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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Children and petrol stations

74 replies

cashmerebat · 12/02/2019 22:28

What do you all do with your D.C. at petrol stations??

Was out with a friend today with her D.C. who are 3 and 2. Both fast asleep in car seats in the back of her car.

We pull into the petrol station, I ask friend to get me cigarettes while she is paying for her fuel. She runs in to pay for her fuel and her card declines so comes back out to get me to pay on my car and goes to the cash machine to check her balance.

I go in the shop to buy cigarettes on her signal that she has the petrol money. I knew the cashier so stood talking to her for a few minutes and friend was with me.

Woman comes into the shopping flapping about “how dangerous we are behaving by leaving sleeping children on a petrol forecourt” Hmm

Batshit right?

OP posts:
Lolkittens5 · 12/02/2019 22:32

I pay at the pump. If that’s not possible I’d take DS in. I wouldn’t mind if I saw someone else leaving sleeping children in the car.

😊

BooksAreMyOnlyFriends · 12/02/2019 22:33

Ideally I pay at pump or run in and pay quickly but certainly not stand and 'talk to the cashier for a few minutes'

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 12/02/2019 22:34

I leave mine in the car. This comes up on here all the time. More mumsnetters take their children in than people in my town.

BlueMouseRedMouse · 12/02/2019 22:34

When mine were younger I always brought them in to the petrol station with me, even if it meant waking them up.

I’ve always been extra paranoid though because I know someone whose car was stolen while her child was in the back, when she’d just popped into a shop (the child wasn’t harmed).

Oysterbabe · 12/02/2019 22:37

Pay at the pump.

Echobelly · 12/02/2019 22:37

It is stupid to insist on taking kids in. How many times have you heard of kids hit by moving vehicles? Many. How many times have you heard of station forecourts suddenly exploding or something? I haven't.

And kids will be extra hard to take safely through the forecourt if grumpy, fractious and half-asleep and there's more than one of them. Way safer in the car.

TakeMe2Insanity · 12/02/2019 22:38

I left ds (3) in the car for the first time today. Spoke to dh after seeing this thread he said he would have taken him in. Hmmmm. I wouldn’t have stopped for a chat.

LovingLola · 12/02/2019 22:39

How long was ‘a few minutes?’

EwItsAHooman · 12/02/2019 22:39

Policy at our local station is that no under 16s are allowed on the forecourt, if the cashier sees someone getting their kids out of the car they make a tannoy announcement to remind them. If you want to take the kids in you have to first get your fuel then pull into one of the parking spaces next to the shop.

thewinkingprawn · 12/02/2019 22:43

Always left mine in the car - you can see it from the petrol station cash desk always. Everyone I know does. First time I heard that people take them in was on here.

adaline · 12/02/2019 22:44

It's far, far more dangerous to take them with you. My parents didn't let me get out in petrol stations until I was about 8 unless I was being carried to go to the toilet on a long journey.

Otherwise I stayed in the car.

NoPlaced · 12/02/2019 22:48

Leave them in the car if they're asleep, surely?

HolesinTheSoles · 12/02/2019 22:50

I probably wouldn't leave mine in the car but logically I'm not really sure why.

singingismypassion · 12/02/2019 22:51

I have never seen a parent take their children into a petrol station to pay.

whereisthepostman · 12/02/2019 22:53

I leave mine in the car, asleep or awake, if I can't get pay at the pump I'll choose a petrol station I can park close to the door and watch out the window and if it's too busy I won't go in. I wouldn't stand and chat with the cashier though Confused

TrixieFranklin · 12/02/2019 22:55

When my twins were newborn (premature) and probably until they were 6months I would take them in if I had them with me and no pay at pump.
So I think for the first 6months or so I avoided going for fuel with them and would get DH to fill up for me or go when he was home with the little ones.
They're fine in the car now they're a little older. They hate the car wash so I tell them if they're well behaved and sit nicely and wait for me that we won't go in the car wash.. if they're naughty then we go through Blush

DamonSalvatoresDinner · 12/02/2019 22:55

I'm 37, been driving for 15 years and I have never ever seen anyone take their children out of the car to pay for fuel. And we don't have pay at pump options in these parts either.

Catsandbootsandbootsandcats · 12/02/2019 22:58

I have 5 kids. Imagine getting them all out of their various car seats (when they were younger, they're teens now) and traipsing them across the forecourt. Not gonna happen!

Of course I'd leave them in the car if they were with me. I'd try and get petrol when they weren't with me but that wasn't always possible. I'd go to a really quiet petrol station so I knew there wouldn't be a big queue.

IWantChocolates · 12/02/2019 23:00

I recently left my 2-month-old in the car while I went to pay. It was the first time I'd filled the car with him there. They didn't have pay-at-the-pump so I popped in quickly, keeping an eye on him as much as possible (even though the chocolate/snacks were piled so high against the window I had to stand on tiptoes to see the car). It was that or get his car seat out and lug it in. It didn't feel like the wrong decision to me.

Biffsboys · 12/02/2019 23:00

I honestly have never in 30 years of driving seen anyone take a baby or toddler in to pay ? I only started taking mine when because was about 7 ( because he wanted sweets) 😬

WinkysTeatowel · 12/02/2019 23:01

Oooh I saw someone taking their baby into the petrol station to pay last week. It's the first time I've ever witnessed it. My kids 5 &3m) were in the car...

I pay at pump or dash in. Wouldn't hang around for a natter though.

ChristinaW16 · 12/02/2019 23:15

Never taken mine in! I had twins so lugging two car seats in has never been feasible. Because I've done it since birth, my kids (now 5) are completely fine with chatting to each other in the car while I nip in and pay. Don't see the problem but each to one's own.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 12/02/2019 23:18

Just lock the car surely? I do that when going in to pay unless there are adult passengers.

fusioluxe · 12/02/2019 23:18

If you leave in the car, what do you do with the keys? Lock the car and take them with you or leave car unlocked?

Never heard of a forecourt exploding but have heard of cars being driven away from a forecourt with child inside...

EwItsAHooman · 12/02/2019 23:21

Lock the car, take keys with you.

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