Petrol filling and kids in car

109 replies

nosleepforme · 15/07/2026 16:23

I’m not a driver.
BUT if you fill up petrol and have to pay inside the kiosk, do you need to take your kids in with you? I’d say no. I don’t think that’s called leaving them in the car. I think dh can lock the car a min and pay.
aibu?

yabu = you must remove/unstrap kids and walk across floor to pay
yanbu = who takes kids to pay at the petrol station.

OP posts:

rwalker · 15/07/2026 16:36

There’s a risk with everything
leave them in the car risk of fire not impossible but extremely rare if not unheard of
cars moving round all the time so the risk of this is far greater

fluffiphlox · 15/07/2026 16:33

Pay at Pump is the answer.

MagpiePi · 15/07/2026 16:31

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 15/07/2026 16:29

I always take them out. My head is filled with petrol station fires from movies.

But what if a crazed drug addict with a sawn off shotgun bursts into the shop and starts spraying bullets around…like in the movies?
😱

DappledThings · 15/07/2026 16:31

Neither of your votes is reasonable. It's not a necessity to take them in, nor is it crazy to do so.

I only ever used pay at pump and on the very rare occasions that wasn't possible I did take them in when very small as locking the car would have meant movement set off the alarm and they would have been scared.

These days at 8 and 10 if I couldn't get to a pay at pump one I would probably leave them

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 15/07/2026 16:29

I always take them out. My head is filled with petrol station fires from movies.

MistakenFlutterby · 15/07/2026 16:29

somanychristmaslights · 15/07/2026 16:28

I don’t understand what people think will happen by leaving the kids in the car. As long as you lock it, that’s surely safer than walking across a busy forecourt.

They think there a risk they could be locked in the car during a massive fire

somanychristmaslights · 15/07/2026 16:28

I don’t understand what people think will happen by leaving the kids in the car. As long as you lock it, that’s surely safer than walking across a busy forecourt.

MistakenFlutterby · 15/07/2026 16:28

I always took my kids with me. (But usually filled the car on journeys when they weren’t with me)

It’s not about the children being in danger of being stolen. It’s about the danger of the car/other cars/the forecourt going on fire.

Petrol is pretty dangerous, I wouldn’t leave my kids locked in a car they couldn’t get out of.

hugasaurus · 15/07/2026 16:27

I think wrestling two kids out of car seats, herding them across a busy forecourt with cars moving around, into the shop, then back across the forecourt and back into car seats is far more risky than leaving them in the car for a minute or so to pay inside, and pretty pointless. But that’s my evaluation of risk; other people will view it completely differently. No right answer, just what someone believes is right for them.

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