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Original poster

row in parking lot with head teacher! (longish)

467 replies

sansouci · 01/10/2005 18:33

There is next to no parking by dd's school. Everyone complains but for the moment, nothing has actually been done about it, except for the police coming round & taking photos of pick-up & drop-off times. The yummy-mummies make it even worse with SUVs but anyway.

Yesterday when I went to pick up dd from school, I had to double park. I left my warning lights flashing to show that I was coming back soon. Unfortunately, dd didn't come to the car easily & then I got chatting with another mummy, as you do, forgetting completely about my precarious parking place.

On returning to the car, a group of angry women were clustered in front of the school & of course I apologised profusely to the one or two I had blocked.

One woman made a rather bitchy comment as I was charging by & when I saw her heading for her car a few minutes later, I asked her what she felt could be done about the parking. It's not my problem, she replied shortly. We got into an argument, which escalated, as things do on a Friday afternoon. She said, I'm a teacher at this school! to which I retorted, My daughter is a student at this school & if you're part of the staff, you should care about the parking problem! I wasn't rude, but I was very angry with her & she was angry with me.

I eventually roared off, furious and shaking, cursing the woman aloud. Do you know that silly woman? I asked DD. Yes, she said, she's the head teacher. Oh SH*T, I thought, Now I've done it.

How can I face her again? She'll be dd's teacher one day. I think I was right to be cross but I was at fault & certainly on the defensive. What do you think I can do?

OP posts:
allhallows · 04/10/2005 16:20

I can't believe this thread!! It will take me all evening to catch up. It must have gone off on a MN tangent.

HemlockLGJ · 04/10/2005 16:21

Most definitely a tangerine.

LadyGuinevereofCAMelot · 04/10/2005 16:22

When it said "longish" in the thread title I don't think this is what sansouci meant

allhallows · 04/10/2005 16:27

I apologised to the teacher I rowed with after school yesterday. Massive slice of humble pie to swallow but I managed. Apology was warmly accepted so that, my friends, is that!

hunkerpumpkin · 04/10/2005 16:29

Brilliant!

happymerryberries · 04/10/2005 16:30

But, do you have a dropped curb outside your house?

I will think that about people now I have read this thread

MoggyMummy · 04/10/2005 16:58

Last night we came home to find out that some git has parked IN our drive - let alone just blocking it.

I waited outside the school across the road to catch the culprit. The excuse was that they thought it was an empty house becasue our blinds were down .

Am seriously thinking of sending a letter to the headmistress. The people round here are so fed up with "Chelsea tractors" blocking the narrow roads and parking on the zebra crossings.

Rant over - just thought it would be an appropriate thread to post on

logic · 04/10/2005 17:12

The school parking problem is entirely the council's fault IMO. I strongly believe that we should all walk our kids to school BUT looking at our council's website, we are in the catchment area for a secondary school 5 miles away on the other side of a major motorway. No kidding. This is despite the fact that there is a secondary school a mile away from us along a safe path.

It's a rubbish school so the kids won't be going there anyway but what if we had no choice? I could hardly let them walk there could I? I would have to drive and so the council should take responsibility for their decisions and provide safe car parking IMO.

MoggyMummy · 04/10/2005 17:18

Maybe the answer is for Councils to invest in large underground carparks in every community.

But would people use these instead of parking outside the schools when picking up their children? I'm not sure

fimac1 · 04/10/2005 17:28

They will not build new car parks - even underground ones - see some of my previous threads - speak to the council re School Travel Plan advisors being allocated to ds/dd's school to help - the fact that the school nearest is not that good is nearer here nor there unfortunately

LadyDragonOfSoup · 04/10/2005 17:30

4 cars were "named and shamed" in the school foyer today. The number plates were displayed with the message that they'd been reported for dangerous parking

MoggyMummy · 04/10/2005 17:36

sorry finmac1 - just seen your previous posts.

magnolia1 · 04/10/2005 18:43

FFS I can't believe it just took me over 30 minutes to read this thread and it went so off bloody topic

For the OP: double parking is wrong and you said it would take half hour there and half hour back if you parked away from the school. So what!! Some people live that far from a school and still walk
Sorry I am mean just wanted to start it all up again

aloha · 04/10/2005 19:20

Edam I never block anyone in. But I don't go a bundle on the private land stuff. It's a bit 'get orf my land' for my tastes' - also, what interests me for the purpose of debate is why it is 'rude' and 'wrong' to park across and empty driveway. It's hardly torture to park a bit down the road, is it? I have to quite often. Like today, when I came back with ds and dd and all my shopping. And I could just as well be about to go into labour as someone with a dropped kerb. If you are disabled you qualify for a special space outside your house anyway, don't you? Also, my neighbours across the road leave in the morning and come back at night leaving empty drives all day so nobody parks there....but they do park outside my house. Why would parking across their empty drives be wicked, while parking outside my house be OK?
Come on, I like the moral maze.

Jimjams · 04/10/2005 19:22

no aloha- depends on your council. In mine children do not qualify for disabled spaces outside their houses.

happymerryberries · 04/10/2005 19:23

That is helpful of the council JJ

aloha · 04/10/2005 19:25

I think that's wrong Jimjams. As you do too, I imagine!

stitch · 04/10/2005 19:31

i havent really read this thread, just the first message.
parking outside the school isnt really the school's problem. imo. and i dont think there is EVER a need to double park/block someones driveway/illegal park in any other way.
use your legs and walk. evenif you it is a half hour walk. it wont kill you.

and if you feel it will kill you, then get a disabled badge.

in ds1's entire school career spanning four years, only once did i have to park illegally, and that was when i had to take ds2 to a&e and had to pick ds1 up on the way as he would have been stranded there otherwise.

strong opinions i am afraid.

magicfarawaytree · 04/10/2005 20:15

we have a system in this country that allow people to 'own' land / property that they house is on. i dont understand why that is so offensive - it like saying I going to use someones garden because they have go one and we havent - no sense at all. Most council try to ensure that the highways are not blocked and actively as in the case of extensions at least in this area insist that where there is parking off road that this is maintained for the general benefit of the highways. If you live on a street with no off road parking you have chosen to do so in most cases, apart from those who have been rehome following eviction etc. I just dont get why you would be so irritated by people wanting access to parking on their land, presumably if someone on your road has off road parking thats one less person likely to park outside your house. Why dont you start a petition to force people to park in their garages then at least there will be less parking on the highways and more room outside your house.

SoupDragon · 04/10/2005 20:22

So, Aloha, if it's OK for you to block access to a person's drive, it's also OK for them to block your front gate (or whatever you have) if it makes something convenient for them?

SenoraBruja · 04/10/2005 20:25

you've missed out stitch.

Over the latest battle I do tend to agree with Aloha, and think there should be a special road access tax, like they have in Spain. OK so those of you with drives already pay council tax and road tax (as someone said) but then so do I (or so did I anyway) but I didn't have a nice car-free space in front of my house.

As for the solution to the schools/parking problem: they need to get radical. it's not just school car parks that are gridlocked, it's town centres and roads half the time too. I'm thinking tax breaks/grants for people who don't own a car, full road-usage tax (with, say, a free first 1000 miles to avoid penalising the not so well off), and free bikes for all. You never know - it might make people send their kids to the local school again too so we won't have this ridiculous polarisation between those who can and those who can't bend the rules.

(deep breath. I think i feel another rant coming on).

logic · 04/10/2005 20:40

Yes that's right SB, in 10 years time I should force my kids to cycle across the motorway to school.

Can't be bothered to rant but I'm assuming that you don't buy food in supermarkets, buy any products at all from shops, send and receive post or use any other service that requires motorised transportation...

SenoraBruja · 04/10/2005 20:47

I didn't say lorries should be taxed more did I? I also didn't say anything about forcing anyone to do anything. But the current situation cannot be sustained, and as it goes, I do think the gvt should take steps to curtail transport in all forms - it might mean a few extra p on groceries, but it would help local producers/sellers and help to avoid rows in school car parks.

magicfarawaytree · 04/10/2005 21:01

SB - I am lucky to have a decent local school but I would imagine that many people whose local schools are shit with a capital S may not agree with your views. People dont choose not to send their children to the local school, they choose to send them to the best school they can get into. I just dont get kerb envy - if you want to me to contribute to the parking problem then obstruct my drive, I cant get on it - an I a going to park down the road, so that next door can park in front for theirs if they have a space or am I going to park in front of their house. I dont get why we all want to better ourselves and as soon as someone has something that someone else doesnt have - in this case a garage / drive lets stone them as sell outs. When I lived in a flat with not enough parking near I fought for parking like everyone else. When I came to move. rented or bought, parking was an important consideration. I can choose in not my prefered house and with parking or I can move into an area with no off road/ designated parking I will moan about a pre existing issue.

SenoraBruja · 04/10/2005 21:04

arguably many schools that are shit with a capital s aren't as shit as they were before "parental choice".

that was only a by the way anyway - they do need to work on making all of the poorer schools better first.