School parking problems-any solution?
Discussion
Probably an age old problem?
My kids school is situated on a smallish road with yellow zigzags , They have a problem with parents
parking on pavements, both sides of the road and arriving late with there kids and dropping them off in the school car park, which only has room for the teachers cars,a few disabled spaces and single lane access, the parents block the single lane but then can get abusive when advised of what they can and cannot do.
The school has requested police prescence, normally a couple of cpso`s will arrive around 0820 and leave after 5-10 mins, we have advised them that the peak time is 0845-0905.
Has anybody tried giving `advice` leaflets to the offenders advising them of the law etc?
any other ideas?
Ta
Ray
My kids school is situated on a smallish road with yellow zigzags , They have a problem with parents
parking on pavements, both sides of the road and arriving late with there kids and dropping them off in the school car park, which only has room for the teachers cars,a few disabled spaces and single lane access, the parents block the single lane but then can get abusive when advised of what they can and cannot do.
The school has requested police prescence, normally a couple of cpso`s will arrive around 0820 and leave after 5-10 mins, we have advised them that the peak time is 0845-0905.
Has anybody tried giving `advice` leaflets to the offenders advising them of the law etc?
any other ideas?
Ta
Ray
Can't really help but can understand the frustration. I was a guest at a school in London for a while and the mothers would actually park on a pedestrian crossing, too.
I asked one mother if she felt that was the correct thing to do and she said:
'But I have my hazards on, what's the problem?'
Sometimes I do have total sympathy for the police in having to deal with such people and even an understanding for not trying to waste resources on it - this woman and her like will be back the next day and probably feel she has every right to sue the police for harassment.
I asked one mother if she felt that was the correct thing to do and she said:
'But I have my hazards on, what's the problem?'
Sometimes I do have total sympathy for the police in having to deal with such people and even an understanding for not trying to waste resources on it - this woman and her like will be back the next day and probably feel she has every right to sue the police for harassment.
There was an identical issue at my daughter's school some years ago (she is now at uni). One pupil nearly became a casualty. I was on the PTA committee at the time and we suggested a plan of action. A meeting was arranged between the Head, the local ward councillor, and the police Area Commander.
The upshot was that a letter was sent to all parents reminding them of their obligations and failure to heed it would have consequences. The following week the BiB and two LA CEOs turned up at the morning and afternoon peak times. All those who stopped on the yellow zigzags, parked on the pavement, or caused an obstruction were promptly ticketed. The process was repeated the following week.
It was made clear that if the problem persisted there would be further blitzes carried out. It vanished pdq.
During the target period, one female driver got the hump and was foolish enough to argue the toss. She was instructed by the BiB to drive to another road nearby. I discovered later that she was detained there for 30 minutes while her vehicle was thoroughly checked by another officer. She got done for a defective tyre and no MOT. Served her right. Stupid
.
The solution adopted for preventing parents from using the school car park to deposit/pick up their offspring was simple. The gates were kept closed.
I very much doubt a similar exercise would, or could, be carried out now with the current downsizing.
The upshot was that a letter was sent to all parents reminding them of their obligations and failure to heed it would have consequences. The following week the BiB and two LA CEOs turned up at the morning and afternoon peak times. All those who stopped on the yellow zigzags, parked on the pavement, or caused an obstruction were promptly ticketed. The process was repeated the following week.
It was made clear that if the problem persisted there would be further blitzes carried out. It vanished pdq.
During the target period, one female driver got the hump and was foolish enough to argue the toss. She was instructed by the BiB to drive to another road nearby. I discovered later that she was detained there for 30 minutes while her vehicle was thoroughly checked by another officer. She got done for a defective tyre and no MOT. Served her right. Stupid
. The solution adopted for preventing parents from using the school car park to deposit/pick up their offspring was simple. The gates were kept closed.
I very much doubt a similar exercise would, or could, be carried out now with the current downsizing.
ssray said:
I was going to offer my services with hivi to hand out advisory leaflets, one suggestion was to use glue on the back and stick them to the side window
I 'think' that would be criminal damage (based upon the Police response to an issue occurring locally to me - nothing I'm involved with). I've got something similar near me but it's a secondary school where all the older kids have cars and park them on the street. 30 or so cars parked in a line totally taking up one side of the road. That's bad enough but a blind 90 degree corner at the end of it means you take your life in your hands every time you go round it.
Unfortunately you are fighting a losing battle and always will be. In their eyes they (the parents) are doing the right thing depositing fat little Jonny as close to the school as humanly (or humanely even) possible. Yes, I live opposite a school.
Luckily for me our road is a lovely wide one but still everyone double parks even on the bends. They also sit on the zig zag line in front of the school gates. 'Luckily' we have only had two people run over in five years - no deaths or life changing injuries (a b#llsh#t press term) ie. cripples/suffering from psychological trauma. There is plenty of space to park another 50 metres away but quite why parents cannot make their children walk I do not know. Inevitably there is traffic chaos all around the school and the occasional bit of road rage.
My personal solution not yet implemented is to stop my car in the middle of the road put my hazards on and go inside and sit down and have a cup of tea whilst the road is blocked.
Blocking my drive is not a massive drama but as my wife finishes around school kicking out time there is always the parent that does not want to move to allow her/me entry.
At the end of the day people are lazy and always in a hurry as if they make millions of pounds a minute.
Pip
Luckily for me our road is a lovely wide one but still everyone double parks even on the bends. They also sit on the zig zag line in front of the school gates. 'Luckily' we have only had two people run over in five years - no deaths or life changing injuries (a b#llsh#t press term) ie. cripples/suffering from psychological trauma. There is plenty of space to park another 50 metres away but quite why parents cannot make their children walk I do not know. Inevitably there is traffic chaos all around the school and the occasional bit of road rage.
My personal solution not yet implemented is to stop my car in the middle of the road put my hazards on and go inside and sit down and have a cup of tea whilst the road is blocked.
Blocking my drive is not a massive drama but as my wife finishes around school kicking out time there is always the parent that does not want to move to allow her/me entry.
At the end of the day people are lazy and always in a hurry as if they make millions of pounds a minute.
Pip
Could the council be persuaded to send along a traffic warden / parking attendant for these peak times who would simply ticket offenders until the problem goes away ? Any costs would be offset by revenue from the tickets .
Presumably the school is council property , so with notices displayed at the entrance , those causing problems within could be ticketed too .
Just a thought , which could be extended across the country to deal with this - could a member of school staff ( a council employee after all ) be nominated as a part time parking warden / attendant and empowered to issue parking tickets on behalf of the council ? If this was either already legal , or could be legislated for , it could benefit the safety of children going to school throughout the country .
We all used to walk / cycle to school , if parents MUST drop little Johnny off by car there is no reason not to park safely a little further from the school and walk them a short distance there .
Presumably the school is council property , so with notices displayed at the entrance , those causing problems within could be ticketed too .
Just a thought , which could be extended across the country to deal with this - could a member of school staff ( a council employee after all ) be nominated as a part time parking warden / attendant and empowered to issue parking tickets on behalf of the council ? If this was either already legal , or could be legislated for , it could benefit the safety of children going to school throughout the country .
We all used to walk / cycle to school , if parents MUST drop little Johnny off by car there is no reason not to park safely a little further from the school and walk them a short distance there .
Pontoneer said:
We all used to walk / cycle to school , if parents MUST drop little Johnny off by car there is no reason not to park safely a little further from the school and walk them a short distance there .
Unfortunately for the OP, the only thing that will work is enforcement. Appeals to reason will fall on deaf ears where little Johnny's school run is concerned.
I've mentioned this before so sorry for the repeat:
Part of the problem is the system whereby you don't get your kids into a school nearby. A mother local to me has two kids in secondary schools, and schools is the word as she has them at different ones. She can either leave them to the vagaries of the bus (there are reasons that make this a wee bit unreasonable) or else take them by car. So she does a round trip of probably over 10 miles every morning. She is self-employed and works from home so there's no timing problems for her.
If both kids went to the same nearby school she would be happy - very happy in fact - to send them to school on foot.
Neither school has any arrangements for parents to drop kids off. Whilst there is space in one school which the PTA produced plans to use, the school refused saying that they would only put their limited money towards something which educates the children. Which is reasonable.
So her morning is feeding the youngest - she's recently remarried and has a kid of around 2 and another on the way - getting them into the MPV, ensuring the other two are ready, getting them into the car, driving to near the first school and dropping one off with a friend for the pair to walk the final 250 yards about half an hour later. She then drives back the way she came to the other school. It is situated on a rat run. People who live in the area resent the rat run and the school run and park their cars in the road ostensibly to slow traffic but, the woman feels, just to piss everyone off. She then gets onto the approach to the school. She cannot turn off as the side roads have been turned into one-way systems to thwart those who would drive along narrow residential roads.
She then gets stuck in traffic while other mothers drop their kids off and then eventually she becomes part of the same problem. She then drives past the school, turns right along another rat run, goes down to a traffic jam at a junction that requires a roundabout but as there's no room it is soemthing she'll have to put up with. Oddly, she reckons it must be quicker to do a U turn and going past the school again after dropping the kids off as many mothers do just that. I said U turn and not three-point-turn for reasons which would, it seems, be obvious from watching.
There are alternatives for the school run, one of which is the eldest riding a bicycle to school. However, the route goes along another rat run. Further, she lives up a very steep hill. Once down it there's another climb before another steep drop. Not easy cycling country. No proper cycle routes for part of the run.
The kids come back under their own steam, buses and walking for one, walking for the other.
Despite this woman being a sensible driver she has sympathy for the parents (she reckons that fathers dropping off kids are just as bad) dropping their kids off if they have to come some distance. Many have jobs to go to so timing is often critical. She has no such pressure but even then gets impatient.
The eldest, who is in the school furthest away, could be moved to the nearby school but the lad's been there for three years (at the time I got an earful from this woman because at a dinner party I mentioned that the mothers - that was thoughtless - at school time were a liability) and was part of some school sports team, didn't want to leave his mates, was in the final years of his O levels and no doubt more.
Mind you, I accept that merely getting kids to a school nearby would not solve the problem.
Another aspect is that the junior school that all my four kids went to is approached via a narrow rat run. Some drivers will not slow, will block parents getting across the road, will mount the pavement to get past vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
When I was in charge of a shift at Brighton we had complaints from drivers of road blockages early on in the morning. I sent a motorcycle patrol PC along for an 0815 to 0915 duty to sort the matter out. Far from challenging the mothers parking carelessly he ended up ticketing a number of drivers pushing their way past other road users. His point of view was that if you use rat runs past schools at dropping off time you should expect to be delayed.
After that I went to a meeting of the PTA/school head/governors regarding the school run and we concluded there was indeed no answer. So 90 mintues not wasted there.
Part of the problem is the system whereby you don't get your kids into a school nearby. A mother local to me has two kids in secondary schools, and schools is the word as she has them at different ones. She can either leave them to the vagaries of the bus (there are reasons that make this a wee bit unreasonable) or else take them by car. So she does a round trip of probably over 10 miles every morning. She is self-employed and works from home so there's no timing problems for her.
If both kids went to the same nearby school she would be happy - very happy in fact - to send them to school on foot.
Neither school has any arrangements for parents to drop kids off. Whilst there is space in one school which the PTA produced plans to use, the school refused saying that they would only put their limited money towards something which educates the children. Which is reasonable.
So her morning is feeding the youngest - she's recently remarried and has a kid of around 2 and another on the way - getting them into the MPV, ensuring the other two are ready, getting them into the car, driving to near the first school and dropping one off with a friend for the pair to walk the final 250 yards about half an hour later. She then drives back the way she came to the other school. It is situated on a rat run. People who live in the area resent the rat run and the school run and park their cars in the road ostensibly to slow traffic but, the woman feels, just to piss everyone off. She then gets onto the approach to the school. She cannot turn off as the side roads have been turned into one-way systems to thwart those who would drive along narrow residential roads.
She then gets stuck in traffic while other mothers drop their kids off and then eventually she becomes part of the same problem. She then drives past the school, turns right along another rat run, goes down to a traffic jam at a junction that requires a roundabout but as there's no room it is soemthing she'll have to put up with. Oddly, she reckons it must be quicker to do a U turn and going past the school again after dropping the kids off as many mothers do just that. I said U turn and not three-point-turn for reasons which would, it seems, be obvious from watching.
There are alternatives for the school run, one of which is the eldest riding a bicycle to school. However, the route goes along another rat run. Further, she lives up a very steep hill. Once down it there's another climb before another steep drop. Not easy cycling country. No proper cycle routes for part of the run.
The kids come back under their own steam, buses and walking for one, walking for the other.
Despite this woman being a sensible driver she has sympathy for the parents (she reckons that fathers dropping off kids are just as bad) dropping their kids off if they have to come some distance. Many have jobs to go to so timing is often critical. She has no such pressure but even then gets impatient.
The eldest, who is in the school furthest away, could be moved to the nearby school but the lad's been there for three years (at the time I got an earful from this woman because at a dinner party I mentioned that the mothers - that was thoughtless - at school time were a liability) and was part of some school sports team, didn't want to leave his mates, was in the final years of his O levels and no doubt more.
Mind you, I accept that merely getting kids to a school nearby would not solve the problem.
Another aspect is that the junior school that all my four kids went to is approached via a narrow rat run. Some drivers will not slow, will block parents getting across the road, will mount the pavement to get past vehicles coming in the opposite direction.
When I was in charge of a shift at Brighton we had complaints from drivers of road blockages early on in the morning. I sent a motorcycle patrol PC along for an 0815 to 0915 duty to sort the matter out. Far from challenging the mothers parking carelessly he ended up ticketing a number of drivers pushing their way past other road users. His point of view was that if you use rat runs past schools at dropping off time you should expect to be delayed.
After that I went to a meeting of the PTA/school head/governors regarding the school run and we concluded there was indeed no answer. So 90 mintues not wasted there.
I think I mostly agree with Derek. There is an answer, but it is unpalletable. If all schools provided drop off/car park facilities for the parents then parkign problems would be solved.
That ain't going to happen, so it's make the best of a bad job.
My daughter goes to a village school, which is generally not too bad. You get the odd parent parking on a stupid corner, and eventually a news letter asks people not to do it. The village school is helped as there is plenty of on-street parking, and two entrances to the school set front and rear, which splits the parking up nicely.
We have had the odd request asking parents who park on the 'rear' part to observe a non-existent one way system around the village. I suspect that this has come from the Parish Council, and it has been given the respect that it deserves, as a rule to solve a non-problem.
That ain't going to happen, so it's make the best of a bad job.
My daughter goes to a village school, which is generally not too bad. You get the odd parent parking on a stupid corner, and eventually a news letter asks people not to do it. The village school is helped as there is plenty of on-street parking, and two entrances to the school set front and rear, which splits the parking up nicely.
We have had the odd request asking parents who park on the 'rear' part to observe a non-existent one way system around the village. I suspect that this has come from the Parish Council, and it has been given the respect that it deserves, as a rule to solve a non-problem.
It's a tough one. Our lot go to a village pre-school and it's pretty chaotic despite the low numbers. The road is also used by tractors, quarry vehicles and milk tankers which doesnt help. And the school staff take most of the really close parking with residents occupying the rest. I have a certain amount of sympathy for people wanting to park close by, particularly if they have a younger sibling or two to wrangle, but there's no real excuse.
They have occasional blitzes on people who park on the zigzags which sorts things out for a bit but the PCSO is easily spotted so they're not as effective as they might be. CCTV is probably the way forward.
They have occasional blitzes on people who park on the zigzags which sorts things out for a bit but the PCSO is easily spotted so they're not as effective as they might be. CCTV is probably the way forward.
There's a girl in my street who parks her X5/Range Rover outside the school on the Zigzag's.
We live about 2 minutes walk from the school. She has no job. I would never approach her as I'm a neighbour and wouldn't want to rock the boat.
There's a few of them, this may sound cliché, but its usually the upmarket offroad cars which take the worst places to park the closest to the gates.
My village is tiny, you can walk from one edge to the other in 10 minutes.
We live about 2 minutes walk from the school. She has no job. I would never approach her as I'm a neighbour and wouldn't want to rock the boat.
There's a few of them, this may sound cliché, but its usually the upmarket offroad cars which take the worst places to park the closest to the gates.
My village is tiny, you can walk from one edge to the other in 10 minutes.
You need to use the children to guilt trip their parents into either parking correctly or walking them to school.
There was similar problem at my daughter's school, although not as bad as some described here.
The head will be out most mornings to ensure nobody parks on the zig-zags, but then they started a system where walking to school earned house points for the kids. All (well most) of them want to earn house points so will pester their parent into walking.
For those that can't walk (parents dropping off kids on the way to work etc) there was an additional rule that as long as you've walked more than 100m you still got the points, which reduced (didn't stop) the amount of parents parking as close to the school as possible.
There was similar problem at my daughter's school, although not as bad as some described here.
The head will be out most mornings to ensure nobody parks on the zig-zags, but then they started a system where walking to school earned house points for the kids. All (well most) of them want to earn house points so will pester their parent into walking.
For those that can't walk (parents dropping off kids on the way to work etc) there was an additional rule that as long as you've walked more than 100m you still got the points, which reduced (didn't stop) the amount of parents parking as close to the school as possible.
Edited by CoolC on Friday 11th May 09:58
The only thing I can think of is to have a few people outside the school in hi-vis jackets moving people on.
Perhaps, and this is bloody mean, give the kid an afterschool detention if the parents park in dangerous places.
Maybe some sort of letter home explaining that the school realises that children are likely to act like children and cross the road without looking, but would the adults please act like adults and not park in dangerous places.
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