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??

When exactly did you hit your head, Thestrangestthing?

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In reality, most people are considerate. They let people know when we're not moving, they're amenable to reasonable requests without tantrumming. On a chatboard, reasonable, considerate people object to being patronised and pilloried by posers who selectively pick out bits of posts and run with them.

We've made a deletion for a personal attack - but please do report if there are any more shenanigans and we'll stick our heads round the door again. Peace and love please...

Surely it just depends what the car park is for? Shopping centre with a huge car park? You should be allowed to eat your lunch in or out of your car. Rural doctor's surgery? Then yes you'd be massive twat to take up a car parking spot if there are none others while you eat a steak slice.

I think thats the first time ive ever started a thread that mumsnet have had to comment on!!

I feel like I've made it now!

You pay for a parking space to leave your car in for a particular amount of time eg 2 hours.

It's irrelevant what you do in those 2 hours - you're paying for your car to be in the space. Doesn't matter if you sit in the car, stand next to it, or go and do something else.

If someone else wants the space while you are still using it I would wave them on though.

CuriousaboutSamphire I used to use exactly the same logic when I had a job where I was either on the road a lot or on sites with only men's provision. I shop all over so if I needed to occasionally run in to use the facilities I didn't feel a twinge of guilt, also grabbing a supermarket sandwich on the hoof and wolfing it back in the car was often the only realistic option.

I have to admit I'm quite amazed by some of the views espoused on this thread that the OP should find somewhere which could be arguably less convenient, comfortable and secure to eat just to save other people the horror of momentarily thinking they had found a parking space that actually turned out to still be occupied. The idea that the OP is selfish for keeping her car stationary while she needs it be be stationary is absurd. It is just as relevant to say that someone wishing her to move before she is ready is selfish. A simple shake of the head to show you are not moving is all that is required.

Ok, the question that remains unanswered, satisfactorily, in my mind, can be encapsulated like this:

Businesswomen A, B and C set out (from different parts of the country) for identical working days. Each has to drive for two hours to her first meeting, which starts at 10.30am. That meeting will last between 1 and 2 hours. She will then need to spend 30-40 minutes writing up notes while all is fresh in her mind and making a couple of urgent calls. She will also need to eat lunch.

Then, she needs to drive for 30-40 minutes to her next meeting, at 2pm. After that, note-making, responding to a few urgent calls or messages, then driving two hours home.

It's a cold, rainy day. Neither client has offered her lunch and there is no canteen or cafe at either workplace. Both workplaces are in town centres with very limited on-street parking and neither has any visitor parking spaces; visitors are advised to park at nearby pay and display car parks.

Each businessowman arrives at her first destination in good time, just after 10am, parks her car, selecting the 'up to 4 hours' option when paying for parking and displays her ticket. She walks five minutes to the workplace, announces herself, waits in reception, then has her meeting. At 12 noon she finishes the meeting and leaves the client's workplace.

Businesswoman A goes to a nearby cafe, buys lunch and writes up her notes while waiting for her food, making her calls after eating. She returns to her car at 1pm and drives away.

Businesswoman B buys a sandwich and drink, returns to her car, sits in the passenger seat, makes her notes, calls, eats, then drives off at 1pm.

Businesswoman C returns to her car, sits in the passenger seat, makes her notes and calls, eats the packed lunch she brought with her, then drives away at 1pm.

The car park is busy but not full. There is a brief moment, when B and C return to their cars, when an approaching driver thinks they might be about to drive off, so hovers, rather than drive up to the next level to look for a space. B and C notice, shake their heads to gesture that they're not leaving yet and get into the passenger seat.

Is any person in this scenario doing a morally bad, or selfish, thing? More or less so than any other? Why?

@Russell19 But how do you know they aren't going back into where they came out of? This used to happen to me at a job, I'd eat my lunch in the car and make phone calls on my half hr lunch break because you no I am allowed to do that but cars would sit there and wait for me to move which I wouldn't because I was returning back to work.

@MichaelMumsnet, ah, I see we are being selective about what a personal attack is on MN now. We will just ignore the personal insults directed at me.

Is any person in this scenario doing a morally bad, or selfish, thing? More or less so than any other? Why?

Clearly, the cafe owner should tell A to drive to another part of the town, or even a different town to eat, so she would vacate her parking spot.

If you know you need to park at a busy hour, then consider different options, or just be prepared for parking spots to be hard to come by.

None of them are morally bad or selfish, Lottie. Although C displays some sneakily selfish behaviour.

I hate when people hover to try to make me move. I was parked on the street in my local town a few weeks ago and a woman pulled up behind me, indicating that she was coming into the space I was in, holding up traffic. So I sat there. And let her sit waiting. She lasted 15 minutes😂😂 drives me crazy so I just don't bother moving. Very childish I know

Don't worry. This will stop being a problem with self driving cars. We can eat, take notes and make phone calls while going home or to the next appointment.

I imagine that some people rush in and out of shopping centres, never stopping for food nor even looking at shop windows, just in case there's someone driving around the car park looking for a spot.

Lweji doing any of that would make me travel sick. In fact just sitting in a moving car not driving tends to make me sick. I may not be cut out for the future but hopefully all the busy people in transit will free up the seats in Greggs.

Who was the personal attack against?

I had this thread in mind when I was hovering for a space in a full Aldi car park yesterday. Double yellow lines in the street outside and I needed a trolley anyway. The spaces turn over fairly quickly and I usually lurk out of the way near the back and watch for movement, but yesterday the reverse lights came on in a parked car so I indicated to move into that space, leaving them plenty of room to move out.
Bugger me if they didn't then change their minds. I wondered if they'd read this thread and wanted to wind me up. I couldn't see any evidence of steak bakes though.

My mind is numb with the repition

That's because you're refusing to engage with the many logical points put to you, whilst ignoring points you can't answer because it would mean acknowledging the sheer illogicality of what you are saying. For instance, you've never once referred to anything that says you can't use a car park for anything other than leaving an empty car there.

I get this all the time, I don't drive but due to my medical issues I sometimes retreat to the car and sit in the driving seat while I run my nebuliser I sit in driving seat due to the fact it means my wires/tubes etc aren't stretched as much as they would be in passenger seat or back.
Car is never idling because it has a separate medical battery for medical equipment. But I always get someone pulling up behind us waiting for space. I normally give a sign if I can, not that the mask on my face isn't a big enough sign. But I've had right Wally's boasting their horn telling me too move it and I have on occasion told them if they don't shut up I will but as I'm partially sighted I may hit them.
Hubby has the same issue, he sometimes waits in car to give me independence. He usually takes the chance to nap. But he isn't gonna move for anyone other than an ambulance or emergency services. It's hard enough finding a spot he can get wheelchair out sadly without been bullied into leaving it.

If the car park is full you could do a nice thing and drive round the corner and eat your lunch.
If you do t feel able to do that then I would suggest shaking your head and mouthing that you aren’t leaving. Yabu not to let them know if they are waiting for you

You could pull over and park anywhere . Sorry YABU . You dont want to be rushed... well people want to get on with their day as well

I was thinking of this thread today and remembered back to my childhood days when you couldn't park a car in the street and leave it unattended (1980s N Ireland). If you wanted to go to a shop you had to take someone with you to sit in the car, or get someone else to drive you so that they could sit in the car. It was always a fantastic treat at primary school of a teacher took you out of class to be the car sitter whilst they took the school money to the bank.

Obviously car parks were different and you could leave cars unattended there. But maybe it is my formative years which led me to the conclusion as an adult that seeing someone in a car does not equal that person planning to leave the parking space. It wouldn't really cross my mind if I saw someone in a car that they must be leaving, unless I suppose I saw them put their seatbelt on?

You have the right to sit in your car for as long as you like surely. I would sit in back seat next time....lol. Pretend you are the passenger who doesnt drive and is waiting for the driver.

Be helpful and drive to sit somewhere else - maybe even somewhere a bit prettier.

@littlekerry8 park anywhere - do you mean in another car park
If there were loads of free parking spaces around why would people be waiting for spaces in the paid car park the OP is already parked in?

Put a sign in window with BROKEN DOWN...😋