, it's not dangerous, ie indicating, looking, waiting etc."

What a load of b*llocks.

It's still illegal anyway.

filz · 22/10/2008 09:44

alot of diabled people have to park on double yellows

zig zags are a different matter

jellybeans · 22/10/2008 09:45

What grates me is those who park half on the kerb and just drive off while kids are walking past, just missing your LOs feet by an ince or so. They are lazy idiots! Some even just swing up the kerb to turn round when kids are coming past. The parents at Brownies do it too, it's lethal, and most have great big tank like trucks. Selfish selfish people.

ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween · 22/10/2008 09:45

Just because they're walking talking people doesn't mean they aren't disabled. Obviously non badge holders is a different matter.

hatrick · 22/10/2008 09:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

sb6699 · 22/10/2008 09:47

My dc's school has what I call "frequent offenders". They park on the zig zags every day so its obviously not just because they can't find a space but because they are too lazy.

My ds was almost run over last year because some eejit in a 4x4 decided that rather than reversing into a space to let cars past (cars parked on her side of the road) she thought she would drive onto the pavement and just drive round them! DS had to literally run for his life

jellybeans · 22/10/2008 09:47

I know a man whose wife is disabled (and rarely leaves the house sadly) and he uses her sticker to park on yellow lines every morning as he is too lazy to walk.