School coaches Townley Road

[Asset]

Thought you lot might be interested in the email I sent to Southwark parking, Alleyn's school and Redwing coaches today :-)

Today (6th Nov) as you will see from the photograph attached, a Redwing coach was parked illegally on the footpath blocking the northbound side of Townley Road. Access to and from the pedestrian refuge was also impeded.

I asked the driver to move but he gestured that I should go around the pedestrian refuge on the wrong side of the road. I pointed out it was illegal for me to do so and that he should move as he was blocking the road. He shrugged and said ?I?m not going anywhere?, turning his back and refusing to engage any further. Because of this parking I was forced to make an illegal and dangerous manoeuvre in order to continue my journey.

As I drove away, after taking the photo, I was jeered at by other coach drivers which made me feel harassed and intimidated.

It is unacceptable to have this many coaches lining the street at school collection time. I am aware there is provision for some coach parking on the road but as you will see from the photograph the number of coaches far exceeds the space allowed.

This congestion causes danger for pedestrians, mostly children at this time of day, and other road users, e.g. cyclists.

As the weather is getting colder the coaches now sit with their engines running for long periods of time and this contributes to poor air quality around the school.

I look forward to a response.

[Zebedee Tring]

I believe that there is someone at Alleyns/Dulwich College who is responsible for coach parking, or some role like that. It might be a good idea to ring the school and contact him/her. Whether this is successful or not is quite another matter, since this problem has been going on for years and yet nothing happens. I remember taking a photo of an offending coach about five years ago and was told by its driver to "get a life", which seems to be typical of their attitude.

[annafb]

Similar coach parking a few months ago - I was on foot, went to the porters' lodge at Alleyns, told them about the problem and the response was 'it was nothing to do with them, it was a foundation coach'.....

[Jennys]

I have been fobbed off in the past with the reply from the school that these are coaches from visiting schools playing matches against Alleyns. But clearly they are coaches which transport Alleyns students to and from school.

[bargee99]

A few weeks ago I was returning from a trip to Herefordshire. After a journey of several hours it is always a relief to turn into Townley Road. It signifies to me no more traffic lights to get home a few hundred yards away across Lordship Lane. Having passed the entrance to Alleyn's I found myself stuck in a line of traffic. Getting out I could see that all the coach spaces were full and yet another coach had got itself jammed across the Dovercourt junction with a van and the coach in gridlock unable to move. With traffic behind me there was nowhere to go. The other coach drivers showed no concern to help sort out the problem even though it meant they could also go nowhere. It took half an hour before the traffic behind me eventually got so fed up that one by one they backed up to East Dulwich Grove until I could also back up to get down Calton Avenue and into the joy at the bottom of that road. As much as I hate yellow lines I am convinced that they need to remove the parking on the other side of the road to the coach parking bays and rigorously enforce the no parking of any coach outside of those bays. Maybe only between 8-10am and 3-4:30pm.

[RubyGraeme]

Can the op please show photo....can't see it

[Robert Poste's Child]

Perhaps some of the coaches could park off-road on the edge of the playing fields either side, where you often see the school minibuses?

[Glemham]

Local residents are only too well aware of this ongoing and completely unacceptable situation with coaches and school parking in Townley Road. We frequently monitor the dangerous parking, ask drivers to turn off their engines, take photos and send them to local councillors and Helen Hayes MP. Last year saw the publication of the Foundation Schools Coach survey: https://consultations.southwark.gov.uk/environment-leisure/quietway which promised much but delivered nothing. Please support us by sending your concerns to local councillors, Helen Hayes MP and the Transport Manager for the Foundation School coaches who is based at Dulwich College: [email protected].

[Asset]

I was going to suggest in my email the school make use of its extensive grounds for coach parking but this was primarily about the illegal parking and didn?t want to go on too much of a rant. 😁

[Asset]

photos for those that asked to see

[KidKruger]

This school has enough space to create their own coach park, off the street and on their own land.

[mikeb]

Alleyns is responsible for making sure it has enough parking for its visitors. If it does not then it should stop inviting them.

[Townleygreen]

KidKruger said "This school has enough space to create their own coach park, off the street and on their own land."

The playing fields are apparently Metropolitan Open Land and can't be changed into parking. I believe the school has tried to obtain more parking spaces but to no avail for this reason.

[bawdy-nan]

If it is true that they are Foundation Coaches then you might try contacting the person who manages them. In the past, when I had cause to complain about the coaches parking outside Dulwich Prep, blocking the cycle lane feeder and parking on double yellow lines they were really very helpful.

Contact

Mr Leslie Okyne

Transport Manager

Foundation Schools' Coach Service

Dulwich College

London SE21 7LD

Phone: 020 8299 9262

Mobile: 07712 924999

email: [email protected]

Mrs Sharah Hutchinson

Transport Administrator

email: [email protected]

Mrs Shirley Hardy

Customer Services

email: [email protected]

Edited to say that the transport manager appears to have changed. Here's a link to contact details http://www.dulwich.org.uk/foundation-schools-coach-service/contact

[mikeb]

After 12 years of living around here, I?ve sadly come to the conclusion that Alleyns is just not that bothered about its community relations. The only time we hear from them is when they are lobbying for more development of its metropolitan open land.

MacRoban accurately diagnosed this many years ago

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,239732,page=1

[Peckhampam]

Concerning the situation in the OP and the photos, should not the police have been called immediately. It is not legal to block the highway like that.

[smudge's dad]

I'm afraid that I have to agree with mike. I've lived a few hundred yards from the school for almost 18 years, the coaches and their drivers have behaved in an anti-social manner all of that time, and complaints to the school appear to go unheeded. One for our councillors, perhaps?

[Bicknell]

I went into Alleyns to tell them about coach drivers parked on double yellows. They said it was a public highway and couldn't do anything about it. I told the Foundation Coaches. They said thanks because they couldn't keep watch the whole time and needed people to tell them about bad parking. They said the same thing the next time. I gave up after that.

[Scruffy Mummy]

We shouldn't be surprised. This is another example of the entitlement attitude of private school culture - massive resources go to the 7% of the population going to private schools and basically the attitude to the rest of us in 93% is to just 'suck it up'. Getting rid of private schools altogether is never going to happen but why should they be allowed to keep charitable status when all benefit is to a tiny minority who then proceed to treat the rest of the population with an arrogant dismissiveness.

[mikeb]

Scruffy Mummy - I don't think this is just a "private schools thing", though I acknowledge this compounds the frustration. I know some local private schools take very seriously the impact of cars / parking on locals and call out bad behaviour by parents.

I don't know if Jags, DC or DPL cause the same aggravation though potentially there is a little more space around those schools. Part of the problem is I think Alleyns is overreaching its physical resources. I understand that it used to be a more 'local' school so that more kids lived locally but it seems that it is aiming at the pan-London / top academic results market e.g. I think there are coaches coming in from as far away as Hammersmith and Notting Hill.

[alice]

Why can?t coaches drive into substantial grounds?

[Townleygreen]

alice, the school's fields are classed as Metropolitan Open Land and are not allowed to be used for parking.

It is a really bad problem, I agree, but how much worse would the traffic be if the Dulwich schools didn't have their coach services? 50 odd children on each coach - how many cars would that be?

The coach drivers need more policing for sure.

[alice]

There?s substantial parking space

[intexasatthe moment]

Surely it's not a question of school children travelling by car OR coach ?

Is there some arcane ruling whereby Alleyn's prohibits their pupils travelling to school by public transport ?

And didn't Alleyns build a theatre on their MOL ? At least car parking wouldn't represent permanent loss of MOL .

[edhistory]

Townleygreen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> the school's fields are classed as

> Metropolitan Open Land and are not allowed to be

> used for parking.

Interesting repeated assertion unsupported by evidence.

But you can build a theatre on MOL.

And, they've lost the WD40 to open the drive gates.

Do geography teachers do apologetics?