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.

"The way it was handled means that the head has created a future of bad relations between OP, her children and the school." Nope - the OP did that all by herself

Maybe so, but her children will be extremely embarrassed by their mother's public naming and shaming so, by embarrassing the mother, the head has also publicly embarassed some of her own pupils.
That's not a great move on the head's part.

Are you the head teacher?

Her children will know.
Other children will hear their mothers gossiping about it and children have big ears.
Hopefully her children won't get teased and bullied over it.

It may stop the OP and others parking illegally so reduce the chances of her kids getting knocked over.

Ah this op won't be back!

Maybe so, but her children will be extremely embarrassed by their mother's public naming and shaming so, by embarrassing the mother, the head has also publicly embarassed some of her own pupils.
That's not a great move on the head's part.

First, it's not clear from the OPs posts that she was named, only that there was a photo of her car. So it's questionable how far this is a 'public naming and shaming'. Even if the other 'mummies' recognise her car in the photos, they are her 'good friends' so probably wouldn't be gossiping about it to their dc/teachers. So how does the OP's DS even find out about the incident?

Secondly, and I appreciate this is just anecdotal, my dd has seen me drive badly & get other things wrong in life plenty of times. She's 5 years old and seems able to recognise that if I mess up, it's not her fault. Presumably the OP's DS's self-identity is not so totally associated with his mother that he is unable to see that he has no need to be embarrassed by his mother's poor/illegal parking.

I think if they sent round the pic that's maybe OK but I hope they didn't find out and send round your name too? I think that would be going too far. It's about balance isn't it regarding the head's behaviour? Generally I've always been happy to park a bit further from school and walk the last bit and avoid the madness!

Poor OP didn't last further than page 1.
Ass handed to her I think

There is a problem with too many people trying to park near schools.
I think there should be no parking allowed at all unless there's a designated car park, kids should be walking with a parent or child minder, far healthier as well.

My town has a Facebook page called Parking like a twat in X. The photo of your car would have been published on there if you lived here and you would have received a selection of comments.

I couldn't see what else I could do.

Park elsewhere and walk? Just a thought.

Fab HT

Park elsewhere and walk? Park elsewhere and WALK? What sort of monster are you, SoupDragon?

Tough titties, you were caught out. You won't do it again though will you?
Park where you're not obstructing anyone even if you do have to walk for a minute.

We have a Facebook page for our school run by parents and photos of cars causing obstructions and parked on pavements etc are posted on a daily basis.

wish i had thought of taking a pic of the weird parent who chose to park across my driveway when the whole front yard was available to park in front of AND she was cheeky when i asked her why she did it BUT i responded in kind she has not repeated. SO whatever it takes to stop cheeky parkers!

Is it really even that embarrassing...?

NewLife, I can think of plenty of situations where walking would be pretty much impossible (eg if said childcare was the 70 year old grandparent of the child) but I do agree that far more people drive to school every single day than really need to.

There's been some memorable scenes outside our school - on a long, narrow cul-de-sac, with about 100 houses beyond the school inconvenienced by the race to park as close to the gates as physically possible.

The time a traffic warden visited, resulting in one of the mothers having a tantrum much like the OP.

The time someone nearly reversed into a child walking across from the car park. That someone was parked on zigzags and didn't check their mirrors before moving. (They never parked there again and moved away shortly afterwards).

The best was the time it got really icy. The road the school is on isn't a bus route, naturally, so doesn't get gritted. The Weather meant that even more parents than usual couldn't possibly make their poor, fragile little darlings walk around the corner. A couple of people used the car park or cul-de-sac across the road from the school to turn around, not thinking about the fact that both sloped down from the road. Those people inevitably got stuck. Plonkers.

I was very tempted to take a pic of three cars today all up on the pavement parking across corners of a junction... I was on my bike with Ds4 though and would have had to get him to stop safely so I could stop and take a picture. I will email.the school though and local pcso and they will send out yet another newsletter.... Shaming those that do it would be much more effective. The only people that know who the op is are those who recognise her car. The email won't be seen by the students so won't be an issue for her children.

Parking badly around a school is lazy, selfish and dangerous, it's a huge problem and if shaming parents that do it helps then good.

SDTG I am pure evil...

I knew there was a reason I liked you...

OP Don't worry honestly.Everyone will think it's a hoot and be laughing with you! You will become a folk hero!

Me thinks thou dost protest too much

High five HT I hope our local HT follows suit!

The head should have spoken to the OP first.
The way it was handled means that the head has created a future of bad relations between OP, her children and the school.

Only if the OP is childish enough to take her own telling off (rightly so) as a reason to sour her whole relationship with the school.

Which would be so bloody ridiculous she would deserve the outcome.

Not at all run away from the thread. I had things to do. I don't just spend all day parking inconsiderately and moaning on mumsnet! but I see lots of you have an awful lot of time on your hands to use absolutely unbelievable language and are oh so brave behind your keyboards with IDs that no-one could ever trace back to you!! I (stupidly I now see) asked what I had intended to be a legal question on a legal thread. There are many issues to the incident. The neighbour's upset yes of course (and I'm quite able to deal with that separately without having to post questions about it on here for advice) and all the other issues. My parking was not dangerous. It was highly likely not illegal. But boy don't most of you jump down someone's throat. Nothing like sisterhood, eh?