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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To loathe drivers who leave cars running

26 replies

Cluckcluck18 · 12/10/2018 17:00

Twice a week I pick up my kid from preschool at 3. In the car park, which also doubles as a primary school car park, is a bloke in a 4x4 just sitting there while running his car, presumably waiting to get his school kids at 3:30. Every time I am there.

Can someone please explain why people do that?? It drives me utterly bonkers and I am very close to tapping on the window to ask him to turn the flipping thing off. His exhaust exits just meters from the preschool front door. I'm enraged by the selfishness of some people. Don't they read the news about the effects of pollution on kids?? The village is set in lovely countryside and this shit is ruining it for my kid and his!

OP posts:
Original poster
Cluckcluck18 · 12/10/2018 17:03

Just so you know, I've already done OTT hand wafting, audibly complaining about fumes and scowling directly at him to no avail.

OP posts:
Mumof1DS · 12/10/2018 17:04

Tell him. Maybe he needs it pointing out to him that he's polluting mere yards from the preschool entrance.
Or ask the school to put it in a letter home to all of the kids?
He could be inconsiderate or just a bit daft and needs to be told?

MelonBuffet · 12/10/2018 17:09

I’m guessing he does it to keep the air con going. I can see why you’re annoyed but the passive aggressive hand wafting isn’t going to cut it! You’re going to have to either confront, or speak to the school and ask them to send out an email about considerate parking (our school does this fairly often, to be avail but worth a try!) or you’ll have to tap on his window and ask him to turn it off.

FWIW I had someone tell me off for leaving my car running as I do deliveries as part of my job and can do 15-20 a day. If I shut it down every time I’d have a flat battery in no time, plus I had a diesel that ended up with exhaust problems from lots of short journeys. By the time the woman had finished ranting at me I could have done my delivery and left! I’ll be honest it made me want to drive round in circles just to piss her off! There are much bigger contributors to pollution in my mind, so I couldn’t get too worked up about it, but I guess it’s worth trying in case he just hasn’t thought about it.

MelonBuffet · 12/10/2018 17:09

*To NO avail

Finfintytint · 12/10/2018 17:20

Failing to quit an engine by an authorised person is an offence (on a public road I think) so I think you will struggle with enforcing such twattish behaviour without back up from the authorities.

pinkcardi · 12/10/2018 17:28

I sometimes (never in the school carpark/playground) leave mine on as the baby is asleep and wakes when the engine cuts out, so I leave it running as long as possible to ensure she gets a good nap.

But, if this is the case I will deliberately not park in the playground because we have an engines off policy.

Could you talk to the school about getting a sign out up?

specialsubject · 12/10/2018 17:30

Ask him who he has sex with in return for all that free petrol.

DevonCherry · 12/10/2018 17:41

I live in a road with a school in it, and there's so much competition for parking spaces at pickup time, people come as early as 2.45pm and run their engines for a full forty mins before the kids come out - obviously for heat if it's winter and a/c in the summer.
I hate it - and have been known to go out and ask them to turn their engines off, especially in the summer when my windows are open and the fumes pour into the house.

SueDunome · 12/10/2018 17:44

FWIW I had someone tell me off for leaving my car running as I do deliveries as part of my job and can do 15-20 a day. If I shut it down every time I’d have a flat battery in no time, plus I had a diesel that ended up with exhaust problems from lots of short journeys.

Just interested in this statement, seeing as many modern cars automatically cut the engine at traffic lights, surely it can't harm the vehicle to keep stopping and starting?

KatieMarieJ · 12/10/2018 17:47

I'm sorry but if you approached my car with the same attitude (the passive aggressive wafting at fumes etc) I'd sit revving the engine. Mine makes its own mind up (stop start tech) so if it was running it would be because the battery had gone below an acceptable charge and/or the temperature was over 2 degrees different to where I set it.

SchoolPanicTime · 12/10/2018 18:01

I'm sorry but if you approached my car with the same attitude (the passive aggressive wafting at fumes etc) I'd sit revving the engine

That's super obnoxious - you're also blowing pollution into the face of lots of kids and other adults who haven't done anything to annoy you.

ForalltheSaints · 12/10/2018 18:06

Police or local council, I think. Not sure what the council powers are, possibly they may have some as it appears not to be on the public highway.

No excuse for the driver's leaving the engine running, as he is not having to turn it off and on more than once. If he needs it for air con and cannot get out of there car or wind down a window, then he has some medical condition, which he should declare to the DVLA.

Approaching them and any form of sign such as hand wafting is pointless and counter-productive.

Firesuit · 12/10/2018 18:13

Just interested in this statement, seeing as many modern cars automatically cut the engine at traffic lights, surely it can't harm the vehicle to keep stopping and starting?

Those cars are specifically designed to cope with that. I think the alternators and batteries are different, not sure what else.

Original poster
Cluckcluck18 · 12/10/2018 19:05

Ok so from your responses I still can't see any sensible reason why he does it.

Think I'll try the school, but I am still so furious about the proximity to the door. Pure selfishness.

OP posts:
specialsubject · 12/10/2018 19:16

He is a pig with too.much money, that's why. Lots of them about, witness the proud druggie thread running at the moment.

Would be less of an issue if he hadn't bred.

Ffiffime · 12/10/2018 19:20

I leave mine running when it’s hot because I like the air on to cool me down. I leave it on when it’s cold because I like the heating on.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 12/10/2018 19:20

It's very inconsiderate.

There's no need for that.

twosunbathingdogs · 12/10/2018 19:23

YANBU. A fellow staff member sits in her car with the engine running for at least 30 mins every morning- she appears to be reading on her phone. I don’t know her to say anything, but it irritates me every single morning.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 12/10/2018 19:24

Cluck I'm 100% with you, it's a massive pet hate of mine.

Heating or air con - bollocks, you won't die if you get a few degrees above or below your preferred temperature.

The IPCC has just issued a report to the effect that we're all fucked if we do not make serious changes within the next 12 years. That's not just major corporations and governments - it's everyone.If several billion dickheads stopped thinking that it was worth sacrificing future generations to make themselves slightly more comfortable, we might get somewhere.

Lweji · 12/10/2018 19:25

Easy.
Fit rubber hose to exhaust pipe, direct to his window.

PrettyLovely · 12/10/2018 19:27

I dont understand why people do it either op.

SueDunome · 12/10/2018 22:30

I think he probably just doesn't realise the radio will still work if he turns the engine off.

SingleCellParamecium · 12/10/2018 22:57

Definitely try the school. Ours has put signs up every couple of metres along the fence opposite the parking spaces saying please turn off your engine, young lungs at work or something similar. Offer to put some signs out for them and they can put out an email.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 12/10/2018 23:01

Yep, pisses me off. I live next door to a primary school. Most people are considerate but there's a few tossers.

Babysharkdoodoodoodo · 12/10/2018 23:06

There's a twat in my road who starts his car and leaves it running every frigging morning at 6am. Every bloody morning! For 15 minutes. Outside my bedroom window. One day I will be awake enough to get up and scream at him for waking me up.