NEWMARKET CROSSING WARDEN RUNS PICKUP LANE LIKE A PRISON YARD, PARENTS QUIETLY OBSESSED
She's stopped a Range Rover with one raised palm. The Range Rover apologised.
A crossing patroller near Newmarket's primary school has developed a cult following. Parents say they're being held to a road etiquette standard previously unseen in the suburb.
The patroller, known to parents only as Lorraine, has worked the lollipop for six terms. She runs the 3:15pm window like someone with better places to be. Mums in activewear sit up straighter as they approach.
Kirsty Wen, who picks up two kids, said she'd stopped taking phone calls in the pickup zone. "Last week she tapped my window with the sign. Not hard. Just enough. I haven't checked my phone at a crossing since. My husband thinks I've had a personality transplant."
Another parent, Dom Harford, said Lorraine had once made a courier van reverse fifteen metres back up the road. "The driver did it. Didn't even argue. I've seen that bloke yell at a bus."
Auckland Transport said Lorraine was "performing duties consistent with the role." They added they were "not going to be the ones to tell her otherwise." A proposed PTA gift basket has stalled at committee. Members can't agree whether Lorraine would accept it or just hold up the sign until they left.
Lorraine declined to comment. The bell had gone and there were children to move.
The patroller, known to parents only as Lorraine, has worked the lollipop for six terms. She runs the 3:15pm window like someone with better places to be. Mums in activewear sit up straighter as they approach.
Kirsty Wen, who picks up two kids, said she'd stopped taking phone calls in the pickup zone. "Last week she tapped my window with the sign. Not hard. Just enough. I haven't checked my phone at a crossing since. My husband thinks I've had a personality transplant."
Another parent, Dom Harford, said Lorraine had once made a courier van reverse fifteen metres back up the road. "The driver did it. Didn't even argue. I've seen that bloke yell at a bus."
Auckland Transport said Lorraine was "performing duties consistent with the role." They added they were "not going to be the ones to tell her otherwise." A proposed PTA gift basket has stalled at committee. Members can't agree whether Lorraine would accept it or just hold up the sign until they left.
Lorraine declined to comment. The bell had gone and there were children to move.