Is this the worst parking ever?

Unbelieveable! But why blur the reg plate? These idiots need to be shamed into considering their stupid, lazy, totally selfish and ILLEGAL actions.

Sorry this is not outside the local Primary School, this is just near the other school where only the parents from that school feel the need to drive those size vehicles and park them in such a way. They are selfish people through and through as the driver of this tank proves. You should have left the reg for all to see. Perhaps the picure needs to be forwarded to the school and see what the Heads response is. Perhaps he should contact the parent directly to remind them there are other people around and not just them...thats if they would even care about that.

But it's a 4x4. You can park it anywhere you want!

There are irresponsible drivers from all school. I have previously reported a collision between a car and a boy near the junction of Sutton Road and Eaton Drive.

Also why are there so many cars parked outside the school even when it's not during the hours of drop-offs and pick-ups? There must be some 'All day' parking outside the school, this makes the issues even worst.

I agree with Chris....the number plate should be shown.

I agree too that these drivers' identities should not be protected. How can they deny photographic evidence? (By the way, is that a person with a pushchair, trying to navigate round the Chelsea Tractor, by being forced off the pavement and onto the road?) You could have a field day if you made it your mission to name and shame irresponsible and illegal parking in Alderley Edge at school dropping-off and picking-up time. As perpetrators know only too well, their actions will go unchallenged by traffic or police, so where's the incentive to be more considerate? A Name and Shame website might just be the answer we're looking for...!

This sort of parking is done by all sorts of cars around Alderley - not just 4x4's. The blue Golf in the picture is what I believe the highway code would also consider to be dangerously parked as it is within 10 metres of a junction. We also recently published this http://bit.ly/xkm0OO in which another Golf was the culprit so perhaps all Golf drivers need to be vilified!

Sarah pointed out that the photo is not outside the Primary School which is correct. It is pretty much between the Primary School and The Ryleys. It is equally plausible that the irresponsible driver in this case could have been picking up children from any one of the three schools - or not even related to the school pickups for that matter.

We choose not to publish the registration plate as we have no desire to get into singling out individuals. This photo and the one in the article by Kelvin linked to above illustrate that there is a problem around the village, it is getting worse, and that it is only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs as a result. Hopefully by giving the issue coverage the authorities will start to take some sort of action.

Here is my suggestion ... http://bit.ly/rtBswo

I have previosuly reported to police several times instances where cars have been parked on Ryleys Lane with ALL 4 WHEELS on the pavement - therefore forcing any pedestrian, including those with prams/pushchairs and those in/with wheelchairs onto the road. On one occasion there were 9 cars parked in a row on the pavement! This is extremely dangerous - Ryleys Lane is not a road where you want to be walking in the road for any length.

I am not singling out Ryleys - silly parking is happening everywhere - but to anyone it was clear that the cars belonged to Ryleys parents given that they were directly opposite the school. I was walking down Ryleys Lane with a pushchair, got 2/3 way down and had to turn around - it was just too unsafe to walk for that length of stretch on the road. I called the school to complain - there was a school performance on - and suggested that the owners were notified and asked to move their cars. I was told that this might upset the children!!!! Clearly an upset child takes a priority over injury or death by inconsiderate parking.

Having raised the issue with our local PCSO he has suggested in such situations taking a photo of the car(s) in question with the number plate and passing this info over to the police.

I know as my child gets older to the later years of primary I will be less than keen to let him walk to school independently given the inconsiderate parking of some.

What would the PCSO/police actually do though if people did take a photo of badly parked cars and hand them over. Why should we do their work, what about them sending someone down to have a look for themselves. I don't think there is a magical answer to this question of parking at schools, its clearly a case of more cars wanting to park than safe places to park. Its an utter shambles but as for the response from the Ryleys that a child might be upset if a parent was asked to move their badly parked car !!!! disgraceful. I hope I never have reason to ring and get a response like that. I appreciate parking must be difficult but this is just madness, selfish and crazy.

I think you are all being terribly unfair. It is outrageous to pick on someone who has clearly crashed and accuse them of parking badly :-))))

The schools should be addressing this problem, and make some sort of provisions. They are in the easiest and most effective position to tackle the issue. Surely they have a duty of care for children that goes beyond the school gates.

Better advice the PCSO could have responded with was creating a log, and approaching the schools to address the problem. This is typical partnership work, not just tunnel visioned traffic management.

My children attended AECPS for 9 years in total and this is one of the worst episodes of selfish parking I have seen. The parking is getting worse by the month. I saw this car parked like this and a lady with a push chair and small children had to get into the road to get past! Absolutely incredible that someone could be so selfish and lazy!

Sadly, things are not very different from some 35 years ago when my three boys were at the Ryleys; although perhaps not so many ‘off road’ cars then(that don’t actually go off road unless they are on the pavements!) .Time to do something sensible and the bypass being open should finally help to address this.

Loved the clip Martin, what immaculate streets they have in Vilnius; devoid of litter and people!!

Does the Mayor and his attitude remind you of someone? A scary thought!

On the subject of "is this the worst parking ever" one has to say there is Premiership Competition available on a Saturday on Chorley Hall Lane when the football club comes to play. Great to see people there and encouraging constructive and active play away from a PC but could they also think about those who live and work there. At the end of Blackshaw Lane is a farming business supplying tomatoes to one of the biggest retailers around. They, I am sure, do not forgive them a late delivery as equally the residents would like to safely emerge from their drives. Ultimately it is all down to a bit of give and take and sadly some people take and others give!!

In response to the comment "Why should we do their work, what about them sending someone down to have a look for themselves" - the PCSO did actually say to call the police on the 101 number to report it and they will try and get someone down there to issue tickets. I've done this several times so far but I suspect by the time someone is sent down there many of the offenders may have left? And in all honesty, are the offenders really bothered? If they were, they surely wouldn't park in such a selfish manner in the first place.

The parking situation in Alderley is similar to the one in Wilmslow until stricter parking restrictions were implemented a couple of years ago. All day parkers will always prefer to park for free. I work in Wilmslow and for years was able to park all day, every day, for free on roads such as Holly Road and Parkway. When parking bays were introduced most of us had to bite the bullet and pay to park on Broadway Meadow. At £3.30 per day this can be quite a substantial chunk of salary for some people. It is still possible to park free but you either have to arrive at the crack of dawn to get the few available places near to the town centre or park as far away as Styal Road or Buckingham Road for example.
In Alderley this is why we see cars parked in such random places as Blackshaw Lane, Mottram Road, Davey Lane and particularly inconsiderately on School Lane blocking access to the primary school and St. Philips.
At the moment the village does not have enough pay and display places to accomodate all day parkers and presumably if the Parish Council gets the go ahead to tarmac over Heyes Lane allotments and turn it into a car park restricted parking will be introduced on problem roads.

Why not get the PCSO say once a month to note 'inconsiderate parking or waiting' on the school run times and, across a week, if a parent is 'cited', their child gets detention. That could focus the mind and change behaviours.

Mike, you can't punish a child for an offence caused by their parent. There are already laws to deal with this. It is not rocket science. Get the police to visit on random days over a few weeks at school drop off and pick up times and issue the parking fines. Unfortunately, it is clear that the police do not take this seriously. I'd quite happily do it on a commission basis as you could make a tidy sum in 30 minutes!

Claire - that was my wife with the baby in the pram and she waited to berate the driver of the 4x4 who said it was her first time picking the kids up for a friend. My wife did ask her if she had passed her driving test as her parking didn't seem to merit it. The local PCSO was on hand and refused to issue a ticket but gave her a flyer on parking!

Richard - I am fuming that the PCSO refused to issue a ticket. Did they give a reason? This sums up the problem with most police forces, all talk and no action.

As I said before, where's the incentive, if people know they will not be penalised for their inconsiderate and illegal parking? (Mind you, when I originally wrote that, it was because I didn't believe they were around to ticket. Now we learn even when they ARE there, they decline to take action. Beggars belief! I can just imagine what happened to the 'flyer on parking'... I'm sure it was read from cover to cover)

This is really bad but not worse than some of the "parking" at the top of Brook Lane at pick up/drop of time at the AESG. I rang what was then Mount Carmel about this subject the best part of twenty years ago when I saw a child almost killed as a result of unbelievably bad parking...
Things have only gone from bad to worse around all the schools.
A combination of the schools and the authorities really do need to address this or there will be a fatality. Despite what the schools say there must be sanctions they can impose on parents (whether it upsets their child or not!) and surely the police will have to listen if we all attempt raise their awareness? Or is that niaive of me?

I have for some considerable time now been driving around the three schools when on duty dealing with any nuisance parking issues. This is done in conjunction with the schools, the parsish council and the Cheshire East Highways Dept. With reference to the incident in question, the person was dealt with firmly whilst patrolling the 3 schools.

Jim. Were you the PCSO that handed out a flyer instead of issuing a parking ticket to the driver of that 4x4 Mercedes in the photo? If so, please can you explain why you did not issue a parking ticket and also explain how a flyer deals firmly with the issue? If it wasn't you, perhaps you can find out and let us know please?

Do you have statistics to show how many parking tickets are issued around the schools in the village per annum?

The background: Living further down Ryleys Lane and with my daughter going to AESG there were many times my wife or I had to circumnavigate the idiots who park on the pavement with a pram young daughter and dog in tow. On one occasion (2 years ago) someone parked on the pavement whilst my wife was circumnavigating a row of cars one started their engine and my daughter (age 4), fearing she was going to be run over ran straight on to the road in front of a lorry. Fortunately the driver of the lorry was paying attention and managed to swerve but had a car been coming the other way or if he was not so alert we would in all likeliness have had another road death in the village.
I contacted the council who were useless.
I contacted the police who advised that parking wardens cannot issue tickets to cars parked on pavement as it is a police issue. Jim is this really the case? They also advised that the PCSO would make a special effort to patrol the area but in almost all cases they would only issue warnings (or flyers as the case is) rather than fines / prosecution.
I contacted Ryleys School who were also useless. After several attempts to get a response, Sue Goff did call back. She accepted there was an issue and that they had written to parents, but other than that she basically insinuated that as it was outside the school gates it wasn't her problem. This attitude clearly continues and a lack of response on this forum by either Alderley Primary School or Ryleys certainly says a few things to me.
I ended up patrolling the pavement myself for several days berating anyone who parked there. It worked for a while.
If the schools and the PCSO continue to do the same thing, do they not realise they will continue to get the same results – i.e. people flagrantly disregarding the safety of other people? We are talking about putting children’s lives at significant risk here not some minor infringement.
My daughter now goes to Mottram who have their own parking issues but at least Mrs Bowen recognises the danger and has no issues in reprimanding parents or in part naming and shaming them in newsletters. Perhaps Mrs Goff is more concerned about the £revenue and not offending her customers than the safety of her pupils and the other people who live in the area?
The solution: Jim operates a zero tolerance policy and issues a fine for anyone parking on the pavement and the schools take it upon themselves to patrol the area outside their school. Failing that Alderleyedge.com allows us to continue to post pictures of poorly parked cars.
There will be a serious injury or death if this is not solved and in my opinion the PCSO and the Heads of the various schools will have blood on their hands for their continued failure in dealing with the matter.
And finally, will people please focus on the issue at hand and not the car they drive!

Jeremy, I totally agree with your frustration and concerns. However, I think your comments re there being no comments from either The Ryleys or Alderley Edge Primary School are unfair. Please correct me if I am wrong but there has been no comment from AESG either and as a parent (of AECPS) who drives down Brook Lane each day I have to say that the situation outside the girls school is as bad , if not worse on occasion than on Ryleys Lane. I cannot understand the selfishness and impatience of drivers and parkers around all the schools in the morning and afternoons but I doubt that the real culprits would listen to the school authorities even if they were asked to be more considerate. Let's not make this a battle of which school is to blame (I am not implying that this is your intention) but maybe by tackling selfish, and more importantly dangerous drivers we can at least try to prevent what I fear is an inevitability. I hope I am wrong.

No doubt, inappropriate (in some cases illegal and dangerous) parking is a significant issue. My observations from other areas with similar situation are as follows:
1. Local Education Authority grants power to the PCSO to issue fixed penalty notices on the spot.
2. A member of staff from the school with their florescent jacket patrols the road outside school (and is not afraid to have a stern word with parking offenders).
I am aware that naming and shaming the persistent offenders is quite common in school newsletters .
The underlying problem in my opinion is that the responsibility is being passed around from School to Police to East Cheshire Council to the drivers. If each group / institution take their responsibility seriously, the problem will be resolved!

Hi Jane, my comments regarding Ryleys relate to my own experience and this specific parking incident (which I believe was a parent from Ryleys). I'm sure AESG and AECPS have their own parking issues which they may handle better or worse than Ryleys - but as I have no experience of dealing with them it would be inappropriate to make comment.

However, I totally agree that this isn't a one school issue. It would be nice to see one of the schools be brave enough to put its head above the parapet and respond to this thread with their thoughts on the matter.

It would also be nice to have a response from Jim as to why the police are so reluctant to issue fines.

I agree with the comments made by Jane Whittingham. Of course we would all love for the schools to put a comment in their newsletter and the next day the selfish parking to stop forever but we all know its never going to happen. As I said before there are to many cars trying to do the same thing (drop off their children at school) at the same time. Its bound to cause mayhem and of course it does.

But..... Vicki did say that she contacted the Ryleys re bad parking and their response was very poor. The safety of herself and her child meant nothing as long as their pupils were not upset. That was a very poor answer and shame on the Ryleys for saying it. Why does the Head of the Ryleys not make a comment over that, he does read this website because he has commented over a negative comment made about his school before that was not connected with parking.

It will clearly take a very serious incident to change anything. Shame on all those involved when it happens.

This is taken from the highway code, online version -

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069860

243
DO NOT stop or park

near a school entrance
anywhere you would prevent access for Emergency Services
at or near a bus or tram stop or taxi rank
on the approach to a level crossing or tramway crossing
opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised parking space
near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
opposite a traffic island or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked vehicle
where you would force other traffic to enter a tram lane
where the kerb has been lowered to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
in front of an entrance to a property
on a bend
where you would obstruct cyclists’ use of cycle facilities
except when forced to do so by stationary traffic.

Take your pick for how many parking offences this person has made, but i can count 4 at least. And the PCSO says its not worthy of a fine? How many offences is worthy of a fine? Or does somebody have to get hurt first? I think the blue polo may have a few awkward questions to answer too, looking at how the silver Bentley is having to approach the junction due to the way it's parked.

Hi Jim

Given that the 3 schools in question are all within a few yards of one another and the issue here is dangerous and illegal parking, would it not perhaps be more sensible to patrol the vicinity of the 3 schools on foot (rather than by car)? That way, you would not be exacerbating the issue by adding to the vehicular congestion; you would be able to safely approach perpetrators in order to issue them with their penalty (note: NOT serve them with their flyer) and you would be able to position yourself in a visible, strategic position to prevent further illegal parking by those who may be considering it.

I am sure that a regular and highly visible presence by yourself and any other uniformed police officer or traffic warden, combined with rigorous ticket-issuing to offenders would greatly reduce the problem (or, indeed, the likelihood of a serious accident).

I, too, would be very interested to hear why you felt the car in the picture didn't warrant a parking ticket.

I find the comments on this article shocking, if the most you have to worry about in your life is parking you are very lucky people! PCSO Jim News does an excellent job in Alderley Edge (I work in the area), if he were to issue tickets to every illegally parked car in Alderley Edge he wouldn't do much else, and then you would all be moaning about the antisocial behaviour at the park or something else that becomes flavour of the month. Please remember that he shouldn't have to justify why he hasn't issued a ticket, the law states clearly he has the discretion to deal with the matter as he sees fit, if he wants to advise, warn, hand out a flyer or give a ticket, it is his decision!

If you all feel as passionately about the issue as you make out while sat at your computers writing comments then how about as a community you get involved and help tackle the issue. Why not approach the police and the school, form a 'School Parking Watch' scheme, don some yellow high vis jackets and volunteer 30-60 minutes of your time every couple of days and go out and advise these people of the dangers of their parking. Maybe you could note down repeat offenders and if they don't take your advice then the police can then issue them a ticket. People would soon get the picture and the issue would be resolved. David Camerons 'Big Society' eat your heart out!

Thoughts?

James McDonald, who do you think you are? I agree with William, Jim is not answerable to you. You are not his employer and therefore owes you no explanation. Furthermore, what are YOU doing to address the issue other than belittle the only person who IS making an effort. What everyone needs to understand is this will never get solved but it can be managed and I, again, agree with William. Why not help instead of critisising and demanding stupid statistics which are of no use. There is one PCSO for Alderley Edge who needs support and encouragement and I think it would be great if everyone could help him out. That would be far more impactive.

SIan
Firstly, perhaps you should be more observant and spell my name correctly.
Secondly, perhaps you should note that I am not the only one directly seeking answers in this case. Try reading all of the thread and not just some of it.
Thirdly, I am someone with an opinion. You might not like it, I might not like yours, but we all have the right to air out views on this subject.

What do you expect me to do? We have tax funded public employees tasked to carry out duties to a fair and proper standard and I expect them to do it. That is not too much to ask. You say statistics are of no use. I say that is incorrect. If for example, it showed there were 10 parking tickets issued outside of the schools in a calendar year then that would be further evidence that the authorities are not taking it seriously.

William and yourself are clearly in the minority and the majority want this to be addressed by the authorities. I challenge you and William to look again at the picture and give one very good reason why this driver should not have received a parking ticket?

Parking is clearly an emotive subject, but as Mark Russell pointed out, there is a highway code, there are a lot of rules regarding parking but they are all common sense. Drivers are accountable for their own actions and when they clearly break the law they should be punished appropriately.

It is already quite clear that come the end of the year when Lisa shows the statistics for news articles that this will stand out as one of the most talked about.

William, I have no doubt that we all have a lot to worry about and for me the safety of my children is pretty much at the top of the list. I'm surprised you find this shocking.

With regards to illegal parking, firstly we are not talking about cars staying too long in a parking spot; these are parking offences that cause a significant danger to people, mainly children. If a car is parked on George Street for longer than an hour, it will get a ticket from a traffic warden but block an entire pavement on a main road, used by children walking to school and this just warrants a warning? Surely this is giving out the wrong message. William, out of interest what would you have done in Jim’s shoes – given a ticket or a flyer?

I have no doubt Jim does a great job as a PCSO and I think it is great he comes on here to give his view. However as the title says, he is a community support officer and one of his main duties is to work with the community to address anti-social behaviour. If I’m not mistaken this is a form of anti-social behaviour and we are the community, so this falls, in part, very firmly at his feet. And on this point, Sian I’m not sure which communist state you live in but the Police are very answerable to the law abiding, tax paying public and DO have a need to explain their actions (It’s actually part of the force’s Customer Charter). However I’m sure Jim is constrained in talking about specific incidences but his opinion, in general, on what changes need making (given that what the Police / Schools / Council are currently doing is not working) would be highly valued.

I doubt the answer is in having vigilantes; when I tried myself I was swore at, threatened and even called a racist (I can only dread what Jim has to deal with on a weekly basis). It is not for the untrained and powerless public to uphold the law.

I am with James MacDonald and fully agree and support his comments. Would the people that park in such an anti-social way really react in a positive way if any of us that have commented on here about this issue tackled them over their parking. I can remember the abuse I got when I asked someone who had dropped litter why they thought it was acceptable, when people are challenged for their selfish behaviour by a member of the public the normal response is screaming, shouting and swearing.

Jeremy, please don't get me wrong, I find the parking in this photograph atrocious. What I find shocking is the reaction from people on this website regarding their expectations of the police. Jim could attend every day for a week and issue tickets, the following week people would still park like that. Jim can't be there every single day to act as a deterrent he probably has other work he needs to do. We refer to our police force as 'the thin blue line', a line which is getting increasingly thinner due to government cuts. (Did you know that by 2016 Cheshire Police will have lost 25% of its workforce in comparison to 2006 figures? - Check out Inspector Steve Andersons latest tweets on his twitter account @Cheshiretinman). In todays current climate we need to ask ourselves 'What are the police for?' and 'What do I want from my police?'. I personally want my local police tackling burglaries, drugs and violent crime. Im my opinion we as a community are capable of helping with the lower level stuff such as parking. I'm not talking about vigilante activity thats just ridiculous. But the simple forming of a community group that tackles a specific issue. This is nothing new, its been done for decades. I'm sure you've heard of neighbourhood watch, pub watch, rural watch... the list goes on. I'm sure the police would provide initial training a support to help community groups in this sort of activity get up and running. I personally don't think Jim turning up and issuing a few tickets is going to solve the problem.

William, in part I agree with you, the issue can't be solved by one PCSO. As in my first post the schools need to do much more.

I don't think anyone in this thread is suggesting Jim spends his entire time addressing illegal parking. However, when confronted with such 'atrocious' parking, surely it would make sense to send out the right message and issue a fine not just a flyer?

Well, this is now a big issue and getting very personal. My comment, ages ago about 'the child having detention' bit was, by James MacDonald, understandably highlighted as "you can't punish the child". In my opinion, it completely missed the point. Parents will only change their behaviours when their children are directly affected. To have a child held back at school due to the inconsiderate behaviour of the parent would be a massive social stigma; "Sorry Zoe I can't meet tonight at 4:15 in Costa for a hot chocolate because Quentin has detention because of my bad parking". It just wouldn't happen.

Importantly, this has nothing to do about PCSO Jim who, in difficult circumstances, has to cope with a range of stuff and does a great job and also, it has nothing to do with "I pay my taxes therefore I expect".... etc. There needs to be a local lead and the schools have to do.

All it requires is, at each Monday morning at assembly, for the head-mistress or master to read out the plates. Maybe use it as a Maths quiz? But, as a radical proposal, detention for child should their offending parent not comply may focus the mind.

Mike, I know you are trying to think out of the box, but my point is still accurate. Whether it is a parent or not or by a school or not, the driver is 100% responsible for their actions. It is not their parents fault, it is not their best friends fault and it is certainly not their kids fault. This story is partly about does the punishment fit the crime? Look at the picture? Does parking get any worse than that? I don't think so. Therefore, if it doesn't get worse why does the driver only receive a warning? What sort of message does that convey? It says do whatever you like. Everyone knows this can't be policed all the time, but when the opportunity is there then the right action should be taken. I have previously tried to take a stand against people parking terribly and one time a driver tried to destroy my phone as I was phoning the police for assistance. He now has a criminal record and his profession was a driving instructor! I would prefer the authorities and in this case the schools to do more, who wouldn't? As many others have said, you feel it will take a serious injury or fatality before it is taken seriously, and given that it would be more likely to be a child this makes it even more tragic.

Is this not more the job of a traffic warden than a PCSO anyway. I can remember the lady that got killed racing back to her car because she thought her ticket had slightly over-run and was scared the traffic warden would be around. Where is the traffic warden to patrol at drop off and pick up times.

It's astonishing that this debate is so horribly personal, in a public forum that really is unpleasant. Everyone wants the same solution, i.e. no more illegal parking anywhere in Alderley, as it is dangerous. HOWEVER, very rarely is a solution ever presented, just suggestions of more police, more fines, punishing the children etc, hardly constructive I'd say. None of those will even fix it in the short term, let alone the long term.

There is insufficient parking for the village centre and similarly the schools, that is absolutely clear.

To highlight 4x4s as the blame is also wide of the mark as it's pretty clear everything from builder's vans to Rolls Royces park illegally in the centre.

So where is the additional parking to come from? Well sadly if there isn't any then this debate will never end as cars are here to stay as a main mode of transport to schools, shops, offices and restaurants in the village.

I can't see there being any other option for the village centre than the allotments, as sad as it is there is a dangerous parking situation that needs solving not papering over. In addition to that, how on earth it was envisaged that three supermarkets could be sustained with the pitiful amount of parking is anyone's guess. So once extra parking is created the kerbs in the centre then need modifying to only allow parking where legal, with raised sections and bollards. As an aside, I feel the precinct car park is awful to navigate at the best of times and unusable at peak times owing to the poor access point.

For The Ryleys, I see the old piece of road running parallel to the new road as a perfect pick-up/drop-off solution, it just needs to be opened up at both ends with parking along one side. I'd ask who owns this and if the safety concerns of the school could not be deemed high enough priority to put it into use for this purpose.

Saying all that though, money talks and those two solutions cost money. So while nobody will accept responsibility for solving this problem nothing will happen, the debate will rage on, 4x4s will be used to embellish the argument for punishment to all offenders and people's safety will continue to be at risk ad infinitum.

Good point about re-opening the old road across from the bottom of Chorley Hall lane (one way of course), but the only thing is they have just built a phone mast at the Chelford end on the footpath !!!!!!!

As resident of Aldford Place and also a parent of an ex-pupil of Alderley Primary School, I cannot believe my eyes some mornings at the inconsiderate parking of some of the parents of children who attend the two schools. Some of them opening doors on the main road to let young children out. I have reported a few incidents to the police and school but unfortunately it appears there is not a lot they can do unless double yellow lines are parked upon. Therefore, would a request to the council for double yellow lines be a good idea?

Also, if the parents cared to park just 150 yards further down Eaton Drive and walk for the 5 minute drop off surely this would save them 10 minutes gym time??

I have been Governor and Chair of Governors of Alderley Edge Primary School for some years. I am also closely associated with Alderley Edge School for Girls. Parking around the three schools has, and continues to be, a significant issue of concern as this directly affects the safety of the children. I arranged a joint meeting of the three schools, at which the Heads keenly attended, with the purpose of investigating what if anything could be done to improve the situation. We had a detailed and intense discussion including provision of alternative parking, yellow lines, school (lollipop) crossing patrol, installation of mini-roundabouts, change of traffic priority, another pedestrian crossing, traffic calming, etc.. At that time Cheshire East Council were considering various aspects of traffic management in Alderley but budget restraints seem to have put an end to that.

Our considerations also included asking parents/children to cycle or walk to school from around the village but, for instance, the pavement at the road bridge over the railway line on the A34 near Heyes Lane was considered so narrow as to be a danger. There is one narrow pavement here and if pedestrians are approaching from opposite directions it might necessitate someone stepping into the road. A wider or additional footpath would allieviate the problem but that appears some way into the future.

The fact that three schools are so closely located does create a considerable ammount of traffic, particularly in the afternoon 'pick up' period, and this is acutely recognised. I do know that all three schools do regularly communicate with parents about the parking issue and that will continue. The schools have also had regular meetings with the PCSO and appreciate any assistance he offers. Jim Newns came to AECPS at the summer fair to 'educate' parents about the dangers of inconsiderate parking but cleary the message has not been fully understood by some.

On one occasion the double parking on Eaton Drive was so bad that it would have been inpossible for an emergency service vehicle to access the school, or residents. The police arranged for the principal offending vehicle to be taken away and issued tickets to others. Unfortunately, like all other times, this seems to be a short lived remedy.

I have seen Mrs Goff from AESG go out of school at pick up time to discuss the parking with parents and I have accompanied Mr Perry; the head of AECPS, or the site manager; or been on my own on the road frequently informing parents of the dangers they are creating with inconsiderate parking. I have heard all the excuses including 'I am ony waiting; its raining; I am late; I will only be a minute' and I have been verbally abused on quite a number of occasions with inconsiderate drivers advising me (unfortunately correctly) that the school has absolutely no jurisdiction on the highway outside of the school premises and to 'mind my own business'.

We do recosgnise the dangers that inconsiderate parking creates and welcome anything that addresses the problem whether that is a group of parents forming a rota to politely patrol the area in Hi-Vis jackets, the issue of more parking tickets, or any other remedy, but I do assure all that this issue IS a major concern to all three schools.

Graham, I appreciate that everybody views this as a major concern, however it's sat in a grey area. Neither schools nor councils are obliged to provide parking so therefore neither will ultimately address it as the root cause of the problem. It's fair to say that everyone has a limited budget and there's physical limits of space etc. etc., however the problem boils down to one fact - too many cars. It becomes a battle of wills between parents and effectively everyone else. The cars need to go somewhere, it's just a case of where.

Aside from providing more parking, then I guess the only other option is to stagger start and finish times to reduce peak traffic levels?

I posted the original picture, we live nearby and are used to seeing appalling parking but this was just so extreme.

I am really surprised at the number and quality of the responses, which is a great reflection on local community sprit (and alderleyedge.com as a forum!). Nothing from anyone actually picking up children though....

It is clear that many people have tried to address the issue in a very reasonable manner, and I think we should appreciate all the time and effort put in. I am concerned by a couple of mentions of verbal abuse from drivers, which along with the blatant parking offences, indicates an arrogant, selfish and antisocial attitude which will not be changed by gentle persuasion. We are not dealing with reasonable people here.

I think the best approach would be a zero tolerance policy of ticketing all offenders at this junction , however 'trivial' the offence, even if only for a week. A note to warn drivers of this policy on all cars parked in this area the day before would have a significant effect but I suspect there would still be some offenders. One shot will not be enough, but if there is any improvement it would be worth repeating to reinforce the message.

This topic has veered off course a little - like the car in the photo, and whilst realated to limited spaces at busy times, the issue is really about what people do when faced with a nowhere to park/drop-off scenario. Drive around until a safe, considerate and LEGAL space becomes available or park on ANY empty 11sqm meter patch (eg.Range Rover) and to hell with everybody else? I see plenty of parking around the village where the latter mentality prevails, all part of the modern mindset of 'Me, me, me, now, now, now.'

Adrian.
The parking problem is less in the mornings when parents drop off the children whilst on their way to work, or the Gym, or the coffee shop. Therefore I don't think a staggered start in the morning would assist very much.
The afternoons create more parking because parents wait for the children to come out of school. There is a staggered finish in place already - at AECPS the earlier years leave school at 3.15pm with the remainder at 3.30pm.. We recently canvassed parents about the staggered finish and the majority of those who responded cited the parking issue as a reason to retain the staggered finish. AESG senior school leave at 3.45pm. Of course there will be a number of parents with children in different years, or different schools, for whom the staggered finish is of no benefit.
I believe there was a proposal to create a parking area adjacent to the by-pass with a shuttle bus service to the three schools but that did not materialise and I suspect that some of the people who park inconsiderately now would not use such a facility even if it existed.

Perhaps long term it might be beneficial to consider relocating one or more of the schools onto a new site locally with an adequate traffic scheme built in? But that opens up a whole new set of discussions........

Again a heated debate. I live in this estate and walk my daughter to AESG every morning and see the most amazing parking. This picture does show possibly the worst parking I have seen in the many years of walking to school. Jim the PCSO has been turning up and trying to politely enforce better parking although these drivers do know they are parking incorrectly and I think they simply don't care, are selfish and ignore the polite requests. Jim can't be there all the time although in this case I personally think that a ticket should have been issued. Everyone is saying its the schools problem but surely no matter what the schools say ultimately the buck stops with that inconsiderate driver who chooses to ignore parking rules. As mentioned earlier its not which school they go to or what car they are driving, this is irrelevant. They have all passed their driving test and know the rules of the road. They just choose not too. I am aware of verbal abuse being dished out by drivers who park in such a manner that are challenged by passers by.

Whats the solution? Double yellow lines might be an idea or the zero tolerance for parking like this but ultimately people could park a bit further into this estate and just walk for 2 minutes more rather than trying to all cram and get as near as possible to save walking. There are plenty of parents who do park sensibly and would drive 20 yards more to park safely. On the corner of Eaton Drive opposite the school gates maybe some bollards or railing could be put there to stop the parking on such a dangerous corner and to ensure people dont cross the road so close to a bend with the chilren. Personally I think double yellow lines are required on one side of the road to just after that bend on Eaton Drive and on both sides around the junction and then at least the traffic warden would be able to come and enforce illegal parking.

It is an accident waiting to happen. I guess all potential solutions take time, consultation and possibly the stumbling block - money. The more people debate this issue the more possible solutions may come to light and this forum shows the strenght of feeling about parking yet again

Well - this afternoon Jim and a colleague were parked on Windermere Drive and patrolling the area.

A good start... but there might be 'more to go at' when the schools are open, rather than at half term!!

Good news, perhaps not so effective/necessary during the half-term holidays though.

That's good but unfortunately it is half-term holiday week this week.

Not for the Ryley's it isn't, their half term is next week.

I was going to ask if all the moms had got the wrong date - there were loads of 4x4s there even at half term .....

what about all the parking in heyes lane , waiting for the school bus .... oh and why are school buses allowed to stop on double yellows ... we have places called bus stops ... guess to far for the dears to walk :-)

A hard lesson to learn would be if a fire engine had to get down the road. It would, quite literally, plough its way through the cars. The kind of parking shown in the picture is actually a traffic offense, with fines and points if successfully prosecuted, and doesn't come under the remit of traffic wardens. Of course, they couldn't possible walk, instead of drive, because I'd be willing to be that a good chunk of them get in their car for journey of less than five minutes.

So here is how Mottram School deal with it: A news letter has just been sent round listing details of parking offences, details of which have been provided by other parents. Mrs Bowen has then contacted each offending driver individually to tell them know of the dangers they are causing and that it will not be accepted.

It will be interesting to see how this works.

I'm still shocked by the total lack of representation from any of the schools on this thread (with the exception of Graham Tyson)!

The following was included in my daughter's school newsletter sent home today:

Parking on Brook Lane
Please be aware that the Police will be issuing tickets to any drivers who park without due care and consideration around the school site.

In the coming weeks officers will be issuing fixed penalty notices and advising parents about sensible parking.

Edgertons have also been asked to bring a tow truck and will be towing away any illegally parked vehicles on both Brook Lane (AESG) and Ryley's Lane in due course.
Please do keep this in mind - thank you for your co-operation.

Today, at 4.50pm where is the police when the parking was crazy at Eaton drive, cars cannot get in or out. Why do people park on both side of the road at a very tight bend. Madness!

Jeremy B has a good point. But, despite previous comments to my postings that "you can't penalise the child", I stand by a well researched and documented observation of behaviour; parents will change their habits if it affects their children. If the children are 'highlighted' at Assembly or given detention, because of their parents' behaviour, issue will be resolves within 14 days.

Macclesfield police tweeted yesterday the following: "PCSO Whitehead and Watson took St Johns school kids out this morning to issue parking notices to vehicles causing obstruction".

Seems like an interesting approach. If it is proving difficult to get inconsiderate drivers to changing their parking habits then educate their children as to what is and isn't acceptable - no doubt leading to some parents getting told off by their own children!

It's not surprising that there is so much disregard of Parking restrictions in the village as even the police take no notice of blatant infringements. Yesterday whilst driving home mid afternoon, there was a car parked on the zig zags of the crossing, there was one large car parked outside the post office, with it's back end extending over into stephen's street and then there was one parked on the double yellow lines opposite the bar and grill. Two police cars drove past, they weren't racing to any emergency, just seemed to be going about their business - but really why did they not stop and ticket the offenders??? What do they do, if it's not upholding the law - who's responsibility is it, if not theirs? Why are they always reactive not proactive? Parking is a real issue in the village and if the police take no notice why will anyone change their bad habits?