Parents of pupils at a Nottingham school say they "can't understand" the decision by a restaurant to block them from using its car park during the school run. Harvester said non-guests would no longer be allowed to use the car park for its outlet off Clifton Lane in Wilford.
The chain said it would be introducing a parking monitoring system due to its "overuse". This will affect some parents of pupils at South Wilford Primary School who use the car park at drop-off and pick-up times.
A woman who has been parking there for more than a year, said the decision was disappointing. "I live in Clifton and the only way I can get here is driving," said the 35-year-old.
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"I can't park in the village because of the permits. I thought it was a nice gesture of goodwill by the business. I don't see why they need to stop us, it's always fairly empty and we're not getting in anyone's way.
"It's really unfair, it's disappointing to hear that. I'll have to find some street to park on. It's ideal here because I can walk my dog too. I don't think it's a good look for the company."
South Wilford Primary School was unavailable for comment, but in a newsletter it said it doesn't see plans changing despite "a number of conversations" with Harvester. In advice to parents, the school wrote: "There is the option to park at the [Wilford Lane] retail park and walk around the path behind the village.
"The distance appears to be similar to that which you would walk from the Harvester to school." However, parents say that option will make life much harder.
"Other schools already use it," said one mum, who has two daughters at the school. "It's busy there and there won't be a great deal of parking.
"I will also have to walk by kids past secondary school pupils, who can be quite intimidating." Mary Robinson, who has used the Harvester car park to take her grandchildren to school for years, said she was "not very happy".
"This is ideal to park in, it's a massive help. We can't park in the village because of restrictions down there," she said.
"It belongs to the pub so it's up to them what they want to do, we can't stop them. I don't know what we'll do now, it's something we're thinking about."
Another mum, who did not wished to be named, said: "I don't understand the issue, it's dead in the morning, there's nobody there yet for the pub. As long as we're gone before the customers arrive."
A spokesperson for Harvester said: “The decision to introduce parking measures is made on a site by site basis at a local level. Parking monitoring systems have been introduced at a number of our pubs and restaurants due to the overuse of the car parks by non-guests, meaning at times those intending to visit one of our businesses couldn’t as the car park was already full.
"Paying guests will be able to use the car park free of charge where these systems have been installed.”
