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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have expected a slightly more empathetic response from this Range Rover driver?

136 replies

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 16:29

It's pouring with rain.

The (shiny new) Range Rover is parked bang in the middle of 2 spaces outside my house with the engine running.

I park across the road, then tap on her window & say "you realise you're parked across 2 spaces?"

Super-groomed blonde perma-tanned woman driver responds "this is a public road & I've just paid £500 to tax my car"

OP posts:
Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 22:34

owning a Range Rover is fine with me, footballagain

It's what you do with it that matters Wink

OP posts:
EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 04/07/2014 22:37

A RR measures approx. 14.5 ft, if plonked in the middle of a 30-35 ft space this would mean approx. 8-9ft either end (I'm assuming this is sideways parking on a side street, not side-by-side in a car park).

If so, a Ford Transit van measures around 8ft, so anything that size or smaller would be able to fit at either end.

If your measurements are correct, of course?

Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 22:38

Do you expect her to ram her car up the arse of the car in front of her when there was plenty of space to park?

Yes. Exactly that. It's a town full of streets of terraced houses & that's exactly what the majority manage to do.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 22:42

a Ford Transit van measures around 8ft

No it doesn't Grin

OP posts:
EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 04/07/2014 22:45

FORD TRANSIT SWB dimensions:
Width - 6'5 ft Between Wheel Arch 4'5 ft Door Height - 4'6 ft Height - 4'8 ft (length) 8' ft
1.75m 1.35m 1.36m 1.40m 2.40m

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 04/07/2014 22:47

I do beg your pardon - I was looking at internal dimensions Blush

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 04/07/2014 22:48

Still - a car could fit at either end

Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 22:51

A Fiesta is about 12' long! You'd struggle to fit most cars in an 8' space. Smart car maybe. I don't have one of those though.

OP posts:
snowgirl1 · 04/07/2014 22:53

OP you should have pointed out to her that no-one pays road tax. We all pay vehicle tax based on how much CO2 the vehicle produces. So paying more vehicle tax allows her to drive a more polluting vehicle , it does not allow her to take up more space on the road as it's not road tax.

Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 22:57

You're so right, snowgirl!

Unfortunately her window was back up before I had time to say anything (well, it was raining. & she was nice & dry inside the car Grin)

OP posts:
EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 04/07/2014 23:02

Yet a public parking space is just that - a public parking space for any vehicle. It was not, as I understand it, a private, designated spot.

And yet again, at the risk of repeating myself, if OP had just asked her nicely to scooch up a bit, then I'm pretty sure we wouldn't all be having this ridiculous conversation. Or if OP had just been happy with the parking space she had parked in and not had to challenge the other driver, she wouldn't have become so wet Wink

And on that note, I'm off to bed. Night night!

Original poster
TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 04/07/2014 23:15

Yet a public parking space is just that - a public parking space for any vehicle. It was not, as I understand it, a private, designated spot

No - but if someone chooses to park 1 car across a space big enough for 2, that makes them a selfish entitled twat, whatever the car they're in.

OP posts:
ExitPursuedByAKoalaBear · 04/07/2014 23:18

So why fixate on the car she was driving?

Fortysomethingwinelover · 04/07/2014 23:40

No - but if someone chooses to park 1 car across a space big enough for 2, that makes them a selfish entitled twat, whatever the car they're in.

If someone chooses to think a public road is 'their space' for parking 'their' car it makes them a selfish entitled twat. Furthermore, to judge someone on their hair colour, skin colour, or the car they drive is even worse!

Goodnight from a blonde, tanned, range rover driver who has just eaten five Krispy Kreme doughnuts and drank a bottle of red.

inabeautifulplace · 05/07/2014 00:04

Fuck me, this is ridiculous. Whenever you park on a busy road, it's just basic manners to nudge up to the closest vehicle. People who don't understand this either lack basic manners or empathy. Seems simple to me. YANBU.

Macsmurray · 05/07/2014 00:12

People that own 4x4 gas guzzlers that live in an urban postcode should pay double road tax, and those that live in rural postcodes (i.e. farmers etc) should have their road tax halved. There is absolutely no need to live in the city and drive a Range Rover or my personal most hated car BMW X6.

differentnameforthis · 05/07/2014 01:52

I had similar once. Parking to pick up my dc from school. Limited parking spaces & a driver had parked over 2 spaces, meaning I would be overhanging a driveway if I parked in front, or behind.

I got out, knocked on her window & said "would you mind moving forward so I am not overhanging a driveway"

She said yes & did exactly that! Doesn't hurt to be nice.

Tabby1963 · 05/07/2014 07:35

I got out, knocked on her window & said "would you mind moving forward so I am not overhanging a driveway"

She said yes & did exactly that! Doesn't hurt to be nice.

^
this

bigdog888 · 05/07/2014 08:41

People that own 4x4 gas guzzlers that live in an urban postcode should pay double road tax, and those that live in rural postcodes (i.e. farmers etc) should have their road tax halved. There is absolutely no need to live in the city and drive a Range Rover or my personal most hated car BMW X6

Any particular reason for that? Many new 4x4s are relatively efficient. My petrol car uses much more fuel and produces much more pollution than a new diesel Range Rover or X6.

Icimoi · 05/07/2014 09:40

She parked her fucking car! She was completely unaware it was "your" space

Where did OP claim that it was her space? She simply pointed out that the car was parked across two spaces. Are you seriously claiming that that's the conduct of a good and considerate driver, forty?

ModernUrbanSnowman · 05/07/2014 10:28

yanbu to expect someone to park considerately
yab unrealistic to expect a positive reaction to what you said and how you seem to have said it

ModernUrbanSnowman · 05/07/2014 10:38

Also ... the engine running ... poss the driver was waiting while another person was running a quick errand. We cannot know. Did the car pull away 30 seconds later?

On a flight of fancy "... we were on the way to the funeral. We'd just pulled in for a minute while my other half went to fetch his grieving mum. I swear I'd only been there ten seconds when some crazy came up banging on the window, scaring my daughter half to death and going on about how I was parked ..."
(I know I took some liberties with the info provided. Just saying it might be a points of view problem)

CroydonFacelift · 05/07/2014 11:06

As I said previously, this sort of scorn is reserved for drivers of NICE, EXPENSIVE petrol guzzlers. I think its more than a little jealousy-related, no?

I don't see people bashing seven seater sprog wagons, diesel guzzling estate cars etc. its just easy/lazy to stereotype people based on the car they drive. The OP was a passive aggressive whinger, got short shrift back, and so was able to confirm her own stereotype that RR drivers are all entitled bitches. Lame.

And to Woodlice...save your smugness. I have a 4x4 to accommodate MY bikes and buggies when I am ferrying them to and fro along with my children, including a disabled child, in between working full time and the gazillion other things I have to do in my busy life. No apologies from me for that. A new, decent 4x4 can be incredibly fuel efficient, too. Mine is.

It amazes me how sanctimonious some people can be!

SirChenjin · 05/07/2014 11:30

No, I can honestly say I am not in the slightest bit jealous of anyone who drives a RR. Or indeed any make of car. A car is a lump of metal which gets you from A to B whilst draining your bank balance.

BeCool · 05/07/2014 11:36

Are you parked if the engine is running?

Regardless you would have probably got the response you wanted if you asked her nicely to move a bit.

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