Why is the woman next to me sitting in her car with the engine on?

[couchparsnip]

Just that really.
We've dropped off our kids at dance school and we're just waiting in the car park for the class to end. She's been sat there with her engine running for at least half an hour. I don't get how anyone can waste that much fuel! Does she not realise? I'm not going to tell her but does anyone else.do.that - and why would you?

Disability is clearly not a crap excuse. 🙄

I went through a stage with mine that if I turned it off, it wouldn't start again. So if I was stopping for a short while, I'd leave it on to make sure I wasn't stranded! I hated it but needs must occasionally!

(And before anyone starts on me, yes it went in the garage multiple times, cost me a fortune and no one ever managed to figure out what was going on!)

What made you think I was including disabilities and illnesses when I posted about ‘crap excuses’?

Oh and it was never near a school!

I genuinely didn't think you were supposed to sit on anything in the car except a booster seat for a child? I thought it interferes with crash protection?

Not that I could slip a coat up anyway 😂 but from a safety pov I didn't think it was allowed?

I mean, I don't take of my trousers/skirts/tights either, even if they're thick/lined...

My understanding from the literature I've seen on adults is that the main risk comes if there is a relatively thick compressible layer between the seat belt and the body. I may well be wrong, but I can't see that sitting on a layer of wool alters the seatbelt position any more than adjusting the height of the seat would do.

But as I say, very happy to be proven wrong!

I hazard a guess these are the same selfish muppets who let their kids play music / Peppa bloody Pig / games loudly whilst others are staying to enjoy a meal/ their surroundings. Drives me insane.

I mean "trying"to enjoy a meal

Good for him. It drives me insane .

I don't have any wool coats. That wouldn't be warm enough for me 😂😂😂. All my coats are padded.

I thought (but I could be wrong) that it was also because the layer beneath you could slip because it's not attached to your body (if you have slipped it down and aren't wearing it? That's based on a half remembered driving safety lecture so I could be wrong!

But. For me. Definitely it's a no to wear a coat in the car because all my coats are padded as that's the only thing to keep me warm enough.

My daughter's school had to issue a letter warning parents that if they idled near the school gates they'd be forced to ring the traffic warden - there's an unspoken agreement that they don't mind you parking illegally as the school is in such a weird tight spot.

It worked 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Stellaris22 - my Ds is starting nursery. For the into weeks we have to stay on site whilst he is left 1-2 hrs. Incase they need to come out and get us. It’s 3 weeks long. So I have walked around the car park a bit, but generally been sitting in my car to read. It’s electric, so it’s not pumping ‘fumes’.

The car keys are also designed that the car automatically opens and goes ‘on’ when you get about 1m from the car. So unless I open car, throw keys 2m away on the floor and leave the door open, there’s no way of sitting in the car ‘off’. I would have to then sit like a statue as movement inside ‘off’ car triggers the alarm.

Just shows fuel isn't expensive enough to encourage good use. to many there isn't a cost of living crisis.

Also it shows the planet is doomed there is no way it can sustain the people it has if people are running their cars to keep warm/charge phone/keep baby asleep. If people want to live like that then we need massive depopulation to be sustainable.

I too have a disability. However I have made the decision that I can't just pollute the environment just to make my life as easy as others take for granted. Pollution is no better or worse for others health or the environment depending on if I'm disabled or not.

Good for you. But not all disabilities are the same

It's illegal. Email the council, dance school and community police while you're there next time and give them her details. At the very least the dance school might ask parents to stop. Hopefully a traffic warden or community police will wander by and speak to her one day. I have to do it with cars that leave their engines on around here.

Because of the gravity of your statement regarding the world becoming uninhabitable made me think that to you, all excuses were crap.

It's not illegal. It's in a car park not on the road and it's allowed if necessary.

They do the same whilst I'm waiting for my daughter's gymnastic class to end, a good hour and more than one person doing it. It's actually illegal to keep an engine running if you're not wearing a seatbelt. Winds me up no end. The builders in the staff car park are the same, sat there drinking their Costas.

Yes it is illegal. Thought everyone knew this!!

Illegal on a public road. The op is in a car park.

Not everyone who does this is disabled, just because a small percentage are, doesn't justify those who are just keeping warm/ or listening to the radio.
It's not illegal in car parks because they are on private land, for the most part. Not because it's less harmful to the environment and health.

Maybe fold a blanket on the passenger seat that you can just reach over for to use of you're sat in a stationary car for a while? When you're ready to drive off and have the heating on just fold it up again. The phone charging thing should be manageable for most people with minimal planning tbh.

@Shortjanet that might work. But it would need to be a thick blanket! I take a long time to heat up once I'm cold so I'd need to put it on as soon as I stopped the car. And pray it didn't fall into the footwell.

Exactly. Not rocket science is it ? Can't believe you've asked that question Shortjanet! Wear the coat / blanket when stationary, take it off when driving! You could even take a thermos full of boiling water with you and fill a hot water bottle whilst you wait if you're that cold.

@CeltictigerMum I'd have to get out of the car to put my coat on and the chances of me being able to do that and manoeuvre crutches and not trail the coat on the ground are slim.