School Gate Pet Hate is Illegal and Rude Parking

School gate pet hates appear to be a national irritation, according to findings from FamiliesOnline.co.uk.

Top of the list are the parent parkers who think that zig zag lines simply don’t apply to them. In fact, 84 per cent of parents believe a major clampdown is required to deal with disrespectful and dangerous parkers once and for all.

A third of parents would like a school traffic warden scheme to deal with them, with many claiming they would volunteer to issue parking fines. Another third of parents wanted a name and shame system to go out in school newsletters or popped on noticeboards.

Next major irritant was found to be school gate smokers wafting smoke into the faces of youngsters entering and leaving school grounds. And, in third place was dog mess smeared across pavements outside of school.

Mother of two and Marketing Director at Families, Faye Mingo spoke about the study: “Bad parkers continue to be a problem for parents and schools during the school run but what is interesting is the number of parents that want to take action to do something about it. The numbers of parents smoking outside school despite the education geared towards young people around the dangers and health issues associated with cigarettes is also worrying.”

Other pet hates at the school gates included ‘Cliquey’ mums gossiping, chatting parents blocking footpaths, toddlers on scooters and teachers lurking with the late book.

The 1000 parents who took part in the study should consider themselves lucky. At our school gates we’ve witnessed parents high on drugs trying to collect children, parents drunk out of their skulls again trying to collect children, parents fighting in the playground, parents screaming at and threatening other children, but worst of all, the scraping shuffle along the pavement from worn out imitation Ugg boots and chafing sounds from see-through leggings worn as trousers. Criminal.