Car park. Were we right?

[AllesAusLiebe]

Husband and I went for fish and chips today. Drove to a car park with our food expecting to get out and go for a walk but it started pissing down so we decided to eat our chips in the car.

A large vehicle parked up in front of us, a child swung open the backseat door and hit the neighbouring car pretty hard. Mother gets out and admonished the child for not being careful and the whole father walked around, assessed the damage to the car and walked away.

I noticed that the car had quite a bump and husband and I agreed that if the owners returned whilst we were still there, we’d tell them what happened.

The owners returned minutes later and we told them. They were an elderly couple and seemed quite upset. We gave them our number in case their insurance needed to contact us to confirm what had occurred.

Then, the family who hit the car also returned!

Elderly gentleman challenged the father about the damage to the car and father becomes quite aggressive and denies all knowledge. Elderly man then tactfully points towards us and says, “he told me!”.

Father then turns his aggression towards DH who is walking back to our car and intimating to me to start the engine, calling him a “grass” and a “wanker”.

So, did we do the right thing or should I have kept my big nose out of other people’s business?

I’ve had my car hit sooooo many times and it’s so frustrating when people drive away. I accept that accidents happen, especially with getting kids in and out of the car, but I couldn’t just say nothing after I’d witnessed it. I’m just doubting myself now!

Yes you absolutely did the right thing! I'd be telling him that he needs to learn to take responsibility

I'd have done the same thing.

I'm also the type to take notes/pictures though (or turn on the engine so the dash cam captures stuff)

Of course you did the right thing! That chap sounds like an aggressive bully.

You were right to tell them. Maybe if the child isn't able to open the door without hitting other cars then the parents should help rather then just be twats who tell the kid off, denies all knowledge and act like a petulant teenager when caught out?

It winds me up that people think it's perfectly acceptable to damage other people's property and then take no responsibility. He was a prick and you and your husband were NBU

BettaSplenden that’s exactly what pissed me off. Parents too lazy to help child out of the car (or put child locks on) but, of course, this is the child’s fault presumably for being a child.

Thanks for your replies. Sometimes I get a little carried away with what’s ‘right’ in my mind and don’t think twice about pointing it out (often to my DH’s embarrassment! 😂).

I hate it when you end up doubting yourself like this.

You did the right thing. I gave a person my name and # when I witnessed a car hit them. The perps tried to claim it was the other way round and extort the victims. I testified to what I saw in court.

If only half of the father had assessed the damage then you would not have been unreasonable, but if, as you said, the whole father walked round and inspected it, then YWBU.

Absolutely you did the right thing.

BadLad oh shit, I thought I’d got through a whole post without a typo or stupid grammatical mistake! Ignore that part please!

Anyone who adopts a mantra of ‘snitches get stitches’ or similar is obviously in the wrong.

Usually a criminal and/or President of the US.

No OP, you did the right thing. When DS was a little bit younger I left him in the car when I nipped into the shop right in front of where I'd parked to buy some stamps quickly. I was in the shop for all of 2 minutes but when I got back to the car DS seemed upset. It turned out, someone had pulled into the spot next to us and banged her car door into mine when she got out. On noticing DS in the car she bent down to his window and put her finger to her lips, gesturing for him not to tell. She then jumped back in her car and drove off, presumably to park elsewhere.

A tiny amount of my paint had been chipped off, but nothing major. I was supremely pissed off that she'd tried to make DS complicit in it though, and he was upset because he didn't know what he was supposed to do - tell me or keep quiet like the woman said. DS is autistic and at the time would do anything anyone instructed him to do, even if it got him in trouble (kids at school used him like a bloody pawn).

The father is a total knob. Funnily enough I was having a conversation with friends the other day and all 4 of us admitted that when we'd knocked/scraped other cars in the past we'd all been honest about it, even when things were barely noticeable and the owners weren't there at the time.

You totalky, 100% did the right thing!

The CFery of some people!!

In fact, is have taken a picture of their car and registration number 😡