Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that just because your car is in the lines does not mean you have parked well?!

81 replies

holdmybeer · 24/05/2018 10:31

Just had an run in with a woman who parked in the space next to me whilst I was paying for parking. She was not straight in the space, so she could open her drivers door but I couldn't open my rear door to get my sleeping toddler out. I called her out on her terrible parking and moved my car to another space.

She followed me and started shouting at me "do you want to look? I'm in the lines" I think she wanted a medal?! to which I replied "Yes but only just and it's more the fact that your car isn't straight but not to worry I've moved my car" she just kept saying "take a look, I'm in the lines!" She was right in my face and only backed off when my child woke up. Although she carried on shouting things at me when we crossed in the street later "child spaces!" I'm thinking she's never had to find one in a busy car park Hmm

AIBU to think she is crap at parking and that she should have been grateful I said anything and was prepared to move my car rather than waiting for her to walk off and then ramming my door into the side of her car which my partner may well have done?

OP posts:
MiggeldyHiggins · 24/05/2018 12:03

She was rude, inconsiderate and aggressive but then she probably thinks the same about me

You approached her, not the other way around. If she was rude it was because you were first. Don't accost people in parking lots and they won't be rude or aggressive to you.

MiggeldyHiggins · 24/05/2018 12:03

I'm also loving the fortunate people who have never suffered hormone related mood swings. I hope you know how lucky you are?

Sod off, loads of us have mood swings, it doesn't mean we are allowed to shout at people in the street and then claim its not our fault Hmm

specialsubject · 24/05/2018 12:06

a screaming match in a car park, both of you would have been a laughing stock.

badly designed modern cars are too big and clunky for most spaces. If you are able-bodied, make your life easier and park in the furthest possible space. Most people are too idle to walk that far and you are more likely to have a gap next to you.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 24/05/2018 12:08

I'm also loving the fortunate people who have never suffered hormone related mood swings. I hope you know how lucky you are? It's not an excuse, it's an explanation.

Of course I've had hormone related mood swings - as I said, I'm pregnant too! I just don't use them as excuses to be aggressive to strangers. Would you hit someone in a hormonal rage? If not then you can control yourself, you chose not to.

kerryleigh · 24/05/2018 12:09

You are right, OP. It's not only about being between the lines, it's about common sense and courtesy. People have no consideration for others.
You shouldn't have had to call her out, she should've checked her parking and straighten the car without you saying anything. It takes a minute. I always look around me when parking and make sure I'm in the middle of the space and straight, so everybody has enough space

MiggeldyHiggins · 24/05/2018 12:12

You shouldn't have had to call her out

She didn't have to.

TheEmmaDilemma · 24/05/2018 12:12

Thing is, I've been made to look like shite parker, when I've bagged one of the last spaces left, but had to park not straight or slightly to one side in the space due to the person next to me. Then by the time you leave the shop, they've moved and you just look like a crap parker.

TheFatkinsDiet · 24/05/2018 12:15

Yikes. I sympathise with the hormones though. No, it’s not an excuse blah blah, but they definitely make me act weird too, (weepy so not my usual self).

Anywho, I think you were BU to mention it tbh. She obviously isn’t very good at parking, but what good did it do to start a confrontation with her? Do you feel better? I bet not. If there were no other spaces whatsoever and / or she’d parked over the lines then I’d have asked her to move though.

TheFatkinsDiet · 24/05/2018 12:16

I’ve had that too @EmmaDilemma! I feel like putting a sign on my car “it wasn’t me”!

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 24/05/2018 12:19

You'd have been better being pleasant and asking to straighten up her car instead of behaving like a big gob.

ToadOfSadness · 24/05/2018 12:42

Parking in the lines is all very well, as long as the car isn't actually on one of the lines so that the next one along also has to park to one side of the space or the person on that side has to climb in or out of the other side of the car.

thecatsthecats · 24/05/2018 12:42

EmmaDilemma - I've had that! In Aldi car park. No idea who started it, but cars literally sprawled slantwise across the straight bays. I park in what is approximately a space - come back - I'm the only one there looking like a right pillock.

SoupDragon · 24/05/2018 12:51

I'm also loving the fortunate people who have never suffered hormone related mood swings.

You have absolutely no way of knowing whether that is true of anyone on this thread.

Astella22 · 24/05/2018 13:00

YABU to approach her with a hostile attitude. Why didn't you just get him out from the other side?
You sound entitled, I mean how dare someone park within the lines ffs get a grip.

ExecutiveDiamondBossBabeHun · 24/05/2018 13:48

I sometimes park wonky if the car next to me is and I don't hink they'll have enough space to get back in if I don't... or if I need to to be able to get out etc.

Yokohamajojo · 24/05/2018 13:52

I don't see the problem of mentioning it to be honest, hopefully next time this woman will take a few more seconds to straighten her car up and park in the middle of the bay!!

Original poster
holdmybeer · 24/05/2018 14:18

There was no screaming match in the car park, I didn't even raise my voice. I didn't ask her to move her car but got in mine and moved it. That really should have been the end of things.

However, she followed me to the new space and was screaming at me like a banshee. I carried on as normal and she only backed off when she woke my son up.

OP posts:
LisaSimpsonsbff · 24/05/2018 14:22

There was no screaming match in the car park, I didn't even raise my voice. I didn't ask her to move her car but got in mine and moved it. That really should have been the end of things.

It's interesting that you think that 'the end of things' should have been you getting your (completely unnecessary, since it achieved nothing) say. For most people 'the end of things' would have been you getting in your car, moving it and not initiating a confrontation at all.

JessicaJonesJacket · 24/05/2018 14:24

If the drawing is accurate, then you could have got your DC out the other side.
I understand why you were frustrated but it wasn't a big deal to take your child out the other side and it's never wise to confront strangers. What if she had been someone like your DP who aggressively damages other people's property if they annoy them?

Original poster
holdmybeer · 24/05/2018 14:36

There was a car parked the other side of me. I have another car seat in the back of my small car for my eldest child who was at school. I have arthritis of the spine and suffer sciatica so am not particularly mobile at the best of times. It would have been incredibly painful for me to even attempt to get my child out of the other side.

OP posts:
Stefoscope · 24/05/2018 14:53

If there were other spaces was it really that much of an issue? Why not just park in one of those without calling her out? As a new driver and someone who suffers from anxiety, I still struggle with being totally straight and central in some car parks where the space is tight. I'm reluctant to get in the car and practice as some silly person decided to come and criticise the nuimber of attempts it was taking me to get straight in a bay the first time I took my car out after passing my test.

Plannergirl9 · 24/05/2018 15:28

@holdmybeer YRBU. If you are within the lines you are parked fine. When I learned to drive my BSM instructor taught me to park to the left of the space (always inside the lines). That way you have more room to get out.

WittyJack · 24/05/2018 15:33

So you launched a verbal attack on a stranger who was parked within the lines, just not to your satisfaction, and your partner would have damaged both cars over it??

I feel sorry for your kids more than anyone else here. What sort of lessons will they learn?!

Nikephorus · 24/05/2018 15:37

If you were politely asking, i’d straighten up my car
This ^^. If you were polite and made a joke about how they never make parking spaces big enough for actual cars and people getting out of them then I'd have happily moved, and possibly have apologised for inept parking. But if your first comment was to insult me (however 'politely') you could struggle while I sat there watching.
Be nice, get nice back.

MiggeldyHiggins · 24/05/2018 15:50

yeah sure OP you "called her out" as you say but didn't even raise your voice, and she was screaming like a banshee? and yet you only did it because of your extreme hormonal mood swings that mean you're horrified at what comes out of your mouth?
She wasn't the banshee, was she? You were.