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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

603 replies

MsMarvel · 29/01/2020 12:30

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??

OP posts:
TigerOnATrain · 31/01/2020 00:14

@NoseyBuggerMummy

Just because you're entitled to do something doesn't mean it isn't obnoxious. If you're in a hospital car park that gets very full of course it's good manners to go have your lunch somewhere else. Likewise a busy school car park or doctor's car park where there isn't alternative parking. It's just basic consideration. If it's a big shopping centre then having lunch is an appropriate thing to do there and is fine.

BUT THEIR CAR WILL STILL BE IN THE PARKING SPACE, IF THEY FUCK OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE TO EAT THEIR FOOD! THEREFORE THE CAR PARKING SPACE WILL STILL BE OCCUPIED.

Such a lack of logic, critical thinking, comprehension skills, and basic common sense on this thread (from some!)

How the fuck do you function in everyday life? (Serious question by the way.)

TigerOnATrain · 31/01/2020 00:17

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

I had no idea there were so many people determined to sit in their cars until their parking ticket expired. 🤣

Well now you do! 🤣🤣🤣

Oulu · 31/01/2020 01:08

If the car park is full you could do a nice thing and drive round the corner and eat your lunch

Where are all these car parks with nice free spaces round the corner where people can park up? I don't know of any round where I live. And if they're so easily available, why don't the people looking for spaces just park there?

Oulu · 31/01/2020 01:15

Sitting and chatting or texting and taking your time to eat a steak bake is not on. Move your car.

Why, @NoMoreUserNamesAnymore? if you don't do all that in the car, you can and almost certainly will do it in a nearby restaurant or just sitting somewhere outside the car park. It simply makes no sense to get your steak bake and drive off in the vague hope you'll find another space before it goes cold. Whichever choice you make, you will leave the car park at the same time - in fact, if anything, it will be later if you go for the option of eating elsewhere as you will have to factor in time to find somewhere. So you won't be helping anyone else looking for a space either way.

Oulu · 31/01/2020 01:24

Come off it, @Toomuchtrouble4me: you're seriously contending that, in London, there are plentiful spaces just round the corner from car parks where people can park up after vacating their spaces? Where? If there were all this free parking available, I guarantee that it would be filled up on virtually a 24 hour basis with people working nearby or commuting elsewhere, and definitely not available on demand for people exiting car parks with their steak bakes.

sunnybean60 · 31/01/2020 02:16

i too have been on both sides of this problem, sit in passenger seat to eat your lunch because at least other drivers may think you are waiting for the driver to return and pass you by. On the hand I too have been desperate to find a parking pace and felt annoyed by selfish drivers whom have done their errand and now wont move on.

redcarbluecar · 31/01/2020 06:27

There isn’t a problem. If a space has a car in it you can’t park there, regardless of whether a person is in the car. Find another space or, if necessary, car park. That’s my understanding of how car parks work.

StarlightLady · 31/01/2020 06:34

If you don’t sit behind the wheel you will be more comfortable and others will not think you are about to leave.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 31/01/2020 06:35

Oulu

Come off it, @Toomuchtrouble4me: you're seriously contending that, in London, there are plentiful spaces just round the corner from car parks where people can park up after vacating their spaces? Where? If there were all this free parking available, I guarantee that it would be filled up on virtually a 24 hour basis with people working nearby or commuting elsewhere, and definitely not available on demand for people exiting car parks with their steak bakes.

Not free parking,, but lload of residents parking spaces where you can pull up and talk/ear - all roads are resident designated in central London so you can stop in any bay and talk or eat - so long as you don’t leave the car it’s fine and you won’t get a ticket.
Thereby freeing up scares parking for those who need it rather than sitting there smugly whilst they drive round and round. It’s just the right thing to do.

redcarbluecar · 31/01/2020 06:53

Who knew there was such a staunch moral code around what to do in a paid-for parking space? Or that the rights of someone looking for a space are paramount (but don’t include the possibility of them simply asking a driver if they’re going and moving on if not)? i had previously thought it was none of my biz why someone might be sitting in their car, but next time I’m at a motorway services I’ll do a huffy little survey and remind them about the parking spaces round the corner.

Sparklingbrook · 31/01/2020 07:15

Yes @redcarbluecar get yourself a clipboard and tap on the window of anyone committing the heinous crime of just sitting in their car. Maybe dish out some warnings too. 😄

redcarbluecar · 31/01/2020 07:16

I will. I feel empowered Smile

Sparklingbrook · 31/01/2020 07:18

You will need a badge and maybe a cap?

Lweji · 31/01/2020 07:38

all roads are resident designated in central London so you can stop in any bay and talk or eat

You can also take public transport, which is probably faster and less hassle either way.

scubadive · 31/01/2020 07:41

YABVU.

Car parks at hotels and bars?? are for people to park in to use the facilities. Hogging a space to sit and eat and make phone calls, do work whilst preventing someone else parking, getting out and using the facilities is incredibly selfish.

Stop at a garage, lay-by or service station to eat, rest, make calls.

And why on earth wouldn’t you tell a waiting car that you are not leaving, I hate people with this sort of self-centred ‘I’m alright Jack’ attitude. A bit of civility to your fellow humans goes a long way.

arrive early so never have any issue getting spaces in busy car parks and what if you didn’t for once because there was an accident on the motorway or you had back to back meetings with little time between the two or any other myriad of reasons and you are late for your client meeting, someone else sitting in a parking space eating a steak bake is just fine is it?, it wouldn’t bother you at all??

I thought this thread was a wind up when I first read it.

scubadive · 31/01/2020 07:46

@Toomuchtrouble4me

or you could just be nice

This

KatherineJaneway · 31/01/2020 07:57

I had no idea there were so many people determined to sit in their cars until their parking ticket expired

I had no idea so many people could not find somewhere else to eat lunch or work 😂😂😂

cologne4711 · 31/01/2020 07:57

I had to deal with that today and felt like knocking on all the windows of all the parents

Yesterday I did actually slow down and shout at a Highways Agency lorry driver who'd stopped over a cycle path/pavement. It's an offroad path with a grass verge between it and the road, so it does actually get used, and the road is 60mph. Fortunately his window was open so he did hear me. There was an area 400m further up where he could have parked out of everyone's way.

In the end, as others have said, it comes down to whether you are doing something because you can, or because you actually need to. In the OP's case she said the roads are narrow in town and she wasn't aware of any other parking.

However, in many cases, there will be, as I said about where I live (and it's easy to find, no special guidance from parking auditors required) other parking. So be nice and use it if the car park you are in is busy and you have finished at that venue.

And don't sit in the car staring at people who park next to you, either.

cologne4711 · 31/01/2020 07:58

Oh and even more importantly WEAR A COAT if you are cold and don't leave the engine running (another thread topic).

redcarbluecar · 31/01/2020 07:59

It wouldn’t bother me that someone was sitting in a car, whatever they were doing. For all I know, they could be taking a lunch break before leaving the car again. If it didn’t look as if they were leaving (e.g. engine not on) I’d simply try to find a different space.

Oulu · 31/01/2020 08:02

Not free parking,, but lload of residents parking spaces where you can pull up and talk/ear

Not near every car park, which tend to be in shopping/business rather than residential areas. Residential areas also tend to remain parked up during the day, due to people with two cars, SAHMs, people who work from home etc etc.

And it's hardly planet friendly to make a totally unnecessary journey to try to find a space.

Oulu · 31/01/2020 08:03

Car parks at hotels and bars?? are for people to park in to use the facilities. Hogging a space to sit and eat and make phone calls, do work whilst preventing someone else parking, getting out and using the facilities is incredibly selfish.

Why is it less selfish to leave your car empty whilst, for instance, sitting in the hotel restaurant or lobby eating and making phone calls?

Iminaglasscaseofemotion · 31/01/2020 08:19

I had no idea so many people could not find somewhere else to eat lunch or work

I had no idea there were so many people who chose to eat lunch in their car 😂

I went shopping yesterday, got some sushi for lunch, headed back to the car. If the car park hadn't been busy, I would have probably sat in the car and ate lunch, unfortunately 2 levels of the multi story are having work done so they have shut them. On the way back to the car a woman actually asked me where I was parked so she could have my space. I showed her, and I even gave her my ticket which had an hour and a half left 😱. I'm clearly a complete mug. She did have a baby in the car. I mean I had one with me aswell but he's 2 so, we just headed home.

Isaura · 31/01/2020 08:21

I wholeheartedly agree with MrsStrangerthing about people holding onto disabled spaces. Without them I am lost and just have to wait. As steakbakes are from Greggs and most have a seating area, why not do your catchup stuff there. Much less stressful and better for your digestion too!

howabout · 31/01/2020 08:46

Residents parking is for Residents - clue is in the name. Not for people who want to circle all over residential areas between meetings and then park up peering at the residents and likely judging their parenting while dodging the odd ticket warden.

This thread is a real eye opener.