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AIBU?

Not sure what else we could have done but was IBU to drive off?

3 replies

TattiePants · 27/08/2016 20:32

I'm still thinking about some odd behaviour DH and I witnessed this afternoon and wondering if we were BU for not challenging it further.

Returned to our car that was parked at a large retail outlet with another car parked next to it. DH didn't get into the car so after a couple of minutes I got back out to see what he was doing. The two occupants of the other car (looked about 15 but assume one of them was at least 17) had a toddler strapped into a car seat and the car seat was on the ground. They didn't know how to secure the car seat so DH had offered to help. We both tried for ages but couldn't figure out how to secure it and said we really weren't happy with how we'd fixed it.

We started asking a few questions like had they used the car seat before and how had they got the child here in the first place. They said they were babysitting the child, never used the car seat before and they had placed the car seat on the front seat and then put the seat belt straight across the front of the child but knew that wasn't correct.

I suggested they call the child's parents and ask them for instructions. They said child's parents were busy and were silent when I said as a parent I would always want to be contacted to make sure my child was safe. They then said one of their mums was in the shop and she would help when she came out - surely if that was the case, the mum would have secured the seat in the first place. DH then suggested it might be safer to put the seat in the back as the front seats were bucket / sports type seats and the car seat really didn't fit well. They didn't want to.

Call it spidey senses, mother's intuition or whatever but something just didn't seem right. I have given people our car seats before and always made sure they were secure first so it seems odd that the parents of this child wouldn't do the same or that these girls had driven a friend's child when they knew it wasn't properly restrained. DH thinks IABU to still be concerned but not sure what else we could have done. It wasn't until we were on the motorway that it occurred to me that we should have checked their airbag was switched off.

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JellyBelli · 27/08/2016 20:50

Make a note of the time, date, car registration, colour and model, as much as you can remember. Just in case. Then try to forget it.

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Nanny0gg · 27/08/2016 21:38

Would it have been wrong to phone the police and ask for advice?

Surely an having an improperly secured child is dangerous even if not illegal?

And were they really babysitting? (over-dramatic I know)

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TattiePants · 27/08/2016 21:48

I did make a note of the registration on my phone although it has auto-corrected to a word!

I checked the local news for missing children before we drove off - DH thought I was being a tad hysterical, as he pointed out, they were unlikely to be hanging around a car park talking to strangers if they had abducted a child!