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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Locked baby in car, woman filming

98 replies

ShantyShack · 07/02/2019 16:17

I've changed my name for this as it's very outing.

This afternoon I managed to accidentally lock my keys in the car with my 3 month old baby. I was too far away from home to get the spares. There were paramedics already in the car park who I asked for help and they advised me to contact the fire brigade. I called them and they arrived quickly and begun to try and get into the car. My DD was also with me but she waited in my friends car so was perfectly safe. As expected a fair number of people stopped to have a look. I was very upset as the baby was screaming and I found it quite distressing. I then noticed there was a woman filming me on her phone. I raised my hands as if to say "what are you doing" and she didn't stop. My friend went over and told her to stop and the paramedics actually moved the ambulance to block her view.

AIBU to be upset that the woman was filming what was obviously a horrible situation and to wonder what she hopes to achieve from it? I'm not on Facebook but we have a number of local "Community" boards so have asked friends to look out for her post. Can I then contact admin to get them to take it down? Surely if I can be identified in the video, she needs my permission to post anything?

OP posts:
HJWT · 07/02/2019 16:53

@ShantyShack the same thing happened to a friend once, she ended up just smashing the window rather than waiting and someone rang the police and said she was stealing the car 😂

ShantyShack · 07/02/2019 16:55

@SilverDoe she sounds horrid too.

@HJWT if it had been a hot day, I would have smashed the window without hesitation but I knew DS wasn't in any danger so thought it better to wait for the fire brigade.

OP posts:
ShantyShack · 07/02/2019 16:56

@theyellowjumper that's so nice. She must have been so upset.

OP posts:
SleepWarrior · 07/02/2019 16:56

I've done this multiple times but somehow always managed to either be a)at the house at the same time as DH so he could unlock with his keys or b) with toddler in the car who could unlock from the inside.

I now have a car that you can unlock by pressing a button on the door if your keys are in close proximity - so it works if the keys are shut in the car. Been very glad of that function many times!

That woman though Shock. Hopefully there will be a new craze of filming the unpleasant people who do this, and posting their insensitive behavior on social media...

FishesaPlenty · 07/02/2019 16:57

my car locks itself if you don't open one of the front doors within a certain amount of time

There's probably a way of disabling that. Stupid idea.

ShantyShack · 07/02/2019 17:04

@FishesaPlenty yes, I'm going to look into it now definitely!

OP posts:
arethereanyleftatall · 07/02/2019 17:06

I wonder if she thought you were wrong to call out the fire brigade rather than just break a window, and was filming to show people later? (I'm not saying you were by the way, after all you were advised to, and maybe the fire station was right next door, I don't know).

AGHHHH · 07/02/2019 17:06

Yanbu. She's a cunt. Who cares if she has the right to do so, it doesn't make it OK.

Heronymous · 07/02/2019 17:07

Surely if I can be identified in the video, she needs my permission to post anything?

Unfortunately she doesn’t, but she was still being a massive dick. If you see anything contact the host as they may take it down. Hopefully she was just being a prick and it won’t go further. Glad you and your baby are ok!

MiggledyHiggins · 07/02/2019 17:10

Shanty I worked on a motor rescue line for years. At least once a week there would be a call for keys locked on a car. It's easy done - I've done it myself and had to be rescued by our own mechanics.

And at least a quarter of those calls were ones with babies or toddlers locked in the car with a frantic parent outside. Usually the child was either asleep or highly entertained by the shenanigans outside their window.

If someone shared that video with me I'd a) think that person is a right pillock, and b) have complete sympathy with you for the stressful situation you were in.

ShannonRockallMalin · 07/02/2019 17:11

@ShantyShack glad your baby’s OK. Stupid woman filming obviously had nothing better to do.

I locked my DS in the car when he was five weeks old. Luckily it was in the driveway of my house but unluckily my house key and phone were also in the car. I phoned DH from a neighbour’s house but it was going to take him ages to get home so my neighbour ended up expertly smashing a window (I strongly suspect he had done it before, and not for rescuing babies!).

DS slept through the whole thing, it must have been awful for you if your little one was crying.

ShantyShack · 07/02/2019 17:11

@arethereanyleftatall even if that is the case, there still doesn't seem any point in filming! I was advised to contact the fire brigade and they themselves said I had done the right thing.

OP posts:
MaggieAndHopey · 07/02/2019 17:13

Something about mobile phones turns some people into complete douchebags. It's like they forget how to be a human. Sorry this happened to you - glad everything is OK now.

Flamingosnbears · 07/02/2019 17:16

Some people just don't have morals.

forumdonkey · 07/02/2019 17:17

Poor you OP, what a distressing afternoon for you. These things happen and you did everything you could do. I can't understand the mentality of these kind of people. I don't know where you are but if I see anything on Fb that looks like what you've described I will comment but only before reporting it.

ImMeantToBeWorking · 07/02/2019 17:17

@Fabaunt was it the poor lady who got decapitated by any chance? If it was it was on the M50 in Dublin. People actually stopped and got out of their cars to film it. Horrible. It was sent to my DP and he told me about it but he deleted them straight away!

OP unfortunately that is the way the world has gone. People are so obsessed with getting their videos liked and shaed. They will probably email it to LadBible (or something equally as stupid) for the £100. Don't worry about them. You are not the first person to lock a baby in a car, and you will not be the last.

You can ask for posts to be removed, or get them reported on facebooj, but facebook don't always use common sense. Now if you had flashed her because of the nudity it would be taken down!

I hope you are OK after your ordeal! Flowers

Soubriquet · 07/02/2019 17:17

There are always nosy arseholes who are concerned about Facebook than anything else

I remember hearing about a poor woman who went into labour in the middle of winter in a street

People crowded round her...but did anyone help?

Nope they all stood there and filmed Angry

Biancadelrioisback · 07/02/2019 17:17

I've managed to lock myself out my house and one of my neighbours decided to film me trying to get back in rather than offer to help. People are twats in future, march up to her and explain to the camera that she has no empathy and decides to film a situation for her own entertainment rather than help or keep her nose out of it.

newnameforthis7 · 07/02/2019 17:18

Oh FFS! Sad

What a vile cow she is. I would have knocked her out. Cheeky cunt!

I AM FUMING for you OP! Angry

Sorry, words fail me! You poor lamb.

If this video DOES end up anywhere and I see it, I will report it.

LoniceraJaponica · 07/02/2019 17:18

I don’t understand why people film stuff like this. I am not of the “snapchat generation” Hmm and wouldn’t dream of doing this.

“my car locks itself if you don't open one of the front doors within a certain amount of time.”

That sounds like a design fault and a safety concern. I agree that this is a stupid idea. My car locks itself if I unlock it but don’t open the door, but once a door has been opened it doesn’t lock itself again. I think car manufacturers need to rethink their safety design strategy so this can’t happen.

5foot5 · 07/02/2019 17:26

I think people are just so used to living their lives online, on social media, that sometimes they cant properly distinguish it from real life. Well not exactly that, but anyone who wasn't totally obsessed with documenting their day for everyone to see would surely realise that this was happening to a real person who could be quite distressed by the situation and filming them was an utterly crappy thing to do.

MarshaBradyo · 07/02/2019 17:27

How awful for you I fear this

As for filming, how stupid, like that Black Mirror episode

MissEliza · 07/02/2019 17:30

She's a dick. Op once I locked my toddler in the car. He survived. We all make mistakes (every day!) as mums.

hastingsmua1 · 07/02/2019 17:30

Well even if she’s not a Snapchat user there’s every chance she still sent it around. If she’s an older lady then she may have sent it as gossip over whatsapp (etc) to her family/friends instead. It doesn’t make sense to you & I as it’s so unnecessary, but it’s the nature of busybodies. She probably saw all the commotion and thought how she must inform someone

newnameforthis7 · 07/02/2019 17:31

Yeah Marsha, it IS like some Black Mirror shit!

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