aibu to think this guy was completely off his rocker or just a nasty piece of work?

[blushingm]

I left ds (9yo) in the back of the car while i nipped into the guide hall to collect dd from rainbows. he was reading and is quite sensible. I left the engine running as it was warm and the air con was on.

while i was in the guide hall an old guy walking his dog approached my car and started swearing and threatening ds. He then went around the otherside of the car, removed my keys and threw them over the wall into the adjoining grave yard.

i was gone less than 5 minutes. there was a guy parked behind my car who saw it all - he retrieved my keys and tried to chase after the older guy but he'd gone. ds was very very upset

i'm and that someone would think it's ok to behave that way - the guide hut is in a very very small, usually friendly town - people dont usually lock thier cars and houses unless they are going away

the more i think about it the more cross i am getting

but Rocker, that one weirdo would/could not get away with it here.

Has everyone gone mental in the heat?

Outside large ghettos cities it is not normal for children to be kidnapped, I presume op does not live in Johanasburg.

The 'what if' brigade need to get some air con and chill out,what is the liklihood of the car being stolen 0.0000000000000001%? has it ever happened in her village? Hasnt in mine. There is more of a chance of her falling down the stairs and dying.Does this mean we should all place crash mats at the bottom of our stairs? You have to live your life according to real world risk, not some insane hysteria.

"But if the keys are left in the car well that's an invite to say take me"

If your window is open can a burglar stick their arm in and rob your ornaments? It is not an invite!!!

I would hate to hear your views on women in short skirts getting squiffy

Maybe melted but I still would not take the chance however nice it is where we live :)

There are lots of reasons why it is wrong to leave the engine running.

Theft and fire are the least of them.

How about:

Pollution (noise and air)
Petrol is expensive these days what a waste.
The engine idling is an inefficient way for the engine to run therefore increasing wear and tear.
Invalidates your insurance
Its illegal.

It isn't "normal" for children to be kidnapped anywhere but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. I think it entirely possible the old man was ranting in the general direction of the car about the idiot who had left a nine year old (however sensible he is, I doubt he can drive) in charge of a motor vehicle with the engine running. Can't blame him.

If your son didn't want to go in with you, and it was hot in the car, why not park the car, get him to get out, and wait outside the guide hut/next to the car?

xstitch

it is more fuel efficient to leave it running that to restart
if the car has air con its prob fairly new and therefore quiet at idle
the engine idling means there is no load therefore wear and tear is almost 0
only if stolen and trying to make a claim

Georgimama

Would the child be chained to the hut or remain kidnappable? Still entirely possible to a van to pull up alongside and masked men to jump out and grab the child

'It isn't "normal"but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.'

I can blame him, I have no problem at all blaming him. His behaviour was unacceptable and he threw away any claim he thought he had to the moral high ground.

btw I'm not supporting the old man, he was wrong, very wrong.

I am not affected by heat either, it is only 14C here.

Don't be absurd somethingwitty.

Blimy my dad used to leave me in the car when he used to nip in for a paper or to post something, overraction by some people on here. Lots of parents on here say that they leave their sleeping baby/toddler in a car, whilst they pay for petrol, that's worse. I would not leave the engine running though and keys in. I would have locked doors but windows open.

What the old man did was odd and wrong, but also I would never, ever leave my child in an unlocked car with the engine running.

Are you for real MoonGirl or is there no part of the area that you live that is not covered by CCTV, and do the police in your part of the world have a policy of zero tolerance?

Seriously, OP, although the old guy was out of order in removing your car keys and throwing them over a wall, you should know better than to leave a child, no matter how sensible they may be, unattended in a car full stop - quite apart from possible theft, how would you feel if another vehicle had plowed into yours while you were elsewhere?

Chalk this up to experience and learn from it.

"it is more fuel efficient to leave it running that to restart"

I would only agree with that if the car is idling for 1min/1.5min at the most. The cut off point is probably even less than that as modern cars are also rather efficient at starting.

car insurance companies will use ant excuse to avoid paying out in claim however tenuous so the claim reason would not have to be theft for it to cause insurance problems.

Doesn't change the fact it is illegal as the engine running would mean the 9 year old would legally be deemed in charge of the car.

How on earth does everyone think that the old man acted as he did out of concern for the child? OP does not say that. He sounds like he was just ranting insanely - perhaps an environmental nut? - NOT that he was worried about the child. If he was worried, he wouldn't have shouted at the kid. He would have been more likely to shout at OP when she came back if that was his problem. And I don't think leaving the kid in the car at the age of 9 is unreasonable. Maybe leaving the car keys is unwise, but more from the point of view that the boy might let the handbrake off or something silly like that than because someone might pinch the car with the child in it (in a busy place outside a Guide hut), and OP knows her son and what he would be likely to do or not do.

Somethingwitty The 'hypermiling' sites I have read all say that it's more efficient to cut the engine if you are idling for ten seconds or more. it's not more efficient to leave it idling for 5 minutes....

All cars are noisy and stinky. Fact.

other councils do this too

What rot somethingwitty.

If the man had an issue, he could have nipped in the hall to find you, and say that he was concerned that your ds was alone in the car with the engine running, a bit of politeness goes a long way

Not everyone tooimmature many posters are separating what the man did which most posts I have read seem to agree he was weird and wrong and the fact that some of us also think it is wrong to leave the engine running when a child is in the car. In fact people leaving cars running like that is one of my pet hates.

Our bluemotion golf increases fuel consumption by cutting out when stopped, so what you're saying is rubbish somethingwitty.

Ok, maybe I was generalising. All the same, I really don't think like it sounds as though he was concerned for the child.

Personally, I don't like leaving cars running either - if I get out, it goes off.

xstitch is right - leaving the car running whilst you're not in control of it classes as negligent use of a motor vehicle and is a prosecutable offence under the Road Traffic Act. It's called 'quitting'. I think you can get fined for it.
That aside, the bloke was a knob. No need for behaviour like that.

How on earth can someone who thinks it is unacceptable to leave a child in the car think it is ok to shout at a chaild and scare them?
The man is a loon and you did nothing wrong. I would report it as threatening behaviour.

I was told it's more efficient to leave the engine running for short periods than to turn it off and then restart it. (Modern cars anyway).

I think people need a bit of perspective here - if she'd left him in the car with the keys in in a city centre or on the side of a motorway then I'd say she was being reckless.

To leave an older child in a car for a few minutes, in a quiet village, outside a Brownie hut, with other people parked either side of her, is IMO no big deal.