School coaches Townley Road

[solar]

Alleyns is indeed a different school to what it used to be.

I was a pupil there from 1965 when it was a boys grammar school.

The majority of pupils then lived locally and had a free place.

Since becoming independent the fees are way outside the reach of most local people, hence the need for coaches to transport the pupils from afar.

[Chief]

Tackle the problem at source - abolish all private education provision.

[pablogrande]

There?s an easy way to tackle it. Park in front of the bus at the front of the queue, reverse tight up to the front of it then pop off for a slow breakfast, I?ve done it before elsewhere, it works just as well when you spot a Foxtons car too

[intexasatthe moment]

It'll be bounced out of the way .

[intexasatthe moment]

" illegally and dangerously parked, with their engines running that needs to be addressed."

what I don't understand is why oh why aren't the existing remedies for this ( parking enforcement/police ) sufficient ?

[Mick Mac]

Chief Wrote:

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> Tackle the problem at source - abolish all private

> education provision.

Are you called Chief because people don't do what you suggest? ie: is it ironic? :)

[singalto]

Chief, that?s just silly. I am a teacher and am astonished by the number of parents who pick up their children from secondary school. They park wherever they want including in local people?s drives, keep running their engines,double park etc and this is a state school. I also live near a primary school and have the pleasure of parents arriving too early to drop off/pick up from school so. Sitin their cars, engine and radio running.

[JoeLeg]

singalto Wrote:

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> Chief, that?s just silly. I am a teacher and am

> astonished by the number of parents who pick up

> their children from secondary school. They park

> wherever they want including in local people?s

> drives, keep running their engines,double park etc

> and this is a state school. I also live near a

> primary school and have the pleasure of parents

> arriving too early to drop off/pick up from school

> so. Sitin their cars, engine and radio running.

All very good points.

> And remember that people who pay for their

> children?s education are also paying for the state

> education they are not using.

What the ?*%# has that got to do with anything? If you can afford to go private that's the choice you make.

[Zebedee Tring]

This is a thread about school coaches parking in Townley Road, not about the relative merits of private and state education. If people want to debate that topic, they should start a new thread.

[RubyGraeme]

Another dog walk took me along Townley Road just now. It seems to coincide with Alleyn's after school activities. One coach and two red London buses parked, engines running on double yellow lines, near zebra crossing. Blocking one lane to traffic heading towards Lordship Lane.

It was mayhem. One bus driver had blocked another so driver asked other driver to move, second driver pretended not to understand English, said he was Italian. This was my moment! I told him in my rusty Italian that where he'd stopped was dangerous, school children were crossing the road from JAGS to catch buses, if he couldn't drive legally he shouldn't be driving at all and he must move the bus immediately. It worked! The other driver thanked me. I took pictures! Alleyn's, JAGS, sort yourselves out. If you want to employ me in a permanent post as traffic manager, make me an offer. (Ask a busy woman!)

https://imgur.com/fRH3wuC

[Townleygreen]

Great work, Ruby!!

[intexasatthe moment]

I agree ,well done Ruby .

But honestly they couldn't care less could they ?

I suppose it won't be long before Townley Rd will simply be closed off at Dovercourt and absorbed into the school grounds .

[Lynne]

I believe Townley Rd was part of the school grounds and then sold off to a railway company.

[intexasatthe moment]

How interesting . Do you know any other details ?

Did a railway company hope to run a line through there and then didn't go ahead ?

[James Barber]

Hi ITATM,

I can not envisage any political circumstances where local politicians would agree to sell Townley Road to a private school.

I think the school needs to manage the school coach service supplier much better and visiting coaches. The alternative is either draconian parking enforcement, width restrictions to effectively ban the coaches in any practical sense from Townley Road, or allow the school to build on its grounds coaches parking/turning - which I doubt either the Dulwich Estate or Southwark Council would allow as it is Metropolitan Open Land.

By far the easiest answer is managing the supplier and visitor coaches.

Regards James.

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

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> I agree ,well done Ruby .

>

> But honestly they couldn't care less could they ?

>

> I suppose it won't be long before Townley Rd will

> simply be closed off at Dovercourt and absorbed

> into the school grounds .

[intexasatthe moment]

I wasn't entirely serious James !

But never mind draconian parking enforcement ,has ordinary parking enforcement been tried ? Are FPN being issued ?

[BJL]

A while back, edhistory posted this helpful photo - has anyone explained why the school coaches can't park on the drive in front of the school itself?

[intexasatthe moment]

Or even better grasscrete ( or similar ) and use that empty semi circle as a car park and thus benefit the local community .

[redjam]

Well done you, Ruby. It really is a mess - I always avoid driving down Townley if I can help it as it's always so blocked (not easy when half of Dulwich Village is also in chaos with roadworks and sometimes it's the only way through).

Glemham said earlier: 'All drivers are aware of the policy but enforcing it is difficult for the Coaches' small team of three as they cannot regularly be on site outside Alleyn's.'

I have to say I don't really buy that - if there is a team of three surely ONE of them could simply patrol the street for an hour or so each afternoon to check their drivers are being sensible? Isn't that part of their job??? Even if they just did it once or twice a week the drivers/coach companies would surely get the message after a while.

[Penguin68]

has anyone explained why the school coaches can't park on the drive in front of the school itself?

That whole sweep was secured behind locked gates - in fact it would be possible to open the gates but seal the carriage sweep from the rest of the school (I think fencing is already there, but if it isn't it would be easy enough to install) in order to retain security and protect the students - but maybe that's too much bother when the public street access can be grabbed on behalf of the school's needs.

[Abe_froeman]

There are already some parking spaces on that arched driveway. Presumably these are for the head teacher and other VIPs who would be massively inconvenienced if they had to put up with coaches parking on the driveway too.

[rendelharris]

I have no sympathy at all with the attitude of Alleyn's and the coach companies on this issue, finding it arrogant, selfish and dangerous, but I would guess that coaches parking on that drive might compromise fire service access to the main building?

How old are the pupils being collected/dropped off? When I was at school (in the previous century) our playing fields were three miles away from the school; in the first two terms of our first year we were taken there in coaches, after that pupils were expected to make their own way there by bike or public transport. Too much to ask?

[Lynne]

Intexasatthe moment - there's a painting by Pissarro of Lordship Lane station. I think that was the line that ran alongside the Horniman and up through the woods by the golf course.

There was the Dover Chatham line somewhere there, but I'm sure all the East Dulwich History and railway experts can provide the details.

If Townley road was sold off, it explains why the playing fields are cut in two.

[EDOldie]

Townley Road, or the school for that matter, didn't exist in 1868 but both were there by 1894 so I'd guess both were put there by the Foundation (Dulwich Estate)

[Jennys]

Lynne Wrote:

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> Intexasatthe moment - there's a painting by

> Pissarro of Lordship Lane station. I think that

> was the line that ran alongside the Horniman and

> up through the woods by the golf course.

> There was the Dover Chatham line somewhere there,

> but I'm sure all the East Dulwich History and

> railway experts can provide the details.

> If Townley road was sold off, it explains why the

> playing fields are cut in two.

Alleyn?s School website does not mention anything about the railway but says

?The original building on Townley Road was the red brick building which overlooks Townley Road. The road was built especially for access to the school from Lordship Lane and Dulwich Village when the building was erected in 1887.? Perhaps, sadly, the school thinks they have moral rights to allow coaches to park there. If so they are totally misguided.