Before the schools finished for the year, I caught this on camera when I was on a lesson (19/07/2010). There’s some sort of private school just off Cranmer Street, and every day there are school buses parked right next to the chicane on yellow lines (the chicane has “Give Way To Oncoming Vehicles” signs at both ends because it’s on a bend!)
This was the mummies and daddies at drop off time, early in the morning.
Mummies And Daddies At Play
On the left side, just on the bend and on yellow lines, mummy no.1 (reg. no. FD09 DYO ) was dropping off no.1 daughter without a care for anyone else trying to get through. In front of her, an Audi 4×4 (reg. no. DN59 YDG ) was doing similar. You’ll note how the Audi is effectively blocking the road completely on the left side.
Now look at mummy no.3 (reg. no. FD04 ZHA ) dropping off her little darling on the right hand side. She’s parked almost entirely on the pavement – causing a severe hazard to pedestrians (i.e. other peoples little darlings) – but sufficiently on the road, opposite the Audi, to cause a further narrowing.
This is outside a school, remember. Any normal person parking like that would have the book thrown at them if a mummy or daddy complained.
But the best part is the car behind mummy no.3. Mummy no.4’s Toyota ‘look-at-how-much-we-earn’ mobile (reg. no. L3 UOS ) is virtually parked inside the chicane area. I should also point out that the situation gets worse as more mummies and daddies turn up and find nowhere else illegal to park, so tail back further into the chicane.
During the day, the place is crawling with traffic wardens and police (there may be a private school nearby, but the surrounding area is pretty rough), and yet there’s not one to be seen when this happens each morning. Rather strange, isn’t it?