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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Extremely scary moment when driver blocked my car on a country lane.

449 replies

ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:07

I was out driving on the Blackdown hills today with my 1 year old and 3 year old DD trying to find Wellington monument. I know its pretty easy to find being pretty large but I am a bit of an idiot with driving and thought i knew the way (being relatively local) and it turned out I didn't.

Anyway, I went into a country lane and did a U turn to correct myself as I didn't want to U turn on one of the larger roads and as I was coming out onto the more main road another car (a 4X4 with 2 men in it aged mid 50s) also was doing a u turn (or so i thought initially). The driver blocked my exit out of the junction (They could see me drive up to it) as I attempted to turn left and I assumed he was stopping to turn into my lane so I attempted to veer left and drive around him and he blocked me again. I did it again and he did it again.

I didn't want to stop and wind down my window it being the middle of the countryside and that I had 2 young children in the back but he trapped me. In the end i had to and he wound down his window and he said 'I was just going to ask you how to get to xx', I was upset and panicking by then and screamed at him 'How dare you block my path!! Get out of the way!'. My heart was racing and I called dh straight away and gave him a description of the car just in case and set off hime (I didn't go to Wellington monument in the end).

AIBU? I can kind of understand if there was an accident and they needed a first aider but surely i made it perfectly clear i didnt want to stop- I was shitting myself to be honest.

OP posts:
katiej12 · 14/08/2017 17:27

Mmm. Got to be honest, I think you overreacted more than a little to someone asking directions ( even if it sounds like they were a bit of an arse about it). Promise you most people haven't got the slightest interest in hurting you, female or otherwise and frankly if they did they'd ram you, not just turn ineffectively.

We've all done it - have a cuppa and try to forget about it!

Trollspoopglitter · 14/08/2017 17:28

I would have shat myself. Who the fuck BLOCKS A CAR ON THE ROAD to ask for directions?! Nobody with an once of legic and common sense. It's illegal. It's aggressive. And it's not the accepted norm. You lower your window and try waving down the other driver, hoping they stop.

Slimthistime · 14/08/2017 17:28

They blocked you three times
Fucking hell, no wonder you panicked. What is this naice world some MNers live in? I'd like to live in it!

Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:29

Povertyjet- I don't think they cared that I wanted to get out of the lane, they could see that and thats why they were blocking me, I had to answer their directions request apparently.

I appreciate that they just wanted directions but i didn't know that and it could have been too late. Appreciate they were probably just genuinely wanting directions.

Forgot about my horn, my heart was thumping! Fight or flight.

OP posts:
Batteriesallgone · 14/08/2017 17:29

Also it doesn't matter how anyone else would behave. No one is obligated to give directions. Repeatedly blocking another driver is clearly against the Highway Code.

He was breaking the rules of the road, she was not. She was entitled to be the pissed off one in this scenario. She's under no obligation to forgive and facilitate the men being twats.

pombal · 14/08/2017 17:29

You are not overreacting, they had no right to block your exit repeatedly, it's aggressive.

You are under no obligation to stop and give anyone directions.

They would not have done this if you were a man in case you reacted badly to it.

If they needed directions why didn't they just google or use sat nav instead of intimidating a woman.

DelphiniumBlue · 14/08/2017 17:29

That sounds quite intimidating. No need to repeatedly block you. I'd be scared too. Did you get their registration number?

witchofzog · 14/08/2017 17:30

But he told you what he was trying to do. Albeit he did it in a stupid thoughtless way. He was an utter twat in that respect. But the screaming after he said he was looking for directions was unecesaary and more likely to scare the children in the car than what actually happenned.

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 14/08/2017 17:33

He was in the wrong and you didn't overreact.

Rapunzel15 · 14/08/2017 17:34

This reply has been deleted

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Saucery · 14/08/2017 17:35

Typical hysterical female'. Nice.

Medeci · 14/08/2017 17:35

If you were really screaming it must have been frightening for your children.

Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:36

Thankfully I didn't scare the children. The scream wasn't full pelt, they sleep through earth quakes.

I didn't get their registration plate no. I drove off pretty sharpish and couldn't be bothered to go to the monument in the end.

I think I was upset as well because he had the audacity to intimidate me so that he could get his bloody directions. I mean what if I was late or had an emergency myself ....it doesn't matter as long as he had his directions.

OP posts:
pombal · 14/08/2017 17:36

All the posters saying he just wanted to ask directions, from the way the OP reads there's no way that was clear to the OP when they were blocking her exit.

They were major twats.

Butterymuffin · 14/08/2017 17:36

Rapunzel after the other driver acted like a dick, so not surprising. And my point isn't irrelevant, thanks Smile

TheFairyCaravan · 14/08/2017 17:36

FFS! The OP doesn't have issues at all.

It's all well and good being completely rational when you're sitting in your house on MN but I bet the vast majority of us would have shat ourselves had a car blocked our paths, especially had we have been alone with 2 kids.

I'm sorry this happened to you gin. I hope it doesn't ruin the rest of your day. 💐

Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:36

Rapunzel- Thats a bit sexist isn't it?

OP posts:
Splandy · 14/08/2017 17:37

No, you're not unreasonable! How bloody arrogant and stupid do you have to be to repeatedly block somebody's car in an isolated place because you're too important to wave/wind down your window and say excuse me/get out of the car and ask like a normal human being? They could have driven elsewhere, found another car. You don't bully somebody into helping you by physically stopping them from leaving, To all those saying, "oh it's such an overreaction..." I don't think it is. I don't ignore my senses telling me that somebody is behaving oddly. Especially not when I'm alone with my children, in an isolated place, and the two people in question are bigger and stronger than me. Why the fuck would you politely help them after that?

araiwa · 14/08/2017 17:38

Somewhere the other driver is chatting to his passenger about when they were lost, tried to turn round at a junction, a woman tried to barge her way through whilst they were trying to turn around, then screamed at them when they asked for directions

Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:38

witchofzog- yes he did but as my DH said, his mate could have easily gotten out and done anything as he was blocking me. I didn't know this until it could have been too late. I have located my automatic locks now in my car (new car so I had no idea where they were).

OP posts:
Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:41

ariwia- Perhaps they then realised what brainless twits they were being for putting me in such a situation and how i might have felt to have reacted like that- you never know!

OP posts:
TheFairyCaravan · 14/08/2017 17:42

Saying he was going to ask for directions means fuck all.

While the OP had the window down, being distracted by one of the men, the other could have got out of the car and got in her's, taken the keys or anything.

The men were complete and utter twats. They deserved to be screamed at.

Original poster
ginplease8383 · 14/08/2017 17:42

BTW they'd already u turned, i saw that before I approached the junction. i stopped to let them go before i turned which is when he instead blocked me. THREE TIMES!

OP posts:
Sparkletastic · 14/08/2017 17:44

Jesus sounds really sinister and intimidating YANBU at all OP.

Pallisers · 14/08/2017 17:44

Promise you most people haven't got the slightest interest in hurting you, female or otherwise and frankly if they did they'd ram you, not just turn ineffectively.

That's grand so. Could you leave your name and address so if your promise turns out to be worthless (as it does for so many women) they can apply to you for compensaion.

Rapunzel is an idiot. So many people on this thread who cannot imagine a man being in the wrong. weird.