To have let this women know her lights were on

I agree. Strange responses!

op you were being kind. She was rude!

It depends, old battery and maybe a frost the night before and battery might not cope.

If she was parked when OP had done her shopping and not about to drive off it could be slot longer than 15 minutes. I had to jump start a mother's car at GSs school when she did the same.

Is this what people think?
I bought a wrap from Boots yesterday. I was really hungry and wanted to go for a run shortly after I got home ie. I wanted to eat it ASAP.
I can't drive and eat a wrap so I sat in the car park in my car and ate 1/2 of it.

I have done my fair share of sobbing in car parks (horrible divorce), but if someone had approached me I definitely would not have told them to fuck off, just told them I was having a bad day.

Sitting with the headlights on for 1/2 hr shouldn't flatten the battery.

I love the fact that there are people who think eating a supermarket sandwich in your car is such an unusual activity that you'd have to be having some kind of mental breakdown to do it 😂

She was rude but it does come across as rather patronising to tell someone sat in their own car that they’ve left their lights on. It’s not as though she was walking away.

Tut tut. In true 'Elf' style, I would have reminded her that there's room for everyone on the nice list.

What?!
Why would she be "hanging on by a thread"?

I have fairly often eaten a bought sandwich in my car whilst parked in a supermarket carpark, and I have perfectly normal mental health. It's simply because I might need to go somewhere and then also do my shopping and it happens to coincide with a mealtime and I'm hungry. Nothing weird about that.

As regards the lights, I wouldn't have said anything because she would have known her lights were on and many modern cars' lights do various things when the car is parked.
However the woman was extraordinarily rude, but unfortunately many people are these days.

You never know, even though she was very rude, you may have helped this lady. I've found that when the going gets tough, kind gestures and (well-intended) attention from strangers have helped transform my day. And if she's just a rude so-and-so that's fine as well, she won't think of it and you don't need to either. Don't let it discourage you from paying attention to others. You noticing and being kind to strangers can make a huge difference if someone is going through a tough time.

I probably would not have knocked but she was rude.

Oh FFS (you not her).

You did it with good intentions so I wouldn’t worry.
I wouldn’t have said anything myself, but her reaction was way over the top.

Someone came over to me and told me my back windscreen wipers were still moving one day while I was sat in the car. I didn’t really care or notice, but I get that he was trying to be helpful.

I told her that her lights were on and they might drain her battery.

She has eyes, and she knows how her car works, she knows her lights were on OP, unless she was in a VERY old car, the headlights would switch on/off automatically when the engine is off, she obviously had the ignition on listening to the radio/heater on while eating her sandwich.. so would have been very aware her lights were also on.

My car is 13 years old, and while I don't have automatic headlight (sensors) I keep mine on all the time this time of year and they go off when the engine is turned off, if I'm sat there having a break, and someone came up condescendingly telling me "I might drain my battery" it would rub me up the wrong way too to be honest, not to that response, but still.

She was rude, but anything could have happened to her in the last few hours, or be happening in her life, so if you feel the need next time, just ask if they know their lights are on? No need to infer they are too stupid to know they are using their battery reserve for a short time.

There was no need for such a rude response but it wouldn't occur to me to tell someone who is still actually in their car that their lights are on. She surely knew this already. Fair enough if you are aware of someone who has left their vehicle with their lights on but it seems an odd thing to tell someone who is sat in their car.

i don’t understand the surprise at someone eating in their car! I go regularly go swimming at 10am, then get the food shopping, and am usually really hungry so eat a sandwich or snack in my car, with a cup of coffee, in the car park before driving home. In this weather, I would usually turn the heating in my car on, and have lights which automatically turn on as soon as the key is turned in the ignition. I would get really irritated if someone started knocking on my window to tell me something as obvious as my lights were on.

I would have said something about the lights too but her response was over the top and rude.

TBH I’d have minded my own business - my car lights are automatically switched on if the engine is on - which hers likely was if she was using the heater/radio/phone charger, though it may not have been audible if in ‘sleep’ mode (mine does that, too, stopping the engine from running when I am waiting for a period at traffic lights and then it fires up when I accelerate again when they change).

As a result, she probably thought you were being a busybody. You might even have been the 5th person to tap on her window. I used to get it from the busy bodies outside my kids’ schools who thought I had my engine running as the lights were on.

That said, she could have been polite about it. No need to swear at strangers.

But I wouldn’t bother anyone over their car lights again when they are actually sitting in the car.

Why is it so weird to eat a sandwich in a parked car?! She was probably waiting for someone who was shopping. Bit ridiculous to assume this is the sign of somebody ‘hanging by a thread’

Battery wont go flat you have to have them on all night before the battery would possibly need jump starting even then i've seen cars still start. I wouldn't have said anything because if she's in the car she is well aware that her lights are on.

If that is her response to your friendly information, she deserves to have a flat battery. I'd shrug and walk away satisfied in the knowledge that I had been a good Samaritan.

The woman was beyond rude. And ungrateful.

Also, people don't know how their car lights work. They should bloody learn.

I attend an evening class. It's dark when I get there. There is a decent car park buy it's almost full so it means lost of manouvering.

I'm beyond pissed off at idiotic and /or inconsiderate people who park up (or worse, stop sideways waiting to pick up), leave the lights on all the bloody time, and dazzle you, leaving you unable to park or liable to run someone over because I CANNOT SEE.

I intend to knock on their window next time, and anticipate a similar enraging response to the woman in the OP. I cannot guarantee I'll keep calm.

Anyone with automatic lights, please turn them off when parked. Or don't be surprised if you cause a road rage incident in a car park at night!

A woman once tapped on my window in Tesco car park because my engine had been running for a while. I've no idea why she needed to do that, my windows weren't fogged and she could see me through the glass. It's not like I was sleeping and looked dead, I was moving my head around and my eyes were open.

As it happens I was crying my eyes out while my little one slept in the car seat. I had just received some terrible news and my son was such a bad sleeper the only way to soothe him was to drive or sit with the engine on.

I was bloody pissed off with her as she woke my son up and that was the only bit of sleep he had in nearly 24 hours. People need to mind their own fucking business.

I think that this may be something that’s moved with the times. I have a self charging hybrid and if I sit with it turned on the lights are on automatically. The engine kicks in sporadically to keep the battery topped up but for long periods it’s silent. I think unless I was sure I wouldn’t say anything these days.

I think that a pp has it right. If you're horsing a sandwich into you in a car in a retail car park in December you're hanging on by a thread. She was rude but it wasn't about you or anything you'd done.

Completely rude.

In the queue this morning to pay at lidl.

Putting my stuff on the conveyor belt.

Someone behind me tells me my stuff has fallen off.

I thank them and look round to pick it up. But it isn't mine but the lady heads.

I just pick it up and put it back on for her the lady ahead.

I didn't turn round and tell the lady behind me to fuck off and mind her own business because she got it wrong.