To not let car out until the morning

[AKAanothername]

Had a phone call earlier this evening, someone has parked in our private office car park without permission and everyone in the office has now left, locked the gates and the car is stuck in the car park.

The phone call came as we were in the middle of cooking dinner and about to settle down with a nice glass of wine. We have offered to meet them at 8am tomorrow to let them out, they were not happy.

AIBU to think that if you can't be bothered to pay for the public car park across the road and decide to park in a small courtyard where the signs clearly say 'no unauthorised parking' then there is a good chance the gate may be locked and you won't be able to retrieve your car?

How far of a drive is it for you to get there?

If less than 10 minutes then yes. Tomorrow.

If they're being an arse and it's a longer drive then sorry, now shut for Christmas.

This happens to us regularly. They'd have been screwed at the moment as we are now away for a fortnight and it would have stayed locked in.

We have one enclosed car park and one open. I've asked people to move from the open one in the past when we've been expecting multiple visitors or deliveries and been physically threatened etc. On one occasion having to ring the police it was so bad. It's amazing how entitled people have become.

Our open car park joins our neighbours. Both he and his customers regularly use ours and I didn't really mind until recently. We had new machinery delivered on a huge wagon. It was however completely within our car park. The neighbour complained because he could see our delivery wagon and it was annoying him. What a prick!

It's five miles away, nearest town to us, just under 15 mins drive.

YADNBU! Hopefully the CF will have learned a lesson.

If it's definitely somebody who had no business parking there, and there's no way it could reasonably be mistaken for a public road, then you are way too nice OP. You should have told them the car park will be reopened when it was already planned to be. (Monday if the CFs are lucky, January if they're not!)

I wouldn't rush out tomorrow and do it.
I would go sometime next year unless I happened to be in the area before then.
They don't have their car, tough shit, they shouldn't have parked there.

If they are rude to you then go earlier than 8am and superglue the key to the windscreen.

Consider it a good deed to humanity to let them wait until it will be normally open. They will live without a car and might be more thoughtfull about their behaviour next time. I wouldn't even go if it would be 2 minutes walk. I would threaten with removal of the car! Those are kind of people that park in disabled bay without disabled badge because they can get away with it.

CF indeed.
I'd be there at 8am dead on and wait no more than 5 minutes If they're late , then leave .

All the LOLz!

I would still go let them out tomorrow. Not tonight though. Fuck that.

Cheeky sod!

I'd be there at 8am dead on and wait no more than 5 minutes If they're late , then leave

^ This. Leave a note under the wipers so they know you were there. "Sorry we missed you, we are next open for business on February 1st, email address is ......."

but wait in your car to see their reaction and then you can appear and say luckily you hadn't driven off yet

They are lucky you arent charging them a release fee.

I would not have been as kind as you have, it would have been Monday morning at the very earliest, and when there were a number of other people about to humiliate them. Though as you have agreed something, you should stick to this.

Go in with an air of hostility, OP. Don't be shy about letting them know they're in the wrong and have interrupted your weekend. And go with someone well built as people like that can be absolute tossers and sometimes pretty intimidating. And there's no one else around at 8 on a Saturday.

I'm not too proud of this but I'd quite like to know how it goes in the morning op, if you get a chance to update.

The phone call came as we were in the middle of cooking dinner and about to settle down with a nice glass of wine. We have offered to meet them at 8am tomorrow to let them out, they were not happy

What aren’t they happy about? They should be more than grateful that you have said you will let them out at 8am. They obviously want a lie in in the morning. I would message if they aren’t there sharpish they will be locked in until business reopens.
Did you ask why they parked in a private, lockable, car Park? What did they say? Why did they phone you, Is your number displayed? Or are they a ‘friend of a friend’ who has been told parking in AKA’s work is easy & free?

YANBU you are more than generous.

What's going to be more beneficial to you with the petty power trips,
Nice wine or sorting out your possession of land?

I'm not going, DH will be going, he took the phone call and suggested 8am, he's an early riser.

I will be busy preparing lists, we're taking three of our parents away and have rented a house for a week for Christmas. I'm now of an age when I can easily forget things, I need lots of lists.

There are no petty power trips, we refused to go out this evening - dinner, wine, MIL just arrived - but DH has said he will go at 8am tomorrow. CF parker was not happy, she said she needed her car tonight. I very much doubt there will be any apology gifts.

I am often blocked out of my(one) parking space by strangers in our tiny private car park or by inconsiderate drivers parking across the entrance and vanishing for hours on end. It's really annoying.
I'd turn up at 8,00 as agreed and wait 5 minutes. I'd also ensure I had someone with me as backup and witness (maybe catch an independent passing official?) and let the inconsiderate driver know how lucky they are that you hadn't left for your holiday straight from work.

If they don't show in that time I'd leave the note as suggested above telling them when the car park re-opens in the new year.
And yes, they should be very apologetic and preferably carrying gifts and flowers for your inconvenience.

I would put up a sign saying that there will be a service charge payable in advance.

Make sure dh takes an invoice for looking after her car overnight...

Absolutely suit yourselves on this.

Did she at least open the conversation by acknowledging she shouldn’t have parked there?

Well done. People are terrible.
My mum lives very close to a private school and a woman actually parked on her drive while she went and collected her child. She had done it a few times but my mum had always been alone and a bit worried about confronting her. Until one Friday we were ready for her and I was there. I blocked her in with my car. She rang on the doorbell and said to my mum she was sorry and it had been an emergency and she would never have done it but her child was ill. My lovely mum... who looks all greyed haired and innocent...just said she was sorry but the car belonged to her son and he’d gone away for a few days and had had to block her because he was hurrying to get a flight. The woman went mad and got really nasty. But we just kept saying there was nothing we could do until Monday. We kept her blocked in until after the weekend. She never did it again. Today when I went to get petrol someone had parked in between two petrol pumps managing to block them both. The man at the counter told me the car had been there for ages. I really think cars and parking make people a bit mad.
So well done for holding your ground.

@tararabumdeay What's going to be more beneficial to you with the petty power trips, Nice wine or sorting out your possession of land?

If only it was your car