School parking

I think a big difference is that for most families now, both parents work, so there are time constraints, maybe.

Still, picking up a 6ft, 15 year old 'bloke' with a beard and moustache seems a bit daft to me.

I appreciate that these days many pupils don't live close to their school - however, there are many who do yet are still dropped off by their parents.

There was an article in the local paper recently about a man whose 15 year old daughter was sent home because her skirt was too short. In his whining interview he mentioned that he usually drove her the 1 1/4 miles to school!

Why can't older children get a bus to school - teach them some independence

There is a major problem with school parking but primarily caused by lazy parents and grandparents. As a child I walked one mile to school every day but parents and grandparents no longer want to make this effort and expect to be able to park near the school. I would suggest that all parking near schools is subject to parking permits which are only issued to those who can demonstrate they live more than one mile from the school. Result would be fewer parking problems and less obesity in children, parents and grandparents.

Do kids not have legs these days ? Will they melt If they get a bit of rain on themselves ? I used to walk my kids 30minutes to school in all weather's . Most of the time it's pure laziness of the parents .

We used to park in a road a bit further away from our gds school and just walk to the school. It was about 5 minute walk
And the road where we parked was practically empty.
She used to ride on her scooter to the school gates, happy days.

Not school parking related, but rwice a week two young fit women used to ignore the car park 200 yards away and park on double yellow lines, then walk around the corner to spend an hour in the gym! There was a church across the road. If funeral cars were parked outside there was barely room for cars to pass, and no chance for an emergency vehicle.
My friend witnessed this procedure for several weeks, from his shop, before finally speaking to them about it. He received loud abuse in return, but they did park somewhere else after that.
I always used to walk to school, as also did my children, in all weathers. My friend used to travel 15 miles, from the age of 11, using two buses to get to our school. It was the one her Mum went to, so she was enrolled their too! Crazy, but she was always there before me in the morning! Many parents say that they have to drive their children to school because the roads are too busy and unsafe. I have noticed that there is much lighter traffic in the school holidays, though, so they are creating their own problems.

At my children's junior school a few parents were so inconsiderate that one of the dads - a traffic policeman - drove around the area each morning for a few minutes and the selfish ones usually parked elsewhere. As soon as he had gone they moved onto the yellow lines and the zig zag safety area that the children needed to cross. Later, working, in a school, one mother stormed into the building because she had been given a ticket for parking on the lines, and wanted the Head to sort it out! Trying to explain to her was absolutely pointless - and she then announced that she had 'had the same problem at their last school'. With that mindset there is absolutely nothing you can do, apart from tow the cars away, and that isn't likely to happen.

My neighbour used to pick her grandchildren from school by car five minutes walk from school and grumbled once that she had to park five minutes walk away! Why take the car? Oh it is the status symbol,!! Was her answer.
When I started school at age five my mother walked me the ten minutes for the first couple of days only. It involved crossing fairly busy road.
When I started at the county school at the age of twelve I had nearly a mile to walk to the train station and then a mile at the other end. When the new school was built three years later had to walk a mile downhill to the village, half a mile through the village and over a mile up hill to the school.
My father only took us by car at beginning and end of term because we had all our sports equipment to carry.

Here’s a thought ! Let’s the kids walk ... if it’s under two miles, my grandson walks two miles to school every day and back home again. He crosses a busy A road and negotiates six B roads. His school is on another A road . He’s been doing this since he’s been 9 years old as his parents ( both teachers) work in schools way outside where they live and leave for work at 7.30. I take the youngest to school ( again we walk) along a busy A road . It takes 35 minutes to get to her school and she’s 7. They are fit , street-savvy kids, just as their parents were ( no lifts to school) . These parents should be ashamed of the fact that a 1 or 2 mile walk seems to floor them! Set better examples for this generation and get on your feet! I of course do not include parents who have to drop the kids and drive I’d straightaway to work , but even these kids could be dropped 200 yards away surely, thus preventing traffic build up!

Some genuinely have to use the car, living a long way off or dropping them on their way to work on a tight schedule, but most are just lazy. I used to share the school run with another mother. We always walked on my week, she invariably drove on hers. We lived exactly 7 minutes walk away from the school. It probably took her longer to strap them in and get them out.

I live in a cul-de-sac which has a narrow path to access the primary school at the end of it. Thus, we have parents cars (several of them are monster 4x4's) turning up ridiculously early from around 8.05am and 2.20pm in the afternoon to try and 'nab' pole position at the top of the close as near to the school as poss.

And even when the close is obviously full we still witness parents trying to cram in somewhere.

So we petitioned to county council for yellow lines and they assented - I'm looking forward to seeing them!

Whilst I agree with many of these posts some people are not taking into consideration the fact that many children cannot get into schools close to home . My DGS’s primary is miles away from his home . It would take 3 buses to get there and about an hour and a half ( by the time we waited for connections ) not to mention the cost of him being accompanied. The country roads ( no pavements) are far too dangerous to walk or cycle We have gone through several appeals to get him into one of the schools in walking distance to his home but without success.

I therefore have no choice but to drive him to school before I head off to work . I always park considerably and anyway it’s usually only for 5 minutes .

When my oldest two were little, we lived about seven miles from school, and we always did school runs, three or four families sharing. Then the older ones would round up the younger ones, and wait outside, and they’d just all pile in, no parking required. I don’t think they’d be allowed to do that these days!

It isn’t the kids who don’t want to walk, nor is it the kids who fear they will be washed away if it rains. It is the parents!

I am back doing the school run at the school my children went to. I usually drive because I am nearly 78 with many medical problems and the half hour walk each way can be too much. I park, lawfully, well away from the school so that my grandson and I get a manageable walk. He loves it if it rains and of course has his rainproof coat and wellies.

The behaviour I see immediately outside the school is astounding. Our 5 year old and I were half way across the zebra crossing and a car came round the corner. I stopped because she wasn’t looking at us and she drove straight over, so close that I could almost read what she was texting. She never saw us.

Parents mount the pavement to get round the ‘Polite’ barrier put up by the school, stop right by the school gate to let their children out then reverse back to the road, park by a row of garages so that residents can’t remove their cars, turn in the road and park on double yellow willy nilly. The head teacher says there is no more she can do than ask the council for signage and keep reminding parents.

I know many parents, my daughter among them, have to drive and then continue on to work but she too parks at a distance, leaving an extra 10 minutes for the walk. The worst offenders are not in work, just incredibly lazy and selfish.

This was a problem in the village where my mum lived. The solution was to have a teacher outside marshalling the cars so children were dropped off safely into the care of classroom assistants.

At the big academy near me the staff did a project with the children and took pictures of the children actually lying on the road (this was done safely within the school grounds) blew the pictures up and tied them along the perimeter road fences with pleas about bad parking, the next day they’d all been torn down and thrown in the road. It was very upsetting for everyone. They never found out who did it.

I don't know how to do it or if it is legal but why can't they be clamped any income could help towards school funds.

The problem with clamping is that it fixes the badly or dangerously parked cars in the space they're badly or dangerously parked. Also I believe you can't clamp a car that has anyone inside.
Also (not outside a school though) I read something a while ago in my local paper about a clamper who was assaulted by an irate driver with a steering lock and had bad head injuries requiring a stay in hospital and lots of stitches .

I was a teacher for many years and for a period of time, travelled to a number of different schools as part of my role.

I have never seen a school where parking works and that’s mostly because people are inconsiderate. Car engines running for long periods of time, blocking the road, blocking drives, parking illegally. It happens everywhere.

I don’t know what schools can do about it. Every school I’ve known has spoken to parents, published reminders about considerate parking every week in newsletters, had PCSOs patrolling where possible, but none of it is a long term solution. It’s the responsibility of parents and caters to park considerately, not the school.

I think the only thing that will help is to clamp cars, or be able to fine people or inconvenience them in some way. I can’t see it happening though. Whilst I appreciate that some people are en route to work when they drop their children off, I don’t see why they can’t park a little way away.

The needs of parents to drop their children at school don’t trump the rights of everyone else in my view, but I know that it’s regarded as a right to inconvenience others by some parents.

My grandchildren are good walkers, one is at this moment doing a D of E Bronze expedition. There is no way they could safely walk the four miles from their country village to catch the bus to secondary school. It is a busy road, a lorry route, with no pavement and many bends. Quite apart from the time factor ( the bus leaves at 7.20) the road is lethal for pedestrians.
Not everyone can walk. Mind you, I, and all other children used to walk to infants school by ourselves. I walked my own children to school, a good 20 minute walk, until I started work. Then they came on the bus with me and I relied on the crossing patrol lady to see them safely over the road after they got off the bus. There is so much reliance on cars these days, not all of it necessary.

Well I take my GD to school she is only 6 and have to park considerately because I am 4 streets away from school the other 4 side streets have cars parked both side of road on school markings entrances to housing estates and once they have dropped off their little darlings we are stuck in queues for 30 minutes plus trying to get back onto main road so I lose an hour every day I would walk her but as I can't get down the streets for other parents cars I would be dropping her at school at 8am and collecting at 4.30pm school is powerless to do anything.

Over the years my children were at seven different schools, a couple were difficult, but I can’t ever remember any real problems, a couple had big car parks, but never big enough, and a couple had the drop off system which work amazingly well. I think the schools have to start taking responsibility, and maybe give up some of their land for dropping off, it’s not fair to pass the problem on to the community.
There is a case for saying, if you go and live near a school, you know what to expect, but I’m sure no one expects the level of ill manners we seem to be seeing now.

Sara65
Why can't/don't you walk as school is in same village where they live?
School can't be a million miles from their home if it's a village.
Before you start on about buggies and 3 children, you could all walk.
If you live at a distance from the daughter whose children you collect, why not leave your car at her house and walk the rest of the way...or is that too complicated to think about?

Paul276056
Why don't you walk her to school?You talk about other parents and their 'little darlings' but you are one of them, albeit a GP.
If you walked, there would be no problem with cars, parking and other parents/GPs.

Parklife1
?
I couldn't agree more.