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.

[LadyKinbote]

The CPS would throw this out. The only way I could see the police pursuing this is as restorative justice or something. It's your word against his. YY to legal advice.

[CabbageLeaves]

What a waste of police time. I would probably politely go higher up and request a meeting to discuss harassment. The onus is surely on them to prove an offence occurred ot,herwise I could pop into the station and say a man shrieked piss off at me because he didn't like the fact I didn't concede right of way to him yesterday. (my right of way btw) and they'd spend their life going around to people's houses. Sounds like abuse of position to me

[TheAccused]

Can I just reiterate that I did not say anything to this boy and had no intention to until he spoke to me.

[Salmotrutta]

Well if the boy won't make a statement then the police have to drop it!

And now you're annoyed about that too?

[fallon8]

If you can't park the bloody thing,,you shouldn't be driving it,,why in gods name do you need a seven sweater?next time,"park" in those spaces far away from the shop.you don't actually need to park at the first check out..

[MrsMacFarlane]

My apologies, I didn't realise that a public order offence had been committed (or not according to the OP). However, looks like it's coming to nothing if the boy isn't making a statement, they can't take it any further without one.

[TheAccused]

Er, I was in no way threatening and harrassing .

[Sparklingbrook]

Bizarre.

[ConfusedPixie]

"If you can't park the bloody thing,,you shouldn't be driving it"

^
This.

[landofsoapandglory]

There is something in the law that says that you can be made to write an apology or it can be escalated.

DS1 was involved in an incident a couple of years ago (the victim) and the police asked us if we'd be happy for the accused to write the letter to avoid it being escalated. We were, they did and it ended there.

I think the OP should write the letter, TBH. She shouldn't have parked like that and shouldn't have had ago at the kid. It's ironic to say he didn't look anxious when he was talking to her, when she was doing the same thing but says she suffers from anxiety too.

[Salmotrutta]

But the boy obviously claimed you were though.

And I bet his dad milked it.

[TenBitSailor]

Isn't there every chance that a few cars all arrive at once, meaning there won't be enough spaces? Or was the car park almost completely empty?

[pickledginger]

If this is real:

1. Learn to park. The lines are there for a reason.
   
   
2. Admit nothing. To give a caution they need you to admit fault.

[MadBusLady]

[TenBitSailor]

and what tiggy said.

[MarianaTrench]

I'd ignore it, as said up thread, the police have no powers to make you write a letter. I'd say let them charge you and give it due process. They won't.

[TheAccused]

I can drive and park very well. I am not an asshole who deliberately parks so close people can't open the door. I take it a lot of you are. I even check to see if there are child car seats in cars and reverse to make sure they have room. Must be just me then?

[FarBetterNow]

Fallon: the OP has 4 children, so has a 7 seater car.
She parked part way down an empty row of spaces - not as close to the shop as possible.

You are quite rude implying that she cannot drive properly.

[CloudsAndTrees]

Sounds like you were very much in the wrong to me. Both for speaking to a child like that, and parking so selfishly.

[BigBoobiedBertha]

My first thought on reading this is that the boy is related to a police officer. I can think of no other reason why the police would be involved. I am pretty sure they wouldn't be making out like you were guilty if they had just received a complaint from an ordinary person on the street. They may investigate is somebody made a complaint but they wouldn't be going in assuming that you were in the wrong no matter what. It is all very strange. If I had been the boy in the car, I would have kept quiet and looked sheepish, not start a fight about it.

The OP hasn't done anything wrong wft her parking. There is no law that says you have to park within the line of a car park, certainly not a free one where the car park owner isn't losing any money by somebody else not using the space. She parked out of the way in an area where there were lots of free spaces so nobody was missing out on a space. Besides, it happens all the time in supermarket car parks where larger vehicles, trucks and vans can't fit into the space. The OP was justified on this occasion in parking as she did. It certainly wasn't up to some other self proclaimed car park attendant to take the law into his own hands and park close to make a point. A bit pathetic is you ask me.

I am with the call their bluff brigade on this one. Refuse to write the letter. What are they going to do? If they take you to court they need evidence and they don't have any.

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

this will not end well.....

[Sparklingbrook]

I never park next to cars with car seats in.