the parents who drop off at my kids school are on the whole pretty good, everyone parks down in a little carpark and not outside the school. it is chorlton so its obviously all very civil, the exception is a couple of knobs that park as close as possible to the school and spoile it for everyone else…..wish bad things on the

Why not just ban schools?

It has been alluded to before, i think the key factor in this is the laziness of people. People are bone idle, probably the same people who ride round on a shop mobility scooter cos they’re too lazy to walk round morrisons for 20 minutes.

People are bone idle, and have been whipped up into paedoparanoia by the media. It’s not safe to let little Hermione walk the eight feet from house to school unsupervised “these days”, there’s a nonce on every corner.

TBH it’s not the hundreds of nonces we obviously have in the Shires that worry me, it’s the herberts who think the 30mph limit though the village doesnt apply to them, esp at school start/end. I wonder if we can get one of those temporary flashing 20mph signs for the road outside the school liek they do in the next village over – *wonders how easy is it to dig up road signs and relocate…*

Fortunately stoner Jr and I ride to school most days, but he’s some way off being safe to be left to do it on his own, he’s only five 😉

There is a kid (8 or 9 I think) who rides down the B road to school every day in all weathers. Fair play to him.

Well your bright pink RAV4 distracts other drivers.

There’s a bike lane Crouch End, it’s separated from the road by an unbroken line and has a plate qualifying its hours of operation (8.30 – 9.30).

There’s a family who pull in to the bike lane to drop their children off. Yesterday they actually pulled in in front of me, stopped diagonally across the lane, completely blocking my way. The doors opened.

I was able to explain to the driver that you must not cross an unbroken line and that he was breaking the law by entering the bike lane during its hours of operation. He tried not to listen. His child tried to shut the door that I was speaking to him through.

God knows how, but I didn’t lose my temper. I very calmly repeated that he was parking in a bike lane.

Two months ago (same bike lane) a panda car was parked in the lane. Between then and now pizza delivery moped things (nasty, buzzy, smelly things they are) were parked perpendicular to the kerb. It is regularly used by UPS and the other delivery people to park while delivering (got their hazards on – makes it ok). There was a traffic warden. I asked him to book the driver. He said; “It’s ok, he’s delivering”. I said: “No, it isn’t ok. He’s breaking the law being in a bike lane marked by blah blah during its hours of operation”. Traffic warden just looked blank and refused to ticket.

Why f8888cking well bother with them then?????????

These are probably the same mouth-breathers who will then go “bloody cyclists, why don’t they use the cycle lanes?!”

Why f8888cking well bother with them then?

Usually to justify road budget and meet “cycling provision” targets.

I do the school run for my two oldest two days per week. Round the front of the school is absolute carnage. Round the back of the school there are single yellow lines for which the school issues permits that allow you to park there while you’re dropping kids off. Hardly anyone uses the rear of school option, so there is no problem getting a space – there is also a side gate to the school which means you are actually closer to where the kids line up. This is Tollcross in Edinburgh – so pretty close to being in the middle of a city.

My local primary has asked my wife, on several occasions, not to cycle into the school car park for ‘safety reasons’.

Apparently it’s safer for a 6 year old, a 3 year old and my wife (with trailer on tow containing 2 year old) to dismount on the road outside the gate which contains around 400 XC90s piloted by myopics fearing they are 5 seconds late so simply have to screech in at 40 mph.

At my nephew’s school the headmaster wrote letters to all the parents asking them to walk their children to school if they lived upto 1 mile away.
The 4×4 Chelsea tractor ladies of Cheshire who are only a road or 2 away drive and the other children all walk. My nephew has a scooter which he uses most days in all weathers and he lives 2 miles away.

Why oh why do the parents insist on leaving their car engines running even in the summer?

My local primary has asked my wife, on several occasions, not to cycle into the school car park for ‘safety reasons’.

I think whoever asked her that needs a slap and to be told to contact all the driving school run fraternity and tell them not to be such absolute asshats whilst dropping off their kids for “safety reasons”

Bunnyhop – the school writes one of those letters every other week. Its exactly the same here. It completely polarises people. Most walk/cycle/scoot round.

Then there are the absolutely typical 4×4 drivers who genuinely seem to have lost the use of their legs. They’d never dream of walking. They drive like maniacs, park millimetres from the gate, possibly diaganolly across the pavement, and frankly couldn’t care less if they ran 10 kids over in the process

Its a cliche, but for a very good reason – all 4×4 drivers are just utter selfish ****s!!!!

I think whoever asked her that needs a slap and to be told to contact all the driving school run fraternity and tell them not to be such absolute asshats whilst dropping off their kids for “safety reasons”

That’d be the headmaster 😀

She’s furious, but won’t let me enter a reasoned debate for fear of reflection on the boys. As he’s a big enough asshat to come up with that ‘rule’ I wouldn’t put it past him. Even tried to explain it as a county council policy, which a quick email found wasn’t the case.
I was only going to offer him the opportunity to read the CC sustainable school transport policy.. they don’t even have a cycle rack. Ridiculous really but I’ll raise more subtle points like that I think rather than get too conforntational. In the meantime I just ignore it and give a cheery wave – he hasn’t said a word to me mysteriously.

That’s just crap, brassneck.
Jr’s headmistress thinks his cycling to school is brilliant and loves it when Ive also got junior jr in the trailer. Maybe that’s why she thinks it’s an excellent idea to take Jr out of school early to go and watch Le Tour this weekend 😉

Why oh why do the parents insist on leaving their car engines running even in the summer?

To keep the aircon running.

Do kids ever get dropped off in 2 wheel drive cars ?

all 4×4 drivers are just utter selfish ****s

Learning from the Wiggins school of diplomacy there!

This thread is just evidence the whole world is full of selfish ****s. You could have the same rant about lazy gits who park in the parent and child spaces at the supermarket, or cyclists who chain their bikes to railings in awkward places. The list is endless.

Everyone appears to be selfish becuase inhernetly we are all selfish and when someone does something that doesn’t comply with our own narrow selfish world view we get all mad.

This thread is a glorious example of this pomposity.

Shouldn’t be allowed to breed.

*reports jfletch*

jfletch – Member

all 4×4 drivers are just utter selfish ****s

Learning from the Wiggins school of diplomacy there!

This thread is just evidence the whole world is full of selfish ****s. You could have the same rant about lazy gits who park in the parent and child spaces at the supermarket, or cyclists who chain their bikes to railings in awkward places. The list is endless.

Everyone appears to be selfish becuase inhernetly we are all selfish and when someone does something that doesn’t comply with our own narrow selfish world view we get all mad.

This thread is a glorious example of this pomposity.

+1 to this.
At my kids school there is very few 4×4 and most are ‘normal’ cars.
Most parents seem to be selfish when taking there kids to/from school be it walking or using the car judging by my experiances of dropping my 2 off (walking as we live just around the corner).
Oh and i wouldn’t be happy with my 5 year old walking her self to and from school.

Most parents seem to be selfish when taking there kids to/from school be it walking or using the car

How does one walk selfishly?

Once, threads like this used to amuse me. I recall, quite vividly, a particular rant of binners’ (when he used to indulge in such things) about the school-run behavious in Chorlton.

From September Baby North will be attending the playschool at one of the local primary schools.

I have never passed through the village at drop-off/collection time, but I can only imagine the carnage that must take place each morning.

So, on the rare occasions I’ll take her, you can bet we’ll be going by bike. And taking our lives into our own hands as a result….

It all started when people got the choice of which school their kids go to. Back in my day we walked (unsupervised) to the nearest primary school and got a school bus (unsupervised) to the nearest secondary school because it was 4 miles away.

Of course paedophiles and murderers hadn’t been invented back then….

Round our way the volume of cars at drop-off/pick-up times seems to be exacerbated by the numbers of parents who:

a) Move into school APR to get nipper into school
b) Move out of school APR once nipper is in school
c) Rely on sibling rules regarding school admissions to allow future nippers to join elder nipper’s school without requiring residency within APR

End result =
a) lots of parents living out in the ‘burbs driving their cars in to drop their kids off at schools they morally shouldn’t be able to go to
b) creating traffic chaos for local residents
c) preventing children who live closer to school from attending

One positive aspect is that it puts car commuters off from using the rat runs near the school 😉

Back in my day we walked (unsupervised) to the nearest primary school and got a school bus (unsupervised) to the nearest secondary school because it was 4 miles away.

Tick!

About a mile to primary school, usually taking the route across the wasteground/woods that involved jumping over the river. Same route home with time to play on the rope swing or build dams.

Bus to Secondary School (about 2 mile) or walk if we missed it or the weather was nice.

School’s just broken up here, the commute is unbelievably quiet and for once faster by car.

I got abused on the school run this morning. Decided to drop my daughter off on the way to work (a rare thing in itself), and about a half mile from school so she can walk the rest, and avoiding the school run mania.

I pulled up across someone’s drive, and just as I did the mother and junior-school daughter appeared out of th efront door. Given I was stopped for approx 20 seconds whils my daughter got out of the car and closed the door:
Mother appears out of front door and gives me a look.
She then runs to car, jumps in a starts up before daughter gets in.
Slams car in reverse as daughter gets in with hand on horn.
Reverses upto 3ft away from my car as my daughter jumps out of the way.
Hangs out of her car door f-ing and blinding (in front of both our kids and others walking past) saying she’s got to get to work.
I pull forward and let her out.

Total delay time approx 5 seconds.

I gave her a nice wave and get the bird in return. I was fuming all the way to work, but in retrospect I find it both quite amusing and shockingly depressing that someone else is starting their day as aggresively as that. I just hope she doesn’t have a customer-facing job.

If it wasn’t fr the fact my daughter had already opened her door, I would have pulled forward anyway.

I’m afraid I have some sympathy for your abuser. I live (in a house provided for me by my employer – wouldn’t choose the location otherwise) directly opposite a primary school on a little lane in a village. Over the years the number of selfish twonks who think it’s acceptable to park across our drive and in many cases leave their car and go into the school has meant we (wife and I) have become pretty militant about all “offenders” no matter how minor. It does not bother me too much as I’m normally at work during the worst of it but my wife cops it every day on her way out on the way to work. I’ve occasionally got my timing wrong and tried to come home at the end of the primary school day and every time been blocked from my own drive by some asshat.

I’ve only once got proper annoyed and deliberately blocked them in when it was the same repeat offender abandoning their car across our drive then “lost my keys” for a few hours. She sent her husband around in the end (from where they live about 750m away the lazy feckers) to “help me to find them”. Turns out he liked to dish it out but was not too keen on the return fire! Very puerile I know but it did get me a reputation of being a bit of a loose canon and our drive was left clear for a year or two! It’s probably time to loose the plot again as the new parents haven’t met “mental” Convert yet 😈

Parent and child places outside supermarkets. Theres another place that Finely demonstrates the utter thoughtlessness of some people. There are 2 of those spaces clearly marked outside our local Tesco’s. I did roll my eyes the other day when I saw them occupied by a Mazda MX5 and a Porsche 911. Neither appeared to have child seats. To quote Bradley: ****s!!!

On the subject of which,

Why do parent + child spaces have to be right next to the entrance? Does giving birth stop your legs from working?

Why not just stick wide bays at the back of the car park? Then parents with children, larger vehicles and BMW drivers can all have the space they require without falling out with each other, and we help tackle childhood (and middle-management) obesity rates whilst we’re at it.

Does giving birth stop your legs from working?

If you’ve given birth quite recently.. then yes!

Why not just stick wide bays at the back of the car park?

Have you ever tried walking across a supermarket car park? It’s dangerous enough on your own. With a baby in one arm and a toddler running about in front it would be a death trap.

I think the general point is to avoid young children mingling with the traffic.

Put the spaces at the back of the car park if you like, but only if you also provide a sealed impact-proof tube from there to the front door!

What he said.

Oh dear… You’re one of those people
what does my homosexuality have to do with any of this?

Nothing that I could see, but you raised the issue. What does it have to do with any of this?

Have you ever tried walking across a supermarket car park? It’s dangerous enough on your own.

The problem there is, you’re walking across the car park, rather than using the pedestrian walkways provided.

I think I’d rather encourage traffic calming and road awareness. If traffic is moving slowly and carefully, and pedestrians aren’t milling round in the path of said traffic with their heads in their phones like iZombies, a supermarket car park should be a comparatively safe place.

Nothing that I could see, but you raised the issue. What does it have to do with any of this?

You’ll find a detailed explanation here.

How did we all manage before the invention of p&c spaces?…I’m not sure they’re directly aimed at the first few days after birth, though.

I used to have my twins on reins in supermarket car parks. It was like the start of the Iditarod Race when I went shopping.

With a baby in one arm and a toddler running about in front it would be a death trap.

I used to have my twins on reins in supermarket car parks.

I used to have reins when I was a kid, seems pretty sensible to me. Why did they fall out of favour?

These days it appears that the done thing is just to let your kids run feral and make their safety everyone else’s problem.

You cannot open a door wide enough to get a child in a child seat in standard bays.

When you have kids you will understand why you have to.

As for pedestrian walkway the only one at the local tesco is from the parent parking on one side and the disabled on the other.

These days it appears that the done thing is just to let your kids run feral and make their safety everyone else’s problem.

no one made you live in accy

You cannot open a door wide enough to get a child in a child seat in standard bays.

That explains the need for wider bays (or smaller cars), not their location.

As for pedestrian walkway the only one at the local tesco is from the parent parking on one side and the disabled on the other.

I’d complain if I were you, that sounds dangerous.

no one made you live in accy

Good point, well made. I’m fairly sure that it’s not exclusively a local phenomenon though.