School parking

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 .

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.

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

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.

Whatever happened to walking to school? We lived 10 mins from infants and 15 mins from primary and always walked. Mum walked with us to infants to drop off youngest sibling, then 2 eldest carried on by ourselves. No problems ever, also no car available anyway.

In our previous business premises, the entrance was always blocked when I got to work, I’d have to go and park somewhere else till after school time, all our customer parking was taken up with school parents, one woman used to get there about 8.00am, pop to the convenience store to buy pasties for the children’s breakfast, and settle in for the next hour!

When we moved, it was converted into flats, I can’t imagine the rows they must have with residents not being able to get in or out of their car park.

One of the funniest things I ever heard was an argument between a school parker and a local resident. The driver (who lived less than 10 minutes walk away and didn’t go out to work) ended up shrieking that if she had her way, the whole street would be razed to the ground to provide parking for school.

Which reminds me. Motherland’s back on TV soon, hurray!

I too live round the corner from a primary school. The inconsiderate parking and squabbles were a complete nightmare. Parents would park from 2 pm just to bag a place. After a few near miss incidents the corners were double yellowed and speed restricted to 20 mph. There wasn't enough policing and enforcement, though.

Recently, the adjoining road has been made 'residents parking only' and wow, what a difference in visibility and noise reduction. Of course, the chaos has just moved a few streets further away!

I think new schools should be built with parking, and start and end of day should be staggered to minimise the amount of traffic. I know this is difficult if you have more than one child , but all schools operate after school/ breakfast club these days.

The old, often road side schools are more of a challenge, but I think the schools have to ensure the parents aren’t upsetting the community.

I agree with jenpax that a pull-in and drop-off zone is the way to go. I know it's not possible at many schools, but certainly something to consider for those that have the space, or whenever they have any building alterations. I worked for many years at an overseas primary school which had very little space for parking. No one was allowed to park, and this was enforced by the school (they had an elderly woman caretaker who put the fear of God into any parent that disregarded the rules!). They had a pull-in outside the main building where they had a number of staff on morning duty to usher the children out of the cars with their bags, and into school. It took seconds per car. This was even for the little reception children. They all managed to get into school and into their classrooms without any problem. Children do not need mummy or daddy to park up, walk to the school gates, have a natter for half a hour, whilst the kids run riot until the bell goes!

My father lives opposite a primary school and it's an absolute nightmare at drop off and pick up times! People constantly park in front of his driveway, and one mother once parked for 2 hours whilst she was helping out in class, whilst my car was parked on the drive ... this was when I was staying at my father's when he was in hospital ... and I missed most of visiting time! I did call the school, but they couldn't locate the mother, so I left a very blunt note on her car window! She did come to apologise, but that's really not the point. She shouldn't have assumed it was OK to block my father's drive in the first place! People are just so inconsiderate these days, only thinking of themselves.

It's not a new problem but it seems to have got worse now that children don't always go to the school nearest their home. When DH was teaching he used to get annoyed because people who only lived a couple of minutes away insisted on driving their children to school. They could easily have walked - as DS and his friends did (with parental supevision), and they had a walk of about 25 minutes.

I can never fathom why parents are picking up teenagers 14/15 yr olds? What is wrong with letting them walk?

I live about four doors away from a lower school and I've seen parents park outside my house 45 minutes before school finishes, just to be close to the school gates. What a waste of time. They could stay at home and walk to school in next to no time.