ice cream van always parked outside school.

[nailak]

the ice cream van is always parked outside my dd4's school at home time, i say always but i mean 3 to 4 times a week, it is already a mad rush to get in and out of the gates and dd2 crying for ice cream and trying to lie down in the road, and the queue for ice cream on a small street with 100s of kids trying to squeeze past (as the van stops right outside the gate just before the zigzag lines start) doesnt help congestion and tempers.

do you think the school could do anything about this? wibu to ask them?

Ha! I love how unsupportive people are being OP! Let's be honest, we all actually think it's a pain in the arse that the ice-cream van parks right outside school and makes it impossible to get safely down the path past the queue! And of course we can say no - I say no every day! I've told them they can have one ice-cream from the van a year - on the last day of the summer term. It's not the pestering that annoys me, but the massive congestion. All you alpha-mums like the van being there because you get to feel superior to all those beta-mums who give in and buy ice-cream...

"doesn't harm children if you say no to icecream you know"

Doesn't harm them if you say yes either!

I agree that this is a real pain, but unfortunately the school can not do anything about it. I do say no to my kids (most of the time), but it's just another hassle, that I could do without at hometime. I have thought about trying to petition the other mums to stop buying from him for a couple of weeks (lots of them do complain about the van) but have not been brave enough to do it.
What also really annoys me is, that the van is outside school every day, except when we have a really nice sunny day, he then goes to a nearby tourist spot by a river! So on the one day when it would be nice to get an ice lolly he is not there!

bollocks. I never disagreed that is wasn't a pain in the arse. As a teacher I can fully agree that it is a royal pain in the arse when I am on duty at the end of the day. It's nothing to do with people feeling superior. They have just made the patently obvious point that no matter how irritating it is, the van is not breaking any laws and has every right to park legally wherever the hell he likes.

I will repeat the fact that the school has no control over the public road.

If people voted with their feet and never bought the ice cream the van would sod off somewhere else.

Actually the van may not have a right to park there, but you need to contact the council to find out. We have a sandwich van and with our license, in our area, we are not allowed to stop within a certain distance of schools. All councils have different rules however, and different license fees.

i am not aganst ice creams, i but ice creams from the same van when it comes to the park!!!