I usually do the school run by cycle.....
Two cycles, why?
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Brill is correct...if people buy a house next to a school,,they should expect it.....
its like people buying a house next to a garage/industrial estate...then moaning about the noise.. :)
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www.storme.co.uk
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Storme, I didn't state it quite as strongly.
Escargot, I didn't say I took the child on the cycle with me did I?
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I expect to be able to pull off my drive when I want to. I accept that I may have to wait to pull onto it until any stationary traffic has moved on. I do not expect my access to be obstructed by a parked, empty car. Someone dropping someone off, delivering a parcel/milk etc, no problem. If I only had a few minutes left to live I would be doing something more interesting than driving anyway.
I live in a quiet cul de sac anyway, it has been known for neighbours to have a party,etc, and other neighbours, seeing the lack of available parking, to invite use of drive as option, because "We have no plans to go out, if something crops up, we'll come and find you"
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In fairness, what you were doing isn't an issue, since you were in the car. However, like others have said, other folks have probably left their cars blocking drives down that street in the past, and so it's a case of people being so fed up, they can't even tolerate someone stopping outside their drive with the engine running for 10 seconds!
Parking in residential streets is getting worse and worse. My next door neighbour thought he was some kind of mafia don (he was from Sicily), and when I asked him to move his car from our drive (he was treating the small gap between drives as a space), he turned ugly and threatened to kill me in front of the entire street. Even the police came round and told me everyone in the street would be too terrified to testify that he threatened me over a space. I thought of teaching him a lesson, but to be honest, it turns into a tit for tat vendetta as seen everywhere in life.
Perhaps it might be easier to park once every part of the country is concreted over, and then we will have no problems finding a space! Or perhaps we could have less cars ;-)
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Blocking a driveway is an offence and you should contact the police.
My neighbour (from hell) who has four vehicles, parked his van halfway across my drive late one night recently and when I came home having used the last bus I blew a fuse.
I immediately rang the police and then spent five minutes knocking on his door to get him out of bed.
Eventually he came down and cursed and swore at me (got even better back) and the police were able to listen to the conversation.
Eventually he moved the van to another location and there were more words exchanged, especially when I warned him if he did it again (my wife could well require to be taken to hospital at any time) then I really would take serious action.
I then spoke to the police on my cordless phone, who had been listening patiently) and told that if, at any time, I had any further problems to contact them immediately.
I also have several friends who live near a local primary school situated on a narrow one way street.
The problems caused by parents leaving their vehicles parked across their driveways is a daily menace and continues despite several police and council attempts to stop it.
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I used to live right next to a school and there were one or two young mums I was rather pleased to have blocking my driveway.
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I'm sure a suitably leering look from you would make sure they never did it again though ;-)
I would never choose to live anywhere near a school. School run parents are some of the most selfish people around and will stop anywhere regardless. I used to have to drive past a school at morning unloading and it was a nightmare. Sometimes you'd have mothers stop right in the middle of the road so you couldn't even get through. It's a good job you can't get rockets for cars as otherwise many a parent would have been vapourised :-)
teabelly
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I live in a road with a major school. 300 yards away in fact. There is chaos for 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the afternoon.
Funny enough its the same 20 mins every day, which means those of us who have brain cells make allowances and plan for it.
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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The problem is that if we all made sure we weren't obstructing a driveway on a major road whilst we were queuing in traffic, a 10 car tailback would stretch half way across town.
The sensible thing is that if I notice someone wants to turn int a drive that I'm blocking, I try to either pull forward or reverse back. Usually, but not always, the person in front or behind me sees what I'm doing and co operates. Havingsaid that the vehicles I drive aren't easy to miss!
...and no I DON'T drive a 20 tonner before anyone asks ;)
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>>The problem is that if we all made sure we weren't obstructing a driveway on a major road>>
The problem is not as you describe, but mothers of young children who block driveways and then disappear whilst they take the offspring into the school grounds (often some distance away).
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Now that's a different matter entirely. That's just plain selfishness.
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Slightly off-topic - locally here in Spain you need an annual licence to have drop-kerb access to the road. With the licence you get an official "No parking" sign. Surprised the revenue-raisers in UK haven't followed suit.
You could argue why anybody has right of access across the footpath to their property, and why shouldn't they pay for it. Likewise they're depriving people of on-street parking.
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>>You could argue why anybody has right of access across the footpath to their property, and why shouldn't they pay for it.>>
Why shouldn't they have right of access? And why should they pay for it?
In fact we already all do directly or indirectly through the medium of council tax.
It also maximises on-street parking availability if car owners use their driveways.
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Some of you people are making sweeping generalizations as to buying a house near a school. Unless you know the precise situation you really oughtn't comment.
Example:
My in-laws live in a road (cul-de-sac) at teh end of which is a school. They built the house there 35 years ago, and in the meantime the school has not only grown considerably, but the tendency to use the car to drop the children off has grwon even more.
When somone parks in front of ones! drive one cannot know whether that person will be there for 30 seconds or for 30 minutes. To watch them all would drive people mad. After all I bet the parkee would not be happy for some to park infront of thier drive.
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We live near a shopping street ... couple of years ago it was awarded 'pay & display' parking. So the shopkeepers loose out and shoppers, unable to find a spot to park, or unwilling to pay, now use our turning as a free car park. Trouble is there is not enough space for the residents, and this is not just 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the afternoon.
Now, our driveway is half protected by a single yellow line, so we get just half blocked in, anytime, by anyone who could be anywhere.
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so we get just half blocked in, anytime, by anyone who could be anywhere. >>
It is an offence. Call the police.
Another way is to link up with a neighbour and block the offender's vehicle with your own cars.
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Escargot, I didn't say I took the child on the cycle with me did I?
Even if you did it wouldn't be a problem, there are child carrying seats for bikes, the bike might be tandem, or you might have a buggy trailer which attaches to your bike.
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>> Escargot, I didn't say I took the child on the cycle >> with me did I? Even if you did it wouldn't be a problem, there are child carrying seats for bikes, the bike might be tandem, or you might have a buggy trailer which attaches to your bike.
Or you could have sat him on the handlebars...
Sorry.
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