To not want to be rushed out of a car park?

[MsMarvel]

Travel around for work, so regularly use public car parks to then work at client sites (hotels, bars etc) always arrive early so never have any issue getting spaces in busy car parks.

Because i work in a public area at a client site, when i get back to my car like to grab my lunch quickly and make some phonecalls before heading home (todays journey is a 2 hour drive home)

Im fed up of people trying to find spaces in car parks seeing me going into my car, amd sitting behind me waiting for me to leave! I normally end up feeling rushed and just leave, but today i decided to sit and eat the steak bake i bought on the way to the car. Woman sits behind me for like 5 mins, then goes past slowly peering into my car giving me proper evils. Should add, engine not on, so not sitting with idling engine.

Aibu to take some time before leaving a parking space??

It would be best if nobody sat in a car in a car park unnecessarily and also if nobody assumed everyone who was sat in a car in a car park was doing so unnecessarily.

I agree signalling to show you are not leaving is common courtesy.

I've been parked in a parent space before now as trying to wrangle a 4 year old into her seat while she had a massive tantrum is not easy and it isnt made any easier by someone hovering for a space and making signals or watching me with a face like a smacked arse.
I get it,its annoying in a busy car park but surely common sense is around somewhere

I had a man tell me to stop standing around with my arse hanging out the car while I was trying to strap 3 under 3's in the car, but again that's not what we are talking about. Anyone who does that is just a prick.

I don’t see why anyone gets irate that someone is in their car (which they are perfectly entitled to be if they’ve paid).what pisses me off though is healthy people with no children nabbing the last parent and child space (yes they might have hidden disabilities but if they can run into the supermarket I’m pretty sure they don’t need the parent and child space).

On hospital parking, mine is a nightmare and they really have to do something as it must be costing loads in missed/late appointments, increased use of ambulances etc. Last time my baby needed to go in, the gp said the algorithm was flashing up as a 999 call. We both knew it would be better to drive in as it she was poorly but wasn’t at immediate threat. That day I knew I’d be able to get my husband to come and get us so we’d drive in, get millk etc and he could drop us off (and then he would do the tour of the short stay supermarket car parks nearby). If I’d been on my own I’d have taken the ambulance as it’s impossible to park and I would have be stuck with being clamped or an £80-100 fine as I wouldn’t have been able to leave my baby to go and move the car.

yes they might have hidden disabilities but if they can run into the supermarket I’m pretty sure they don’t need the parent and child space

Wow, you should probably leave the thread now. Have you never been on a p&c parking thread?

Some people seem to be making distinctions between 'necessary' and 'unnecessary' uses of the car park. But it's never truly necessary for someone to use a specific car park at a specific time. It's just a matter of what is convenient or preferable for each person.

Not bad mannered, but if I was waiting for a space I would find it irritating and probably a bit disappointing if I gmhad been looking for a space for a while. I certainly wouldn't say anything to you.

Instead of waiting and being irritated, why not nip into one of those miraculously available nearby car parks where people can so easily go to eat their lunch to facilitate the convenience of others? Much better than hovering, unless you have an electric car?

I mentioned hospital car parks - of course I wouldn't begrudge anyone needing some time to calm down before driving or time to themselves. However with spaces being in demand at certain times there are people that have no reason to hang around and potentially cause other to miss important appointments or delay them getting to sick relatives.

Parent and child spaces are the bane of my life at the moment with a newborn. Our local supermarket has changed the spaces and most of them are too narrow to be able to get the baby out of so it makes me cross when people who don't need the spaces park in the wider spaces. And why do the trolley people move all the baby trolleys as far away from the spaces as possible?

I do not get people who are saying it is unfair not to move. You pay to park your car or it's free. What you do then is entirely up to you. You could be going to work, shop, meet with a funeral director, have a hospital appointment, be sitting in your car waiting for someone, eating lunch. There is no hierarchy of need no matter how desperate someone else is to park. I do love the idea to sit in the passenger seat. Much easier than trying to mime to every waiter that you aren't ready to leave.

Eating in your car is unnecessary

Where would you go to eat the packed lunch you brought from home, on a day when it is pissing down with rain or bitterly cold?

It's like sitting in a public toilet when you don't need to use the toilet and there is a queue of people waiting outside

It is nothing like that. A toilet is for a particular function. You do that and leave.

The car park is for parking the car, which is what OP did. There is nothing that says the car must be empty, nor that anyone must leave the car.

I don't know what reasons people have for wanting a space that I'm taking up, I would rather just move.

You have obviously never been in the OP’s position.

I can’t believe being such a doormat I’d give up a space to then trawl round a strange town trying to find somewhere else to stop and eat my lunch.

Eating in your car is unnecessary

You should come to Ireland where everyone's fondest childhood memories are of sitting in a steamed up car eating a picnic because you left the house two hours earlier full of hope, looking out at blue skies, and then you arrived at the seaside/forest in torrential rain so heavy that the smallest person in the car was dispatched to crawl through the back seat and into the boot to get the picnic out because it was too wet for anyone to open the car door.

Instead of waiting and being irritated, why not nip into one of those miraculously available nearby car parks where people can so easily go to eat their lunch to facilitate the convenience of others?

Yeah, that's probably what I would have to do because others are to selfish to move after they have finished their shopping, swimming or whatever else they are doing.

Where would you go to eat the packed lunch you brought from home, on a day when it is pissing down with rain or bitterly cold?

Why would it be in your car in a public car park?

I expect that some of the people whom the OP refers to probably are making journeys that they could walk, or just park somewhere else in the car park and walk a few extra yards.

As long as the OP is Ok with paying extra for longer parking and indicates politely they are not moving yet, it seems reasonable.

Yeah, that's probably what I would have to do because others are to selfish to move after they have finished their shopping, swimming or whatever else they are doing.

And your need is greater than theirs because...?

This is part of what they’re doing in the town centre.

It makes precisely zero difference whether they eat in their car or in the cafe where they bought the food, or sitting on a park bench.

Except they’re making space in the cafe and on the park bench for others.

*It is nothing like that. A toilet is for a particular function. You do that and leave.

The car park is for parking the car, which is what OP did. There is nothing that says the car must be empty, nor that anyone must leave the car.*

Its exactly like that, its a public facility, a place to leave your car when you have to go and do something else. Again just common decency to vacate a space if there is someone waiting for a space you no longer need. You have no idea whether their need for the space is more important than yours, and again I would never even question why someone was sitting in a space, I would just move along. People seem to be very touchy about the fact some people wouldn't sit in their cars in a busy car park eating their lunch while someone needed a space. Why is that?

You should come to Ireland where everyone's fondest childhood memories are of sitting in a steamed up car eating a picnic because you left the house two hours earlier full of hope, looking out at blue skies, and then you arrived at the seaside/forest in torrential rain so heavy that the smallest person in the car was dispatched to crawl through the back seat and into the boot to get the picnic out because it was too wet for anyone to open the car door.

I live in the west of Scotland, I know all about rain

I can’t believe being such a doormat

Wow 😂😂😂😂😂

Do you mean you can't imagine being such a door mat 😂😂

You have obviously never been in the OP’s position.

Obviously 😂

And your need is greater than theirs because..

What the fuckity fuck are you talking about. I have literally just said I don't know if someone's need would be greater than mine, that's why I would move for someone and have done.

Now I know you are all going to think I'm making this up but I literally had the exact scenario about 2 months ago. Ds 11 birthday, 6 X 11 year olds in my car, all wanted a greggs. Stopped at the nearest greggs in a very busy shopping center, nipped in to get food, got myself a starbucks before trampolining, came back to the car, bam someone behind me waiting for the space I was in. I was finished in the shopping center so obviously sat my steak bake (not actually kidding, I did get a steak bake) to one side and drove to my next destination, where we got out the car and I ate my lunch in the tampoloine park 🤷‍♀️.

Except they’re making space in the cafe and on the park bench for others.

Just not in the car park where people will obviously presume they are leaving if they get in the drivers seat 😂