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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to leave my engine running for ten mins at 6.45 each morning (M-F)?

801 replies

ThreeJumpersIsNotEnough · 16/12/2018 17:21

Neighbours have just come to the door with a Christmas card and a polite request to be more quiet in the mornings.

I usually leave at 7am to drop dd at breakfast club and get myself to work at 8am (I work Mon-Fri only - no weekends).

Now it's getting colder, the car is unbearably cold in the mornings so last week I started nipping out 10-15 mins earlier while dd was brushing her teeth so the car would be warm for us getting in and the frost/ice would be mostly melted from the window.

Neighbours have revealed that they are normally woken by me leaving most mornings at 7am but they can put up with it as I leave immediately so they are able to go back to sleep. However, they are not willing to put up with what I've been doing recently as they have found it impossible to go back to sleep having been awake for so long waiting for me to leave with the engine running ... Hmm

They have suggested I park further away from the house.

This is my first winter with these neighbours. They only moved in beginning of the year and we're polite to each other but not any more than 'hello' acquaintances. We live very rurally - just our two houses - in woodland area. Any noise carries and it is mostly silent (why I moved here - now I'm the one being a noise pest, it would appear). No street lights. 5 minute drive down our landlord's private (god awful road) onto the public road where there are other houses.

If I parked further away, that is further for me and DD to walk to the car each morning - in the pitch black - with our bags. Likewise, it is further for us to walk to the house each evening when we get back.

Not sure what the solution is. I told them I wasn't keen to park farther away (due to the above concerns) but they've asked me to give it a try at least for tomorrow. I've agreed to try it.

AIBU to ask for your ideas on what a peaceful resolution to this would be?

OP posts:
CodLiverOil556 · 17/12/2018 21:01

@PigletJohn as a mechanic...I've seen it and fixed the damage!

Justaboy · 17/12/2018 21:09

as my car seems to take a long time to heat up

If your car is taking much longer to heat up that you remeber it doing so then it might have a duff Thremostat

Your car engine generates waste heat and water circulates through the engine and then through a radiatoir that cools the water and gets rid of the waste heat. Some of that heated water is passed to the car heater which contains a small radiatior, air blown thru that will heat the car.

Now in order to let the car warm up quickly which for many reasons is a good thing a device called a Thermostat prevents the water from cirrculating thru the radiator unitl it's around near boiling point so all happens as it ought .

If that thermostat is stuck open then it can take much longer for the car to warm up and the heater to work as it ought as well..FWIW..

deedeegee · 17/12/2018 21:09

In my city you would be fined as leaving the engine running whilst parked is an offence under local bylaws, as it’s polluting.

bridgetosomewhere · 17/12/2018 21:12

Windscreen covers are good and hot water bottle for your little one

I hate getting in a cold car too. I sympathise.
Could you pop a hot water bottle in both your seats before you go?

manicmij · 17/12/2018 21:13

It's a offence to leave a vehicle unattended with engine running, on roadway or driveway. Also you may also be accused of causing a nuisance by pollution. Think there are moves afoot to strengthen the law on running of engines on stationery vehicles whether attended or not eg folk sitting using phones, school pickups. Your insurance will be void if anything happened when car left running unattended. YABU.

Justaboy · 17/12/2018 21:14

Onecutefox. I presumed you meant keep the blankets on the windscreen but inside which is very difficltyt do .

Best bet is some off bits of cardboard or sometimes newspaper all your tryining to do is to stop water droplets from settling on the screen and freezing. Course if its a blanket then the watrer can seep thru that and ccause it to stick!

MagnificentSevenHeaven · 17/12/2018 21:17

Mumsnet moaningfuckery at its best.

Everyone in the country runs their engine while they defrost and demist their cars.

Apart from the MN Bullshit Brigade!

"Oooh, my ears! Oooh, the environment"

Feck Off - I Don't Care!! Grin

JUstme123456778 · 17/12/2018 21:20

Honestly I showed this to my husband and his response was that all of you peeps are absolutely bonkers 😂😂😂( apart from OP and the minority who thinks OP is not BU)
No OP YANBU
I can’t believe your neighbours complain about the fact that you start the engine at 7 in the morning to go to work. This is ridiculous.
They are the ones being unreasonable. Honestly! If they don’t want neighbours maybe they should look into moving to an even more remote area, with no people around for miles.
My neighbours always warm their cars before driving off and so do I in the mornings. I never thought someone would complain about something like this.

In regards to it being against the law...people are daft...it is only against the law if you leave the vehicle unattended so maybe just stay inside the car while the engine is on.
I’m not sure why you received so many messages saying you are being unreasonable. I’m truly shocked.

JUstme123456778 · 17/12/2018 21:22

*Mumsnet moaningfuckery at its best.

Everyone in the country runs their engine while they defrost and demist their cars.

Apart from the MN Bullshit Brigade!

"Oooh, my ears! Oooh, the environment"

Feck Off - I Don't Care!! *

This is brilliant!!!! Love it!! Well done for this post! Hahaha

dragonflyinn10 · 17/12/2018 21:24

@MagnificentSevenHeaven I think some of the comments on here are terrible don't you ? I feel like purposely sitting in my car for 12 minutes just because !!!

Onecutefox · 17/12/2018 21:27

I wouldn't have the patience to sit in the car and wait for ten minutes every day even if the fumes were good for the environment.

TeeJay1970 · 17/12/2018 21:27

Post 29 was the OP saying she was in the wrong.

Mumsnutters then felt the need for an additional 530 posts - only on Mumsnet1

JUstme123456778 · 17/12/2018 21:29

I really don’t get it...you people don’t defrost your cars before driving off?
Pls don’t tell me you don’t...this is bullshirt 😂

BabySharkDooDooDooDoo · 17/12/2018 21:29

Yanbu as such but yabu at the same time. Its a hard one as i can see both sides of the story

McTufty · 17/12/2018 21:30

I don’t leave my engine running like this for environmental reasons, but I’m surprised how many people are so disturbed by the sound of an engine running. It’s an every day sound and genuinely doesn’t bother me, had no idea it bothered other people so much. I’ll bear it in mind going forward!

DutchSparkle · 17/12/2018 21:30

Use de icer or a scraper, DON'T pour water on your windscreen. I did and it cracked. Expensive mistake.

BunsyGirl · 17/12/2018 21:33

My next door neighbour has a number of ‘supercars’. When he starts one up it makes quite a noise, and will wake me up if I am asleep because I am a light sleeper. Maybe I should ask him to ditch his Ferrari for a Ford Fiesta Grin

TheClitterati · 17/12/2018 21:33

YABVVVU and if my neighbours acted like this I would be seriously fucked off.

By most standards I'm a pretty laid back person.

JUstme123456778 · 17/12/2018 21:38

@theclitterati no shoot Sherlock!
😂😂
You can’t be laid back if you complain about something like this ... you are a Neighbour-Zilla 😂😂😂😂

SauvignonBlanche · 17/12/2018 21:39

Don't, for goodness sake, put warm/tepid/boiling water on your windscreen. The sudden temperature change can crack it! Can't believe people still do this

No one has told my windscreen Hmm

Lovemusic33 · 17/12/2018 21:42

I warm my car up if the windows are icy, so does my neighbours, never seen it as a issue, one of my cars needs warming up first as it’s old and cuts out of it’s too cold. I don’t like using de-icer as it ruins the paint on the car and I’m too short to reach the top of my windscreen to use a scraper 🤣
Lots of people on my road do the same before leaving for work.

EdWinchester · 17/12/2018 21:43

I have been driving since 1990.

I have always poured hot water on my windscreens and never had one crack - I suspect it's an urban myth.

Do the people that think leaving an engine running is ok not pause to consider that cars' engines have stop-start technology for a bloody reason? This reduces emissions you twits.

puppymouse · 17/12/2018 21:44

I'm not usually one for neighbourly love and all that but I'd always shiver for a few mins or wait for the car to defrost once I'm in it ready to go rather than just leave it running so early. I think YABU.

Get one of those frost prevention covers to put on the windscreen. As long as you don't forget, they really work.

masterandmargarita · 17/12/2018 21:45

It's kinda like dropping litter or not picking up dog poo. It's saying - as indeed an earlier poster has just said - 'fuck every one else- I'm doing what ever I like'.

OhDearGodLookAtThisMess · 17/12/2018 21:47

kermitrulesok
Well, OBVIOUSLY boiling water is not a good idea, but lukewarm shouldn't be a problem.
I've been driving for nearly 40 years and never cracked a windscreen yet.

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