Parking when there are dogs around

I would never allow my elderly dog or my toddler Grandson to wander around a carpark. Empty or not. You cannot be surprised or shocked if a car drives into a car park - that's what they do, park cars in there. It's like when people go through a red light and say 'Oh it was green and changed all of a sudden' - isn't that what they do - turn from green to red?

No one knows that your dog is elderly and infirm as you described. If this is the case then you really should have been more careful and not allowed the dog to roam around a car park. YABVU

Man parks in parking space ....
Owner has dogs off lead I. A carpark where cars are moving

Yup yabu

Kids should be parked as close to the skate park as possible, so they have less of the car park to walk through. Not because they're unable to do so, because it's safer for them.
Your dog is old and dying. Yes, very sad, absolutely nothing to do with someone parking.
You're extremely rude.
Also, dogs should absolutely be on a lead at all times. Especially when you've just said he can't hear cars etc. You're not taking care of him properly otherwise.

Children are not property. If the dog was killed or injured (which the OP's dog was not) then that has to be reported to the police because dogs are property.
You may not be aware of dogs being property but there is a whole crusade by cat owners to have cats similarly protected, so that running one over requires the driver to report the accident - cats are not defined as 'property' because they are semi-domesticated (which is why you can't force a cat owner to stop their cat pooing in your garden - because that's not something the owner can prevent short of never letting the cat out - but you can raise a complaint about their dog which they are expected to control as it is their property).

No, I don't. I am just pointing out that dogs off the lead is wrong and so is accidentally running over a dog - it constitutes a reportable traffic offence (unlike running over a poor cat).

Just reading this but it states a car swept beside you then reversed? So didn't actually park next to you but in a space opposite your car?

Oh and you are most absolutely unreasonable

Keep your dog on a lead

Do not hit another vehicle, certainly when moving, you could have distracted him and caused an accident.

He can park wherever he wants in a public car park!

At what point of reading this thread did you realise you were totally in the wrong?

You don't know he wasn't looking. I don't crane over my shoulder when I'm parking, I don't need to because I'm using all of my mirrors.

You were very unreasonable and banging on the roof of someone's car when they are legitimately parking is absolutely not on.

Except the report would show that the only property that got hit was the car (with the kids in it).

Def agree! I think some of the people defending OP might well be serious though.

This has wind-up written all over it. OP keeps referring to her collie as 'little', but collies are large dogs (think Lassie). Border collies are smaller, but definitely not small.

If she can’t hear cars approaching, surely it’s super dangerous to not have her on a lead?!!

Incoming RANT: There are dog owners who have some kind of ego-mania/superiority complex, and love to prove their dog is so well-trained it can be off-leash anywhere. They parade around with their pets as if there is zero risk. You see these people all over the place as a dog owner, even on beaches and in parks designated 'on lead only'. It drives me crazy because these people are so self-absorbed they cannot understand that keeping a dog on a lead is not only about the behaviour and safety of that dog, but also for the safety of other people and animals. My dog is a highly reactive rescue with an abuse history -she gets spooked by any off lead dog (and then becomes much more of a risk to me and others), so I can only take her to places where I can be sure dogs are on lead. I also have family members with autistic children who don't like dogs wandering/charging about unleashed. And as this OP has demonstrated, she cannot control other factors, such as where a driver will go in a car park. Honestly, the type of owner who has their dog off lead all the time is absolutely the most entitled and self absorbed type of dog owner. It should come with a fine to have an unleashed dog in public places not specifically earmarked for that activity.

This! You know this surely...

Speak to her like what? OP was the one slapping the car and telling him to fuck off. She hasn't said he was swearing just he was annoyed because she hit his car, which most people would be.
Be more careful? He didn't hit anyone or touch the dog so was perfectly careful.

So the driver was reversing at a speed... but also slow enough that OP could bang on the car's roof whilst next to it.

Driver could have missed the little dog because he wasn't looking... but the dog turns out to be a collie and therefore not that little , and the car is a SUV and possibly has reversing cameras, since it's pretty common nowadays.

I can think of many reasons why the driver decided to park there:

• Easier to reverse straight next to a car and ensure there's enough space to open the door
• Nearest spot to the skating area
• Familiarity/preference with that area of the car park
• Better to park next to someone and position yourself at a good distance than parking somewhere else and coming back to find someone has parked too close to you.
• Kids might also run around and it's better to stop next to the gate/path so they go straight into the area and not run around in the car park, neither there or back. This might be important for him if he had several younger kids, for example.
• It might be a spot I can easily check from where I plan to sit/stand whilst the kids play OR a spot from where I can easily check on my kids if I plan to walk back to the car to get stuff.
• Unknown here, but sometimes I avoid certain parking spots if they have lots of trees (falling leaves, polen and bird poo), or they are nearer areas where kids play with balls (more likely to hit the car), around bends or corners (more likely to get scratched when cars turn), or just simply where I park alone in an open space (just generally more visible and standing out vs parking where all other cars are, as in a way, other drivers keeping an eye on their car contribute to your car being safer as well).

I definitely wouldn’t park on top of someone else in an empty car park, but neither would
i slap another car for doing so! And young kids are usually tired after fresh air and playing so either not willing to leave so have to be physically removed so distance can be key and also they have lots of stuff to carry usually! I am sorry your collie is elderly and it is hard to lose family, but you definitely were in the wrong.

How dare he speak to you like that? He should be careful backing in, whether it's to watch for kids or dogs! And unless the person who owns the land says you should use a lead, there's no more need for your dog to have one on than for the man to!
While he CAN park next to the only car in an empty car park (unless someone in my car had a genuine need to be as close as possible, I'd not go right next to the only other car there), he does have a responsibility to back in slowly and watch out.

Yeah and keeping dogs on a lead is the law as well. If the parking space was closer to the skate park, what makes OP more entitled to it than a parent with a child ? Do you really think this person deliberately reversed to harm the dogs?!

You keep inventing things.

We have no information to suggest the SUV is giant, nor that it was too close. OP said the car was so close she could slap it and then that he was 2 feet away from them, but neither of those preclude perfectly legal parking.

The dogs shouldn't be wandering around in a car park. I always keep my dog on a lead near cars.

People can park in any space they choose.

It’s not parking in a car park next to a skate park that intimidated OP, it’s reversing the giant SUV in too close to her.
Exactly. Even in a car park, if you're in a car you are in a position of power over a person on foot, and, even if you think they should have left the car park immediately, it's just common sense, isn't it, to give them a wide berth? Especially if there's acres of space as in this case.

It’s not parking in a car park next to a skate park that intimidated OP, it’s reversing the giant SUV in too close to her. Someone downthread states you’d have failed your driving test for this and I can believe it. I know someone who failed for driving through a puddle and splashing someone. But you see it all the time.

I have said you are unreasonable because you were in a car park with a dog off the lead. Should have been on the lead and under control. That said, the car driver was thoughtless and should have taken note that dogs were present - it is a driving offence to hit a dog and must be reported as a traffic accident as dogs are property.
So you are both in the wrong.

They told u why - they needed to park near the skate park !!

First reply nails it.