28 July 2023 , 15:18
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A woman who recently moved into a house down the road from a school says she's been left navigating a frustrating situation, as parents simply won't stop parking across her driveway during school drop-offs and pick-ups.
She's lived at the property for a few months now but has only really started to have problems with parents' parking in the last few weeks, and is now unsure exactly of what action to take.
The majority of the time, this setup isn't too much of a bother as she works from home three days a week until 4 pm, by which point most of the parents have already gone.
Unfortunately, there have been multiple occasions recently when she needs to head out at around 3 pm, the same time the school finishes for the day, only to find herself either partly or fully blocked in her driveway.
She's also experienced similar issues when coming home from work early and has previously had no choice but to beep someone to move out of her way, or otherwise park right down the road.
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Taking to Reddit, the fed-up woman wrote: "There was also an occasion where someone dropped their kid off early, presumably for breakfast club, but parked fully over my drive and left it there for more than 20 minutes when I needed to leave for work and made me late.
"I live on a small narrow street, but there were plenty of other places he could have parked down the street from my house. They also do the same to my next-door neighbours and I have seen cars manage to block all three of their cars in their driveway."
Reaching out to fellow Reddit users for advice, she continued: "I know it probably seems really petty but it's so frustrating when we need to go out. I sent an email to the school explaining and sent a screenshot from my Ring doorbell showing people parking over the drive, and they have said they are aware of the problem but can't do much other than send a reminder out to parents to be courteous of where they park to not affect local residents.
"Is there anything else we can do to stop this? We don't own the house sadly if this makes any difference to what we can/can't do but we are tired of either being trapped on our drive or having to tell parents to move their cars."
One sympathetic person suggested: "Contact parking enforcement of the council. Write a letter to the local paper with a picture of you pointing at being trapped in looking sad."
Another advised: "Friends of mine used to live very close to a primary school and regularly had this issue. One time somebody actually parked on their drive. My friend only saw this because he was taking something out to the recycling bin. Bloke was just getting out of his car and my friend went apeshit at him. This bloke tried to excuse himself because he'd only be a minute.
"You just can't believe the sheer audacity of some people. I feel guilty just parking on a busy terraced road because I might be making it difficult for one of the people that live there to park, never mind blocking somebody's drive or even parking on it."
The Metropolitan Police has issued the following guidance on this tricky topic: "If someone has blocked your driveway so you can't drive in, we appreciate this can be very frustrating.
"If you can find the owner of the vehicle, we'd first recommend asking them politely to move it. If you can’t find them, try leaving a note on their windscreen. After all, they may not realise they have caused a problem.
"If this doesn't work, please contact your local council. If a person has blocked your driveway and is preventing you from getting your own vehicle out, we may be able to help. You can report antisocial behaviour online."
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