'Spy car' catches parents parked illegally outside Stoke-on-Trent schools

“To a great extent, one has to point the finger to the Headteachers re this problem.

A school, which shall be nameless -but one mentioned among others on this thread -and which suffers daily from this 'parental abuse' -of putting children at risk ..... has the Headteacher regularly staning at the gate -high profiling their presence as his pupils leave the School premises with their parents -a commendable practice -But, at the same time there are cars parked on the pavement right under their nose -a few yards away -daily -routine ilegal parking.

There are signs right there reminding parents not to park on the pavement -or to 'double-park' -which they totally ignore, while the Headteacher stands therer and 'turns a blind eye'.

Why don't they either go and have a direct word with them -shame them infront of the other law-abiding parents -Or, if he thinks that's too much 'hands-on' -just pick up the 'phone and get the Police of Council to issues tickets?

Always puzzled me that one.”

“Totally agree with you Backdoored. What I meant was in the absence of the hindsight we now have it would have seemed like it should be a good idea to have people on the ground enforcing the rules. But it has not worked, perhaps because the illegal parkers have not been forced to cough up enough money in penalties. So you still need someone there to catch those doing wrong, then follow it through properly.”

“nicky_davis -"Good idea except it's not working" -unquote.

How can it be a good idea nicky if it doesn't work? Dont' you mean it's a BAD IDEA...

A good idea would be by to forget the warnings -they already know they're doing wrong -SO JUST HIT THEM STRAIGHT IN THE POCKET OF PURSE -the message would soon hit home and the grapevine too would be buzzing with grief. 'Hey, the ******s are taking it seriously now'.”

“"Stoke-on-Trent City Council introduced the spy car in October, 2010 to monitor 'keep clear' areas outside schools and illegal parking on double yellow lines."

- Over two years ago.

"The most successful visits were in November last year, when 16 warnings were issued"

- Is this trying to say it was successful because a lot of warnings were issued? If it had been successful there would be no need for warnings.

This problem has existed at Ash Green and undoubtedly elsewhere since at least ~10 years ago when my kids were there (and no I never did park illegally at the times I needed to take the car on the way elsewhere). And this warning tactic has been tried for over 2 years. Good idea except it's not working as well as we'd like, maybe need more actual penalties rather than just warnings?”

“Totally agree with your opening paragraph, Backdoored... And the worst offenders are the 4-wheel drivers (all women) who are that HIGH off the road they can see nothing around them.

I'm assuming that most of these women are mothers so why are they speeding around at 30 mph in a school zone. I'm so pleased that most insurance companies no longer accept that Women Drivers are better than men. what a phallacy.”

“You still have to wonder what happened to all the enforcement officers on foot.

Quite right comment above, the police don't care it's not their job, the PCSO's are always walking the other way. Who is responsible, please don't tell me one little car is all they've got. People have been getting away with it for so long with no penalty, it's become second nature to illegaly park in this city.”

“Why a warning and not a fine. Anywhere else in the city it would be an automatic fine. Illegal parking outside schools must be more dangerous than straying in to a bus lane up Hanley.”

“Think you've got your schools mixed up hardnose. Ash Green Primary is on The Lea and no where near to New Inn Lane. You're thinking of The Priory”

“Most primary schools have this problem by the sound of it. The local school by me, St Marys Catholic School Norton, I see parents blocking drives, parking on double yellows, zigzags and even alot of women with children parking in the disabled bays and strolling up the drive. You wonder why so many children are to fat. Walk your children to school if you live within a mile or so!”

“All schools will always have this problem unless something permanent is done about it. My child has just left primary school and most of the time we walked there and back due to our closeness to the school but whenever I had to use the car I would park safely further away and walk up to the school but you alway got the parents who arrived late and then parked on double yellows, zig zags, on the corner of junctions, on pavements, blocked residents drives and even parked across the main gate entrance to the school which is along a little side street where no parking is supposed to be allowed at all. While standing there waiting for my child I have seen parents park infront of the bushes by the nursery entrance, then reverse back out across the path where they cannot possibly see behind them if anyone is about to walk out from behind the bushes, especially very small children who could already be behind the car but not be seen. On several occasions I've had to run over and bang on car windows to tell them to stop before a small child has been flattened. I have also reported to the school the same small car that came and parked up every afternoon across the main entrance and then piled 5 kids in the back (one of whom had a baby on it's knee) and not enough seatbelts to go around. Then of course you get the noddy who still thinks it's ok to just abandon the car in the middle of the road with parked cars either side while they dash off last minute to get their kids, resulting in a major traffic jam where cars, lorries and buses just come to a standstill facing each other and can't go anywhere. When will these idiots learn?”