It's bad manners to leave your car engine running right outside someone's house, isn't it?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I've just moved house, and there's lots of free parking on the street outside. I have no issue at all with people parking, as of course they're entitled to do. But there's one woman who repeatedly parks up for about 10 or 20 minutes, leaving her car engine running. I'm not sure what she's waiting for - there's a school right next to us, but it's not school pick-up time.

It's rude, right?

I am too British to say anything. What are your best tactics for signalling my irritation?

Someone near me used to have a visitor who did that, and they got a smart slap on the wrist from the council.

Easy. Hire a monster truck and park behind her and leave that engine running.

Tempting, sneaky.

My neighbour does this. He has his disabled space outside my living room window. At least twice a day he does and sits in the car for 30-40mins with the engine running. Apparently he finds it relaxing. 🙄

Yes, it's rude and I think illegal.

I wouldn't say it was rude.

What harm is she doing to anyone?

Love your style Grems. 😂

Illegal to park your car and leave the engine running while you're in the car?

I must be missing something

Is it?

It is illegal on a public road, under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988

I did not know it was illegal. Interesting!

monkeys - um, exhaust fumes? How would you like to step out of your front door into a thick cloud, or leave your window open and find the living room smells like a carpark? Besides which it's quite an irritating noise.

It is, it’s illegal and many councils have regulations about it.

It’s worth checking if it’s a regular occurrence.

Yup, it’s ilegal, and I’m surprised people who have passed their driving test don’t know this, it’s in the Highway Code.

www.drivingtesttips.biz/driving-tips/parked-with-engine-running.html

I wouldn't say it was rude.

What harm is she doing to anyone?

I had someone who used to do this outside my house. I had to keep the front windows shut in the summer because the noise was loud enough to drown out the tv. As well as being very, very annoying.

It seems some people think cars run on unicorn breath.

Well, everyday is a school day. Now I know

There can't be that much exhaust fumes coming from the car that you walk into a cloud of smoke when you open the front door

Just ask her if she can park somewhere else if it bothers you. Would bother me none

When I was a child, our next door neighbour almost killed my brothers by leaving his engine running to warm up, not realising the exhaust was right up against an air brick by my brothers’ bedroom.

I'm not claiming it's smoking, monkeys, I'm pointing out there are exhaust fumes. You can imagine how much there'd be after 20 minutes.

Yanbu.

I park outside my dd friends house around the corner from their school. But I turn off the car and the radio down so I don’t disturb the people on the houses.

Having said they could well be waiting for school to finish. My mum lives by a school and parents regularly arrive around 2pm school doesn’t finish between 3.20 and
3.25 depending on which KS they are.

Have a word with her. I'm sure she'll move along

Parents in 4x4s do it outside the local prep school. They're running the aircon in the summer and heating in the winter. They're too entitled to wait outside the school on foot.

Are you sure she's not just getting there really early for school pick up LRD? People arrive up to 45 minutes early here to secure a good parking spot.

I do it sometimes because I'm disabled and if I get too hot I faint. I run the air con to cool myself down but never for longer than 5-10 minutes. I can't physically stand outside the school on a school run, so I have to sit in my car.

We used to have to do this with an old banger as there was no guarantee it would start again.

So the regulations say:
‘You MUST NOT leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road’

Is that it? How do you define 'unnecessarily'? Is keeping the engine on so that the heating is on necessary in order to keep warm and alert?

Sorry, I should have said, obviously she's gone now. I got caught up in something else but one of the teachers at the school said just now that they're trying to get people to stop doing it because it's not great for the children.