To think this was really rude? Kids left in car!

[Twistedpantsagain]

So I popped to a friends earlier who lives on a busy road full of double yellow lines unless you have a drive just to add some perspective.
As I was leaving, a neighbour was welcoming her child back from a play date, all done at the doorstep may I add.
Must have been a one minute conversation at the most before the little girl then realised she had left her jacket so both mums and the girl head back down the slight hill towards the car.
A woman is standing beside the car ( not sure if on phone to police? ) but is circling around and looking in the window.
Mum had obviously decided not to get out the 3 other children she had with her in order to drop one child home which I wouldn't have given a second thought, they all looked at least 6 years old up to about 8/9.
However as the mum got in to drive off this woman gave her a massive mouthful, about parking on double yellow lines which are outside HER house, which I do understand but also said she is a neglectful mother " to top it off "
I guess from where she was stood as its downhill she may not have been able to see the mum but I would have thought she would have heard them as only 2 doors down.
Mum left crying after asking if she was ringing the police to be told " she would find out "
Just felt it was really OTT but as soon as I said it to hubby he said the kids shouldn't have been left so she was in the right! What do you think?

Shouldn't have left the car on double-yellows, end of story. The woman was justified to be concerned and to verbally remonstrate with her - if a driver is willing to commit one offence (the parking), who knows what else they are capable of doing?

Dear me. What utter nonsense.

No more ridiculous than yours, Flogging.

In our village the blue badge holders are allowed to park on double yellows, even if the car park is full of disabled spaces.
They are a blinking nuisance!

@salmotrutta

A quick read of the thread will show you that both mine and plominoagain's comments were made before the OP "remembered" the were single yellow lines. So I am correct in saying their comment was inaccurate.

Is there s difference between them being single yellow and rouble yellow in regards to stopping though as I thought you couldn't stop on either as it says no stopping between 9-5

it says no stopping between 9-5

That's actually more relevant.

If it says no stopping and it was between 9 and 5, then she shouldn't be unloading either.

Ah interesting, I actually wasn't too sure of the rules myself as I've always been too scared to get a ticket to stop on any lines

Ok . Simple rules . Yellow lines , whether double or single , painted on the road , are in relation to WAITING restrictions . Not stopping restrictions . This means there can be exemptions which allow you to stop on them , like loading / unloading of goods , boarding or alighting of passengers , emergency vehicles stopping on them , blue badge holders can park on them for example . They are either single or double depending on how long the waiting restriction lasts for . That's all.

LOADING restrictions , for which there are usually two or three yellow stripes painted across the kerb , means that whilst you cannot load or unload during those times , and blue badge holders shouldn't park there , there is still an allowance to board and alight , but it is for a short time only . Loading restrictions don't tend to last as long as waiting restrictions , and will tell you how long they last on the white part of the sign. Yellow part relates to the lines on the road.

Red routes are the ones with no stopping . For any reason . But the times that they are in force for may change , particularly round areas with bays , so the signs should be checked as to when they are in operation , except for Double red lines, which always mean no stopping ever ever ever .

So if the lines were red , they were stopping restrictions , if they were yellow , they're waiting restrictions. Big difference.

Does that help , OP ? No sarcasm implied or intended .

Wow, what a collection of responses! Some are OTT, some ill- informed, some immune to sarcasm/irony...but, thankfully, some are measured and sensible answers!

Single yellow line isn't always 9-5 the Highway Code restrictions are in place look for time plate if there is no timeplate they are actually non inforceable same applies if line isn't in good order.

Clearly shouty woman is a knob and maybe not so worried about kids in the car more about her stretch of road which is actually public land. Emotional woman needed to get a grip, I certainly would be giving the old bag both barrels. Also pretty sure police wouldn't give a toss about the parking as they struggle sourcing staff for serious jobs a lot of time.

What a load of shit. Some seriously OTT reactions.

I bet a lot of the people banging on about leaving kids in a car parked illegally etc wouldn't actually think twice about doing it so themselves IRL.

Option A
Leave kids in parked, locked car for 1-2 minutes on double yellows to nip 1 child home. Kids and car in view/hearing distance.

Option B
Park god knows how far away and traipse to the house with all the kids in tow for the sake of 1-2 minutes drop off.

No white on MN one would never leave their child for more than 2.2 seconds ALONE 🤔

I don't think you're supposed to leave them unattended on a road? In case of an accident? I remember somebody reporting a local childminder here, the children used to fall asleep in their car seats in her people carrier and she'd go inside leaving them for an hour or so until they awoke.

I realise that's quite different from a couple of minutes.

The issue here is that kids that age could have released the handbrake and sine the car was on a steep hill, it would be off!

I'm horrified so many have ignored this danger.

Maybe the car didn't have a handbrake - many don't these days (nor ones that can release easily without turning the engine on anyway). Would have thought the ages of the kids would have made them unlikely to release handbrakes.

The op stated the kids were between 6 and 9. Physically capable and mentally irresponsible.

As for many cars not having a handbrake these days, I think that would be grossly inaccurate and assuming the car had a handbrake is more likely.

My car is 3 years old and when we were looking to buy a car, just 3 years ago, I didn't come across a single model that had no handbrake.

I don't believe many kids of the ages stated in the OP are daft enough (or even strong enough or know how to) to release a handbrake. And if it were a possibility, the adult in charge would surely know not to leave that particular child.

It's crazy that people are basically suggesting kids can't be left in a parked car for 2 minutes incase of another car randomly bulldozing into them, or it spontaneously combusts or a kid releases the handbrake and sends them down a hill of doom

But this is mumsnet

In the real world, people can leave kids in a parked car for 2 minutes and nothing major happens.

In an 'ideal' world you can take countless risks and get away with them and not 'in the real world' as you state.

Every day we take countless risks. Walking along busy roads, driving, not using a rear facing car seat for an 7yo etc etc. That's life. Some risks are obviously v high risk such as allowing a non swimmer to swim alone. Others not so much, such as leaving kids in a car whilst you drop off a child. It's just where you judge risk to be high or low. Sometimes I wonder how naive people are about all the other potential dangers in the world to get upset about low risk risks. Or are these the same people who stress about driving in the uk in tourist routes during the holiday period? No, they are probably the people who stress about getting on a plane in case it crashes. V low risk.

Palominoagain That's very helpful. Generally I cycle and rarely drive so that's helpful although I tend to not park on any lines in fear of getting tickets. And I shall carry on that thought process! I understand now why shouty woman was annoyed. It just seemed unnecessary at the time and the woman so upset and sobbing made the whole event look awful.

Handbrake is a very good point, unless automatic I guess. It depends I suppose on the children and how sensible they are. Just a shame that the kids weren't upset until they're mother was being screamed abuse at and then they were.

The handbrake is only an issue for people who can't park.

Steep hill, down hill: apply handbrake, put gear on reverse, turn wheels towards the curb.

Having said that, to a pp, in the real world, cars end up at the end of hills, in rivers, crashed, etc. I recommend you read the news. Shit DOES happen.

Shit happens however careful you are. I'd you're the type to self blame for everything you'll have a sad life.

Of course we can't live our lives in fear, but we can do our best to minimise risk.
Or we'd be sending our children out to play from the time they can walk without a second thought, because shit happens anyway and we can't control it.

Even when flying we'd rather choose a company with a good safety record over one without, but knowing that there's a risk for both.