school emailed round my car reg telling whole world i parked illegally

[verycrossandembarrassed]

is this okay for the school Headmistress to do this to me? they say i parked illegally this morning, took a photo of my car and have now emailed every single parent at my DS's school with all the information. nothing has been proved! i know i've probably annoyed a neighbour but is this fair how the Headmistress has acted? Surely I must have some rights too? It's just sooo embarrassing as I count lots of the mummies as my good friends. I don't think she should have been able to do this and would like to know my legal rights and complain about this treatment. Really awful for my DS too.

Ah well, now that you've posted on MN, one of the 'mummies' will have read this and told everyone about your indignation at being caught out and the flaming you've received. Double embarrassment at pick-up time .

Still, both problems (embarrassment and parking) solved tomorrow morning - drive by and fling your DC out without stopping...

As APlaceOnTheCouch said, the HT would not have known whose car it was nor will other parents unless they know which car is yours. I would keep shtum OP when they are talking about it this afternoon and don't do it again!

No excuse for parking over someone's drive (if no one waiting in the driving seat ready to move straightaway) unless there is a medical emergency IMO. Good on HT I say.

I wish our ht would do this.
But the worst offender is vice chair of the board of gov so unlikely!

From a legal POV, the head is allowed to photograph your car and to distribute their photo. There is no expectation of privacy in public.

They would not be allowed to make up something that you haven't done, or move your car to photograph it and then make it look like you'd done it, but what has happened is fine.

It's often more effective than involving the police. Embarrassment is a strong motivator not to repeat the behaviour.

1. HT emailed a car reg, not your name
2. It was accompanied by a photo proving the issue (bad parking), probably supplied but the neighbour
3. It won't have been the first time the school has warned parents of the issues of parking
4. You have no excuse - child/ren must be late for school if you have not allowed enough time
5. You won't do it again so it's an effective method of getting the point across.

Sucks if you are the first offender to have this done to them (and if it is your first offence???) but it will have come after A LOT of warnings so you can't claim ignorance. I mean, even without the warnings you should be a responsible driver and park considerately and safely, so there's no excuse really.

The school have done nothing legally wrong - its the equivalent of a supermarket tannoy call for the "Red Fiesta Registration no XXXXX blocking the exit" or whatever.

Be a good citizen and go and apologise both to school and to the neighbour, then you can move on from the embarrassment with good grace.

I think it's reasonable provided emails etc have already gone out asking parents to park considerately. An effective deterrent, I'd say. Even if just one parent parks badly a day (and it's not just one), it's still a big problem.

Just because people park across your drive doesnt mean its ok to do it to someone else! Selfish selfish behaviour.

. Really?

You should be named and shamed for the use of the word 'mummies'
let alone the parking.

Honestly the twats who pulled up onto the pavement while children were walking on it, on the small dead end side road (covered in zig zags) that lead to the DS's primary school gates then did 3 point turns to go back out whilst also going over the busy pavement were gobsmacking to watch.

Me being a mug, I would park my car as close to the school as possible whilst being legally and considerately parked which was usually about 200 meters away by the time we got there due to struggling to get out of the house with 3 DC to get ready for school and a baby then having to put the baby in his pram.

I would never have dreamt of blocking someone's drive even if we were late! Ridiculously entitled behaviour which seems to be ingrained otherwise you would not be outraged at the HT 'outing' you.

As some one who has experienced a lot of stupid parking, I'd say well done to that HT.

maybe you could, you know, actually walk your son to school?

Sounds as though you know you're in the wrong. I don't think there is anything illegal/wrong with what the school did. Depending on where you were parked though, you could have been parking illegally.

I see this on the school run every day. The road curves on the approach to the school, and there are zig-zag lines/yellow lines and a zebra crossing outside. If you park on the zig-zags/yellow lines then you're obscuring the view of the crossing as you approach.
Every morning I see a 4x4 parked on the zig-zag lines. There are two small car parks locally (within 5 minutes max walk) that are free. There is parking on a number of local residential streets. But no, people park right up by the crossing.
Last week one parent was complaining as someone got ticketed. She said that the wardens were taking a 'lucrative opportunity' to fine people. What she failed to understand was that the person who got ticketed had parked on a yellow line, on the approach to a junction, beside a sign that clearly showed when it was not permitted to park there.

ahhh come-uppence. your ht is brilliant. wish ours would do that with the twats that park badly at our school...

well you won't do it again will you ???

What I wanted to know is are the school allowed to publish a statement that I parked illegally without any consideration of the facts

What are the facts that you would like to be considered?

i had a school magazine once and on the front was my car parked by the school :) i was parked properly....when my kids were at school the parents used to park anywhere, all over the grass, backing on to pavements, over driveways, on the zig zags....no one said a thing, until one day a child was knocked over...im glad things have changed!

perfectly OK. Headteacher here lists the car reg of nuisance drivers in the weekly email.

Repeated offenders are reported the police via the school PCSO who, regularly here anyway, patrols the road outside of the school. We've even had those council run camera cars drive down recording illegal parking.

There is a bus stop opposite our school. Parents always park in the bus stop just because they are too fecking lazy to walk from a car park - one the school has been given permission to use for drop offs and pick ups - that is less than 5 minutes walk away.

Yes, I am the parent that thanks the traffic wardens when they walk down the road the school is on slapping fines on those parents parking illegally. Last run I counted 9 cars with fixed penalty notices . I am also the parent who has photographed illegally parked drivers including those who park half on the pavement, half on the road. I shouldn't have to walk in the bloody road just because some tit is so inconsiderate and those parents that block the pedestrian crossings when the lights turn green for me to cross? It pisses me off and it makes getting my child to school far more dangerous than it needs to be.

But this is just a snapshot of how bad it is outside my child's school even when there is adequate parking, a walking bus run by school volunteers to reduce the traffic outside AND discounted breakfast club rates for the 30 minutes prior to school starting so parents have zero excuse here yet they still do it.

The rules with regards to parking are simple.

Good for the HT. This was a nightmare issue at DD's primary.

Never understand why people think the rules don't apply to them. Op - you did wrong. Apologise to the school and stop making such a fuss about being embarrassed. Everyone saw your car anyway so it's not exactly news.

Selfish parking/driving and near misses re knocking children over are a REGULAR occurance at the school my DS goes to.

I wish our headteacher would take the same approach

PassTheParsel - the OP is not being flamed for parking like a cunt her 'momentary lapse of judgement' - she is being flamed for whinging about being rightly shamed for it by the Head Teacher.

You shouldn't have parked illegally- end of.

A grown woman should also NEVER refer to others as "Mummies", are you even old enough to be out unaccompanied let alone driving?!?!

i had a woman park over my driveway recently while only 'popping' into the child minder to get her children....half an hour later she came out, when i asked her politely not to do it as i couldnt get my car in, she screamed abuse at me, called me all kinds of names (in front of her children)...and then had the cheek to tell me to park down the road....i laughed at her and she had a complete meltdown....shes always doing it and this is the first time ive asked her to not do it....i understand shes busy, rushing, has kids, but so do i and im not inconvieniencing her, sometimes people need to look at the bigger picture....having to walk a bit further is just too difficult for some!

Good on the Head, I hope more schools implement that. Delighted you got called out on it.