There is a whole generation of parents who are spending longer and longer periods of their lives waiting outside schools. How did this happen?

We are all in a rush. Those of us who take part in the daily school run know all too well there is something quite wonderful about getting a ‘good legal parking spot’.

Yet, outside most schools these ‘good parking spots’ are few and far between. You only have to take a look at the streets outside some of the larger secondary schools. It is 'chaos' and both the schools themselves and the councils have a responsibility to sort this mess out.

I have seen parents parked up an hour before the school breaks up for the day for the sole purpose of getting a ‘good parking spot’. It is more common than we might think.

If we are going to be brutally honest, schools do not honestly care what happens outside their gates. Yes, they are keen to make the right noises but it isn’t really something they worry about.

The staff are unlikely to head out when the ‘war’ for parking spots is going on and the schools have already banned parents from entering their premises during rush hour.

This battle for a parking spot has reached fever pitch on some stretches with parents and drivers pulling up almost anywhere so their child does not have to walk more than 50 yards.

At times drivers are oblivious to what is going on around them and and the traffic issues they have caused and are busy flicking through their phones.

Other times people want to drive up to the gates so they don’t have to get out of their vehicles, even if this means spending more time reversing back up a narrow street to let another equally selfish driver pass.

We feel almost entitled to the space because we have a child in the car.

It is a similar situation outside some of the mosques in the evenings where small terraced streets have come to a standstill. Granted, some volunteers have helped to assist the movement of traffic outside these buildings.

The madness only stops for some residents after 7.30pm.

I admit I am guilty of using my vehicle too. Yet, like some parents I find parking further away from the destination to avoid getting stuck in any congestion, is a much better policy.

Or when possible one can walk.

It is easy to blame drivers who are all competing for that all too important gap to pull into.

This is more of a planning issue more than anything else. We have not taken into account how there has been a huge growth in car users and how parents themselves refuse to give up the motor vehicle. The lack of planning has caused 'pandemonium' according to some residents.

Something has got to give.