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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Wibu to have scratched this car?

369 replies

user1471432527 · 17/08/2016 17:00

Taking dtwins out in our double stroller, cars parked right on the pavement , can't walk on the road, too much traffic. Was I unreasonable to force my pram though, scratching one of the bigger cars in the process?

OP posts:
Trixieceratops · 17/08/2016 23:35

"It is the next biggest investment you will make after your house."

Then park it properly. Obviously.

NeedAnotherGlass · 17/08/2016 23:41

if you force your way through it is pretty obvious you are going to scratch it. Therefore it is a deliberate act.
And there's nothing you can do about it. Pedestrians don't have insurance, Police will never investigate or take action.
If you don't want your car scratched, don't park it on the pavement.

Ohbehave1 · 17/08/2016 23:59

Has anyone thought of the other side. Driver may have been dropping off children/grandparent/disabled person and could not block the road so just left it there whilst they took the person in.

In the 2 minutes they were doing so little miss stroppy cow comes along, doesn't wait to see if anyone is about to come out to move the car and scratches it because in her head she has the right to do so.

There are always 2 sides to a story, and the truth is normally somewhere in the middle.

MargaretCabbage · 18/08/2016 00:20

YANBU. The route to walk into town only has pavement on one side, and cars frequently park all along it leaving only a tiny gap to squeeze through. I have no intention of pushing my baby in the middle of the road for most of the walk. I don't think we've ever damaged a car getting through but I wouldn't be particularly sorry if we did, there's no need for them to park like that and my child is more important than the paint on their car. I have seen people in wheelchairs wider than our buggy having to use the road which is awful.

sailawaywithme · 18/08/2016 00:46

Where I live it's illegal to park on the pavement and it is strictly enforced. It's so inconsiderate and I have no sympathy for anyone whose car gets scratched. Accidentally or not.

sleepy16 · 18/08/2016 00:47

We have the same problem in my area, and most streets cars are parked on pavements and on Greenland (so children can not play on there) but funny enough get into trouble when said children are playing on the road.
Seriously soon I'll have to be walking permanently on the road as like I said walking the 10 mins to school most pavements are covered in cars!
I would never purposely damage a car but I have thought about it when it has taken me triple the time to get children to school with trying to push a pushchair and watch 4 children having to walk in the road, oh and getting tutted and nodded at because apparently the road is for cars!

honknghaddock · 18/08/2016 06:22

Ohbehave1 - I do a lot of walking with ds in his sn buggy and in my own experience it is the same cars everytime that do it. I think it is far more likely to be people who don't care about the problem they are causing.
I don't go through the gap unless I am sure there is space but sometimes ds puts his hand or foot on the car as we go through and it is possible he could mark it. I have no sympathy though because if the car wasn't on the pavement, he wouldn't be able to reach it.

Pemba · 18/08/2016 07:04

YANBU, of course.
Really surprised at the tone of a lot of posts on here.
Can you not read? OP didn't say the car was scratched deliberately, did she? You are posting as if she'd keyed it or something.

The car was parked illegally, was she supposed to put her kids in danger by stepping into the traffic?

Atenco · 18/08/2016 07:12

YANBU, even if you had keyed it.

This is ridiculous, cars are king and everyone believes that a woman with two small children should take them into the road rather than risk damaging an illegally packed car?

I imagine the people who are indignant at the poster are quite happy to park on the pavement.

Togaparties · 18/08/2016 07:23

Only a complete scumbag would do something like this

TheSultanofPingu · 18/08/2016 07:25

Maybe this is a made up post, maybe not.
Whichever way, some of the replies have been interesting.
Roads can be very dangerous. They can be very busy, and lots of people on them drive like twats.
In general, pedestrians are best off using the pavement, that is what pavements are for.
Some people seem to be minimizing how dangerous it can be for a pedestrian, especially those in a wheelchair or with a buggy, to manoeuvre round a parked car into a busy road. It isn't always a case of just crossing onto the other side. The road may be so busy that it needs a pedestrian crossing, but there isn't one in sight. There may not be a pavement on the other side.

I'm just really gobsmacked at the number of poster's justifying forcing pedestrians onto roads as if their car is far more important than someone's safety. Yes, it must be frustrating not having a proper place to park, but please try and imagine what it must be like for the pedestrian having to try and manoeuvre safely around your car.

Your cars may be very precious to you, but never more precious than a human life surely!

Togaparties · 18/08/2016 07:38

Sultan Put it this way, if there was a fire and I had the choice between saving my car or the life of a stranger the car would win every single time.

Gottagetmoving · 18/08/2016 07:40

Has anyone thought of the other side. Driver may have been dropping off children/grandparent/disabled person and could not block the road so just left it there whilst they took the person in

You could stand there all day wondering about hundreds of possible scenarios Hmm

The car could be repaired....a kid squashed in a stroller because she had to walk on a busy road ,..not so easy.
Still, it's so comforting to know so many people on here value a car more than a child.

Trixieceratops · 18/08/2016 07:46

"Put it this way, if there was a fire and I had the choice between saving my car or the life of a stranger the car would win every single time."

Wow. How fucking ridiculous.

TheSultanofPingu · 18/08/2016 07:49

Fucking hell Tog
You would save you fucking precious car over the life of a human?!
I don't often swear on here, but that is one of the worst things I have ever read on here.

Fucking hell!!

TheSultanofPingu · 18/08/2016 07:51

Toga, please say you don't really mean that?

user1471422849 · 18/08/2016 07:59

If the OP really couldn't safely move into the road, she was not being unreasonable. It is the owner's responsibility to park safely and legally. I'm not saying it's a great attitude, but the owner should have taken more care and it's not reasonable to expect a pedestrian with a newborn to endanger themselves, IF that was genuinely what would have happened in the road. However, if the OP could probably have crossed the road safely or moved round the car, it was unreasonable to scratch it.

Mrscaindingle · 18/08/2016 08:05

its is the biggest investment you will make after your house

Cars are not investments they depreciate in value everytime you use them.

And Shock at Toga what lovely values you will be passing on to your kids,if you have any.

Purplebluebird · 18/08/2016 08:07

YABU!!!!!!!

CauliflowerBalti · 18/08/2016 08:09

YANBU if you scratched the car inadvertently because there was no other choice and the road was too busy to safely move around it.

YABU to come here and crow victoriously about it if the pavement and road were very narrow, so the car driver had no choice either. I have a 4 x 4 and sometimes I have to park a little on the pavement because of the width of the road and position of other parked cars/obstacles. Parking fully on the road could render it impassable. Obviously it's something that is best avoided, but it happens, especially in the little villages around here that were built long before the advent of cars. Actually, I also park a little on the pavement outside my house, but that's because cars fly down here at outrageous speeds and if you don't, they take your wing and mirror off. But the pavements are big enough for a bus - you wouldn't have been troubled.

Anyone who thinks they have a 'right' to things like this is being unreasonable. Yes, the pavement is for pedestrians - but if we live in a world where everything is so black and white and unflexible, god help us. The converse of this would be that the road is for motorists, and anyone crossing anywhere other than a clearly marked passing point deserves to be mown down because it would be dangerous for me to brake here. You don't see that here: 'WIBU to clip that old lady - I couldn't move around her and didn't want to brake in case the car behind hit me'. Hitting her might be unavoidable, but you wouldn't post on Mumsnet and brag about it.

I think we can all afford not to be dicks to each other.

Togaparties · 18/08/2016 08:13

100% I mean that. I'd give my life for anyone I care about, strangers not so much.

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 18/08/2016 08:15

Ok, while I don't condone scratching the car, Toga, you are above and beyond. Hmm

Togaparties · 18/08/2016 08:16

Why? Because I'm not some kind of namby pamby socialist twat?

Trixieceratops · 18/08/2016 08:19

No, you're a psychopath. Hope your precious car gets trashed.

user7755 · 18/08/2016 08:20

You think that saving someone's life makes you a socialist? Hmm