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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Angharad Thomas

'School run parents park in my drive then complain when I ask them to move - I might block them in next'

A woman left frustrated at parents blocking her driveway while doing the school pick-up has threatened to block them in herself. On the popular forum Mumsnet, she explained that she has had enough and is thinking of blocking them on her drive if it continues, which received a mixed response from users.

On the 'am I being unreasonable' thread, she wrote: "I live down the road from a school and during the school rush parents park everywhere, [it's] normally worse in the afternoon at 3pm. I work from home and usually park in the visitor [bay] outside my house so my partner can park on the driveway he gets home 3.30pm-4pm.

"However, recently people have been parking on my driveway last week. I caught someone pulling in knocked on their window and they argued with me saying they need to pick up their child. Eventually, they did move but moved to where they were just halfway blocking my driveway and halfway blocking my neighbour so no-one could access it!

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"I didn’t bother to confront them again but in future, I’m just thinking to block them in… is that too petty? I have reported it to the school but all they’ve said is they’ve already asked parents not to block residents in so I’m not sure what else to do." She added: "If I did block anyone in, it would only be for 30 minutes to cause a bit of stress and a lesson learned."

Many Mumsnet users agreed with the woman and said it would "teach" the parents a lesson. One said: "Absolutely do this. They'll soon stop." Another added: "Block them in and then go out on a nice long walk."

While another commented: "The entitlement, how dare someone park on your driveway. That is outrageous. I’d block them and also shame them on local Facebook groups."

However, some thought it would escalate the situation. One person commented: "Blocking someone in could lead to a very aggressive situation, so I wouldn't. You say 30 minutes just to cause inconvenience, but what if the parent has an appointment somewhere and they can't get to it? Can you put a bollard or similar to stop the parking?

Other users agreed and suggested that the woman should block her drive during school pick-up times. One person said: "I would just park over your drive so no one can park there at school run time." Another said: "Surely a nice big traffic cone would be your friend here." While another added: "I’d just park over your drive. No issues with blocking. I’ve resorted to this."

One user had another creative way to deter people from parking on her drive. She said: "I would put a sign up saying £5 for 10 mins and wait to collect it."

Do you think the woman is being unreasonable if she blocks parents on her drive during the school pick-up? Or would you agree with some of the Mumsnet suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.

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