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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to lose it at this angry woman who criticised my parking.

422 replies

bobbypercy1 · 22/07/2013 14:48

So i was in town this morning with the Q7 (or the panzer tank as I call it) and i pulled up to a space. I reversed in a few times but i was always a bit squint. Eventually i left the car squint but still in the bay. I let out my kids and just while i locked the car this woman came over.

she said i should go back and straighten the car out because it was squint. I told her that if she had a q7 i would like to see her park it in such a tight space. She thought i was suggesting that she didn't have a big car because she was poor. i wasn't suggesting that at all. so she went into a long rant about me being disrespectful. i was shocked .

but i didn't shout too much cause i had two kids with me.

aibu to be annoyed at her.

OP posts:
AuntieUrsula · 23/07/2013 00:28

Modern cars are generally wider now but parking spaces haven't grown to keep up with them!

YANBU - if the woman was not being inconvenienced by your parking what business is it of hers!

Patosshades · 23/07/2013 00:36

What is this "squint" everyone is referring to? What does it mean? need to know before I can judge

possum18 · 23/07/2013 00:46

As long as you were between the lines (as much as you could be in your beast-mobile) Wink I don't see how it is any of her concern, old bat!!

merrymouse · 23/07/2013 06:53

What is this "squint" everyone is referring to?

There hasn't been general agreement.

Some people think it means parking with your front wheel next to the kerb, your back wheel maybe 5 inches out.

Other people think it means slewed across the road as though you are in a car chase and have just dumped your car.

I think it has been confirmed that the car was parallel parked in a road, but clearly there is such rage at the way people park in car parks, that some are choosing to ignore this point.

Oh for some video footage of the actual event.

Anyway, the weather is breaking today, so I suspect this thread will now seem strangely unimportant....

lainiekazan · 23/07/2013 07:05

YABU.

Do not drive a car you cannot handle properly.

I was hit in the back of my car outside the school by a woman reversing her big 7-seater. She gave an airy apology and said, "Oh, I can't see out the back at all!". When I suggested that next time she may hit a child or a pushchair, she replied she needed the big car [selfish idiot emoticon]

londonrach · 23/07/2013 07:15

Why drive a car you can't park. She is being unreasonable for commenting but you are for driving a car you can't park. As someone who lives in rural years the farmers tend to have beat up landrovers for farm use and small cars for town use. I tend to view those big things as belonging to what's the word chavs like Katie Price. Stick to a car you can park, maybe swap with your mums. X

SirChenjin · 23/07/2013 07:50

Deeside has always been like that though - a lot of big oil-related money up there. Easy to swap the incomers (it's rural, therefore I need a 4x4 of a certain brand) and the oldies (it's rural, therefore we'll take the battered landrover or golf, both of which have seen better days) Grin

missmarplestmarymead · 23/07/2013 07:57

bobbypercy.

Are you seriously suggesting that because there is an irregular bus service where you live and you may have to carry stuff, that means that you should be on the road in a car you can't handle, endangering life and limb.

And yes, being unable to park means that you cannot handle the vehicle.

Sparklingbrook · 23/07/2013 08:01

I prefer 'skew whiff'. Grin

Netguru · 23/07/2013 08:07

I drive a large 4x4 (7 seater)
I have driven even bigger cars over the years due to my hobby (Toyota hilux double cab etc)

Not being able to park is your fault not the car's. Go practice and stop snivelling about the car being at fault. I am a stout defender of people being able to drive large cars but stop giving them and women driving them bad publicity and sort yourself out.

Ipsissima · 23/07/2013 08:07

Its not just the parking though! those who can't park also seem to have no idea of the actual size of their vehicles (hence, presumably, the parking failures) which means they are a nightmare to meet on rural lanes...with a tendency to just cruise down the centre and assume everything will move out of the way.

(and it is nothing to do with car envy!! I was equally irritated by an acquaintance who couldn't park her Polo!)

MrsKeithRichards · 23/07/2013 08:14

Dundee has an ikea

Glittertwins · 23/07/2013 08:17

I think you are a bit unreasonable even if you were in a space but not straight because it can make it a bit harder for others to park. I like your car but the reason I don't have one is because of parking problems due to its size. I would never get it around the multi-storey car parks around here or in many parking bays.
I struggle to reverse park my new car which is longer than a S-Max / Zafira which is what I am used to so I have been practicing when parking at work.

HooverFairy · 23/07/2013 08:17

If you cannot control the 'Q7' well enough to even park it, then you SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING IT. Seriously.

This selfish 'I need a big car because I have 3 children and it might snow' mentality is utter, utter bollocks. You WANT a big car because you use it as a status symbol, proved by the fact you refer to it as the 'Q7'. That is very different from NEEDING a big car.

You should be driving a car you can control, the fact that you can't park it means you are putting other people at risk. I know other people have pointed this out already but what would you do if you hit someone, what would happen to them? Also, when someone parks a massive car next to a smaller one and they're on an angle it makes it really difficult to get out of the parking space. That woman was not BU, you are.

Women drivers get a really, really hard time as it is. People like you who can't park their massive, unnecessary tanks only adds to this.

EmmaBemma · 23/07/2013 08:18

If you were within the space I don't see the problem.

NotintheMiddle · 23/07/2013 08:19

Dundee does not have an Ikea either Confused

Bathsheba · 23/07/2013 08:23

Dundee does not have an Ikea. The nearest (timewise) Ikea to Aberdeen is in Stavanger...

RoxyFox211 · 23/07/2013 08:40

Yabu. There are plenty of other cars with space for 3 kids. Or less intrusive 7 seaters. Also the woman was a bit rude to comment but I understand her frustration.

Sallystyle · 23/07/2013 08:51

This thread is scaring me.

I am learning to drive, I am really nervous about what I am going to be like parking my 7 seater Hmm

I can't just get a smaller car either. I need 7 seats.

I think I am just going to park in massive spaces.

ComposHat · 23/07/2013 08:57

The parking isn't the real issue nor is the fact that you seem a bit gloaty about your drug dealer/loan shark mobile, the real issue is that you've bought a car that you can't manoeuvre safely at slow speeds. This is bloody dangerous and irresponsible, did you not realise this when you took the thing for a test drive.

I would say the same whether you were driving a battered old transit van or Renault Espace that you couldn't park properly.

missmarplestmarymead · 23/07/2013 08:59

I think it is crazy that a newly qualified driver can be allowed to have a 7 seater.

In my opinion, the size of car and car engine should be restricted until the driver has 2 years experience- 2 years in which they have not had an accident.

cannotfuckingbelievethis · 23/07/2013 09:05

£43k + for a bloody car !!!!!! (just googled it)

cantpolishaturd · 23/07/2013 09:06

My mate has a Q7....we call it the QE2 as it so bloody big Grin

cannotfuckingbelievethis · 23/07/2013 09:10

Having said that I drive an old banger which is worth about £300 and had trouble parking it last week. Was trying to reverse into a space but a very impatient old guy was literally up my arse which made it even harder for me. Reverse parking has never been my strong point but I can do it if I take me time. This old guy was tooting his horn and waving his arms (though there was still space for him to get past). So I ended up waving my middle finger at him which was probably BU but I was having a bad day......

Ipsissima · 23/07/2013 09:10

Better yet MissMarple, lets see the introduction of a new class on driving licences ...restricting cars over a certain size unless a secondary test is taken proving capability to manoeuvre.

Alternatively, could supermarket & municipal car parks create separate 'tank bays' - as they do for disabled/parent? four times the size of normal bays, and preferably placed at the far end of the car park, in a half acre area which gives them lots of space to manoeuvre.

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