Since her 9 year old son was hit in the face by a car door opened by a driver who had parked on the pavement, a mother in Manchester has taken to blocking the road to her child’s primary school explaining that: ‘If you block the pavements then I’ll block the road’. The headteacher of St Wilfrid’s School said: “The majority of them are very supportive but it’s a shame there is a minority of parents who keep double parking and using the pavements.” Again, we hear that it is a minority of drivers who cause these issues, and it is yet another example of a child being injured by this dangerous but generally accepted behaviour.
She has got a lot of support from the comments below the article. Here are a sample of them:
- good on you, its a nightmare when cars park on the kerbs all around schools and also dangerous!!! why dont people just walk to the school to pick up their kids!!
- Well done mum
- Good for you Jane.
- keep up the good work
- Good on you Jayne but why does it take a mums actions to get a result ? WHY
- Good on her!
- The selfish behaviour that I witness by school run mums beggars belief
- Nice one. Sick to death of motorists, you can’t move in this country without a vehicle up your backside, reversing at speed without looking, opening car doors without looking, speeding around bends the list goes on.
- Good on ya girl, you have the support of all non-selfish people and drivers.
- Excellent, we also have huge problems at Wellfield Infant School in Ashton on Mersey, the mums can not get down Church Lane with buggies and it end up single file for cars
- Nice one Jayne
- Well done girl! Keep up your protest.
Finally, this longer response which is so typical of what happens if one challenged the behaviour. “I saw a woman parked on yellow zig zags outside a school in Cheadle last week. She was putting her child inside the car, not giving a monkeys for the safety of anybody elses kids. I said you ‘You cannot park there’. ‘I know, sorry’ she said. ‘Well move it then’ said I. ‘Who do you think you are speaking to’ she asked angrily. She has a problem with the way people to speak to her, but does not give a damn for the safety of other peoples children.
Pedestrian Liberation 
Just added a comment to the site.
Good on her eh?
In a way I think the schools should bear some responsibility here for letting it become acceptable. It’s a little hypocritical teaching kids one thing, then turning a blind eye outside the gates.
The schools can only do so much to encourage sensible behaviour and can’t be held responsible for what happens outside the school gates. This school was in regular communication with the police in the subject, however… the police know that they only deter illegal behaviour while they are actually present at the school gates which is hugely expensive for them and the tax payer.
What we need is for the average citizen to start being more active. If 10% of parents would challenge this behaviour in any number of different ways then there would be a big change in attitude. I do think this can be won but it will take a lot more people like this mother to achieve it.
Good for this lady,maybe all those parents who DO walk their children to/from school should all band together and walk down the middle of the road. After all, if motorists won’t let us use the pavements then we shouldn’t let them use the roads.