HELP! Police at my door - apparently I have committed an offence.........

[TheAccused]

Police just came as they have received a complaint against me.

Yesterday afternoon I nip to Tesco after school pick up. No P&C spaces so I park further down in a row of which is almost all empty spaces. I have a large 7 seater (4 DC) and get fed up of people parking so close that I can't get the toddler into his car seat without a struggle, so I park a quarter way over the next space hoping no one will park in that space as there are plenty more empty spaces next to it. I rush round, get a call from DD as she has forgotten her keys and is waiting outside the front door at home, so go quicker, get outside and find some BUFFOON has parked in the space I have parked over, so close that I can only just about get the door open on the toddler's side. The next space was empty!

As a see this, I hold my hands up and say to the DC, 'For gods sake, why did this idiot have to park so close' not seeing that there is a teenage boy sat in the car. I was not actually talking TO him at that point.

Conversation then goes something like this:
Boy shouts out 'my dad parked it not me'. I say something like, 'well you should tell him that I parked like this so I could get my child in car, now I can't, he could have parked further along'. He says' you should'nt have parked over the line'. I tell him I can park where I like, there's no law against it. He says 'well we can park where we like as well'. I tell him it would be common decency for his father to make sure the next car can open their doors. As I am in a rush, I try to squeeze DS through the door, hitting his head in the process. He starts crying. The boy in the next car laughs. I take the trolley back muttering 'tosser' to myself and give him an evil stare as I drive off furious at myself for not parking in the middle of 2 spaces and for even having a dialogue with the boy.

So police just came and said I had committed a public disorder offence as I was 'shouting, screaming and swearing' at the boy which has left him very shaken as he suffers from anxiety. The boy wants a written apology from me and if I do that, it will not go any further. Otherwise I will have be interviewed and give a written statement.

I have said that I am not apologising as I have not committed any offence and the boy was mouthing back to me very confidently and did definitely not look anxious to me! I do actually suffer from anxiety and depression and this has completely knocked me for 6.

The police will call me to arrange an interview next week. I can't believe it. I am pretty sure I did not even raise my voice. There was no one else about except my DCs and they are adamant I did not shout or swear (I have even started doubting myself). I am going back to the store on Monday to request the CCTV footage but they are not sure if anything will show up in the car park and it probably won't have picked up my voice anyway to prove I was not shouting.

I cannot understand how the police can tell me that if I write an apology, they will drop it, when they have no proof that I did anything. They were making out I was guilty . Does this constitute a public disorder offence? I was just about to go out with the DCs to park before the police came. I am frozen with fear now.

[BabyMakesTheYoniGoStretchy]

Write a note.

Dear Teenage Boy

I am very sorry that your father is an idiot. Please tell your father I am also sorry that his son is lying toad.

[LadyBeagleEyes]

How did the police find you?

[Allalonenow]

The teenager can't have been that shaken, since he was able to think clearly enough to note your registration number.

[TheAccused]

Is parking across 2 spaces an offence then? A bigger offence than making up false allegations to the police? If someone has parked over a line in the car park, would you deliberately park close to them to prove a point when you could have parked in the next empty space?

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

make sure that you are not accepting a conditional caution by writing an apologu as this will appear on any crb checks in the future

[TenBitSailor]

Tell us the boy's age please

[EnlightenedOwl]

Am wondering if there was CCTV of the incident and on the basis of that, the police have acted. Ok may not have picked up words but proof an incident occurred.

[TheAccused]

They found me from my registration number.

[CaffeDoppio]

Incredible! I couldn't even get the Police out to deal with my vandalised car windows a couple of weeks back. Crime number, very sorry, move on, nothing to see here!
Get a solicitor and tell them to fuck the fuck off.

[ImTooHecsyForYourParty]

Well, of course you shouldn't have parked across two spaces, but I'm sure you know that.

If someone chooses to park next to someone who has done that, in a half empty car park, then they are always doing it to make some sort of point, which is childish.

I would say to the police that you will not be cooperating as you deny any wrongdoing whatsoever, so if they have proof then they should feel free to charge you and take it to court and prove it in court, because you will not be writing any sort of apology to anyone.

[SarahAndFuck]

OP are you a regular who has name-changed?

You need to take some legal advice before you go to the meeting with the police and before writing any notes to apologise.

[Sparklingbrook]

But there were plenty of empty spaces, so parking over 2 wasn't a huge deal in this situation.

I don't understand any of this. Usually when you ring the police about anything they don't come out do they?

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

someone vandalised our car, we had cctv evidence and it still took 6 weeks for an actual pc to come to our house and take a statement.

[saulaboutme]

Reelingintheyears lol!!

Sorry,yabu OP. And you know you are...

[FarBetterNow]

It is indeed madness that the police bother about such trivia.

I wouldn't write a note of apology. If you have been accused of shouting, screaming and swearing then by writing an apology you are agreeing that you did shout, scream and swear.

If I have to use our very large van, it is amazing how many people decide to park right next to me even though I am at the far end of any car park surrounded by many empty spaces.

I phoned the 101 police number last week to report a car parked for many hours on the zigzags outside the local high school.
They were not in the slightest bit interested - told me to phone the local authority.
I had already phoned the school twice and they weren't interested either, even though it was 99% certain that the car belonged to a pupil.

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes, post in Legal Matters and see if anyone knows.

[pouffepants]

Be very wary of writing a letter apologising because you will be admitting commiting an offence.

Ds was caught trespassing on the campsite basketball court (playing basketball) behind our house. The previous owners allowed him to play there, and we didn't know there were new owners.

The police were fine when he explained but asked him to write a letter as community resolution anyway, which he did. We were told it wouldn't have any further implications. He then attempted to join the police cadets, and it showed up on his record, and will apparently be there for life. He will fail all further crb checks etc.

[Salmotrutta]

Is there a chance the parent is backing up the boys story as a witness (even though they weren't there)?

Also, it could be the police are giving you an "easy" option if you had admitted the "offence" - and if you say you didn't do it thats when it gets taken further.

I suppose they have to investigate it though if its reported - even more so if a minor is involved? And again...

[complexnumber]

What tiggy said.
You are at fault.

(Though I don't know about the written apology bit.)

(tbh, I'm not entirely sure this is for real, it's been a while since we have had a decent parking thread, especially one involving a 7 seater, and the inclusion of a gobby teenage male could be the touch of a real expert)

[imour]

why have you got he right to park where you like just because you are in a rush , same can go for anyone then ,surely its common decency to park properly in the first place , if someone argued with my kid about my parking then they had better hope they were not there when i came back or they would have more than the police to worry about .