Couple warned over allowing children to cycle to school alone

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

From the Telegraph.

The key issue for me is the parents thinking that it is perfectly acceptable to expect an 8 yr old to supervise a 5 yr old. Not acceptable imo. Ss involvement would be because of school child protection issues and standard procedure.

Our 8 year old and 6 year old cycle to school with dp cycling behind them - they cycle on the road (it's one road from here to the school) which is relatively quiet but does have side roads coming off it and a bit of traffic as it's the main school run road. Ds1 tends to cycle ahead and gets himself into school so you don't see him once he's off. Ds2 cycles ahead but with dp close behind.

I can't see why this would be wrong - they have to learn about roads, cars, people. I really hate the fact that when I was 8 I was out playing most evenings with friends whereas now it's seen as criminal if we let our children play out at the front of the house. Ds's both cycle up and down our road and play out there if they want.

Yes there are risks but if we don't arm them with practical life lessons on how to manage in a world with cars, traffic, people etc. then we've not done our jobs properly as parents.

Yes, DottyDot-but yours have an adult with them.

And the 8yr old is not responsible for his younger brother.

"they know the route, they are the responsible party and it is their risk assessment to make."

yes and then if (god forbid) one of the children was seriously injured or killed in an accident on the way to school and it made the press you can bet your bottom dollar MNers responses would be "WTF where they doing going to school on their own at that age"

The roads in question are very chi chi residential roads, with speed humps, and not really what you would call 'busy' in the context of London (The Evening Standard included a map of their route - I know the roads).

If I had allowed my children to do this (which I wouldn't at 5, maybe at 8), I certainly wouldn't now as all the world, good and bad, knows about them now.

The school has said they will involve SS: doubtless their Child Protection Policy states that they will not release a child into a situation they consider unsafe. Many many schools demand that children lower than Yr4 are met and collected by an adult. What do you think will happen when the school report this to SS?
Nothing - that's what! Because S London social workers have a lot more on their plate than loved cared for children who have been carefully coached in bike safety being out on bikes!

yes I know blu - I did a google street view "walk" of the route - lots of drive ways and 4x4's

Sorry late to this but hold on a minute

It is ILLEGAL to cycle on the pavement

I strongly suspect that that is the real reason that people are getting arsey with this family.

ooh, yes, lots of driveways and 4x4s.
I once counted the Porsches in the road they live in and spotted 9.

I wouldn't let my child/ren do it, if I ran a school I would say that children under a certain age should be collected - or make parents sign a thing saying they allowed them to go home unsupervised at their own risk. But in reality, I don't think it is a ss issue.

Well, I'd rather see young children cycling on the pavement than cycling on the road - or strapped into an XC90 for the 1 mile trip.

Really? Cycling on the pavement is dangerous and illegal, and as such i don't think people should be encouraged to do it.

People feeling that they can turn a blind eye to the law (ESPECIALLY the highway code) if it says something that doesn't suit them is just shit.

Why would anyone teach their children to break the law and have no regard for the comfort of pedestrians? It is attitudes like that, that breeds the type of person who will park their 4x4 all over the pavement when they grow up. "Oh the rules don't apply to you darling, if you want to do something different, even if it's illegal, you just go right ahead and do it sweety".

Some pavements (at least the ones where we live) are dual pavement and cycle paths. Doesn't change anything here though.

Well yes obviously I'm not talking about official cycling routes

It just gets on my nerves so much. There was a whole family going along the pavement in teh high street with their full cycling gear on the other day, through all the shoppers. Everyone was glaring at them but they just didn't give a fuck. Scaring the life out of old ladies as they zoomed past. Why doesn't anyone adhere to the highway code any more?

It isn't always obvious that it is an official cycle route. One near us just has a sign at the beginning.

Our local high street is most certainly not an official cycle route

So because some people break some laws that gives other people the right to break other laws?

No wonder our society is fucked.

You can't say "well waaah they are doing something really illegal that I don't like so I can do this thing which in my brain isn't so bad as what they're doing even though it will piss those other people off and I don't care" - NO it's ILLEGAL.

How about nobody has to dodge any bloody vehicles on the pavement that shouldn't be there, eh.

It's not illegal to drive across the pavement in order to get into a drive. That would be idiotic and is not the case. It is illegal to park on the pavement apart from certain areas where indicated by road signs and kerb markings.

Sadly most people understand the former but not the latter.

Oh, and long ago on some other MN thread about cycling on the pavement, someone dredged up some official highways code/police advice that while technically it is against the law for children to ride on the pavement, in practice it's allowed. Don't think anyone will be able to find a single case of small children being ordered off the pavement! (Told off if they bump into someone, possibly...)

And what business is it of ours anyway?

These parents made a decision based on their knowledge of their children and their neighbourhood.
Surely, it is their business and their choice.
I would be very upset if the state or school were to tell me how to raise my kids.

Nobody's telling them "how to raise their kids", jbm

What they are being told is that their judgement is skewed (which it is).

If a car exiting its drive (forwards or backwards ) runs over either unsupervised child, or if one of the children falls into traffic, will you be silent then about "their business & their choice"?