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 wouldn't take a minute to indicate you are not leaving - usually a simple shake of the head with a mouthed sorry is all that's needed. They will move on and you won't feel pressure.

Or yes, sit in the passenger seat.

Yes, it's your space and you have every right to sit there and sod everyone else, but really....it wouldn't hurt you to communicate.

One day it might be you driving around with the weight of the world on your shoulders and a little humanity would go a long way.

People could tell you YABU till they're blue in the face yet this OP isn't here to hear that

In case you hadn’t noticed GinDaddy the voting shows a large majority for “YANBU” - 72% vs 28% YABU

Posters might vote YANBU to remain in the space. But the vast majority are also saying that at least do people the courtesy of communicating that you're not leaving yet.

I genuinely don't understand the posters saying you are being UR or rude, it's your space until you're ready to move! Its not always easy to find somewhere else to eat lunch, especially if you're somewhere you don't know the area. Lots of people have jobs where they have to use their car as a sort of base, OP was perfectly entitled to sit in her car in the space she paid for to eat her lunch. I would just develop a thicker skin and ignore the evils in future OP, it's not your fault if people assume you're moving and hang around, you just need to not get stressed by them

OP clearly doesn't need the space anymore if she has finished what she went to do and returned to her car

^^ This. It's really frustrating when you need a parking space and they're taken up by people sat in their cars faffing around.

As the OP is not leaving her car, she could park anywhere in the carpark and move if someone needs to get past or an attendant appears. Or she could stop somewhere else during her 2 hour drive home to have lunch/make calls etc.

The person waiting for a space can't do any of those things so needs the space more. Are the people saying that the OP is NBU happy to be late for appointments etc because they can't get the car parked because people are hogging spaces unnecessarily?

People don't generally expect someone to get in their car in a car park and then just sit there of course people are going to presume you will move. I can't believe how many people think this is absolutely fine!

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. You have no claim over that space, it's a public parking space, not your private property.

It's a fair assumption to make that if someone is sitting in the drivers seat they are about to leave. If it's a busy carpark it's entirely reasonable to wait for someone to pull out. If you have no intention of leaving sit in the passenger seat or have the manners to signal to the person waiting that you are not leaving. It's not hard.

I would either sit in the passenger seat, or better still, especially if you have blacked out rear seat windows, sit in the back then no-one can see you.

It is really annoying when people sit in a totally full car park to eat their lunch/make phone calls though.

Why don't you go and park up elsewhere so somebody else can have your space?

It is quite selfish of you, I can see why people get irritated.

Sometimes you need to pay 30p to go into public toilets, do you sit there for 40 mins after using the toilet to get your moneys worth?

You are definately BU by not letting the person know you aren't leaving but nothing wrong with taking your time.

It’s fine to stay in your car and eat your lunch or whatever but if you’re in the driver’s seat, it’s not unreasonable for the other person to think you are leaving. I can’t believe you would actually sit there and let someone wait for ages, knowing full well they are waiting, without taking the 2 seconds it would be to tell them you weren’t going yet.

She does need it. She needs to sit in it to eat her lunch before her journey. You don’t need it anymore than she does.

Just so we are clear, I wasn't the person that needed the space. I just thinn the OP was rude.

I think it depends what carpark you are in, whether there are alternatives near by and whether it is full.

Eg. It can be stressful if one can't find a space in a hospital carpark and you have the fear of missing an appointment. It is also frustrating if you go to do a food shop and cannot park in the supermarket carpark as it is not practical to wheel a trolley of shopping to another carpark.

It's really frustrating when you need a parking space and they're taken up by people sat in their cars faffing around

And it's really annoying when spaces are few and far between - and tight - and you start to reverse into one to discover someone sitting in the car giving you hard stares in case you go anywhere near their car.

I don't really believe that it's that hard, in most cases, to find a layby or residential road to sit and eat a sandwich for 10 minutes.

However, technically pp's are right - if you've paid for 2 hours and you come back after say 1:45 you've still got 15 mins left to eat your sandwich and don't really need to be rushed on.

Eh? Are you reading a different thread to the rest of us? Where does OP say she did that?

No the op didn't say that, plenty of other people have. That's why I said "people must have nothing better to do", not "op must have nothing better to do".

So OP has to leave the car park to then park again somewhere else and eat her lunch? But if she'd sat inside a shopping centre to eat her lunch that's OK, but it's not OK in her car even though her car would be parked for the same time in both instances? Bonkers Absolutely bonkers!

Someone sitting in a car could be waiting on someone, waiting for an appointment time, could be unwell, need privacy for a personal call, could be getting out the car- why assume they’re leaving? It’s none of your business, someone stalking me for a parking space just makes me wait even longer, go away and find another space.

I experienced something similar the other day. I drove to a supermarket with my mum and toddler. Toddler falls asleep en route so we decide to let him have a bit of an extra snooze as he’d wake up and be very grumpy if I were to move him. So we park in a parent and child space and I’m showing mum different wallpaper on my phone and we’re having a chat, when I hear beeping from a car behind me. I honestly didn’t even think the beep was directed at me, so I carried on with my conversation and didn’t think anymore of it. There’s then more furiously long beeping and I turn around and a woman in a mini has her hands gesturing for me to move as she wants my space. I gesture for her to move on to another space and she continues waving her hands and looks to be shouting at me. The car park was mostly empty and there were another 8 or so parent and child spaces free the next row along.

By this point, she’d woken up my sleeping toddler so we go to get out and the woman has parked two spaces up from me giving me horrible glares. Wtf! from some of the responses on this thread I think some people might say I was unreasonable, but I find behaviour like that so incredibly rude!

Yes, sit in the shopping center to eat your lunch, then people won't think they are in luck and are finally getting a space, when they see the OP walk back tk her car, get in the drivers seat and proceed to sit and eat her lunch. That's bonkers!

we parked up in a busy car park just before christmas but didn't instantly get out of the car as there was make up to be put on. Another car drove up and obviously wanted the space, no amount of shaking our heads was making any difference so I ended up getting out of the car to make it clear we weren't going anywhere, Some people are just ignorant (there were other spaces but not as close)

Well no JKScot4, probably not because this thread is about a car park that is full

Its not bonkers, its literally just good manners. Sitting there eating your lunch and staring at this frantic person trying to park is bizarre imo. I work in a very busy health centre and when I come out to go, there's always a queue of people waiting to park. I always pull out of the space right away then pull over to sort out my sat nav. I would never sit in the car faffing when others need the space. To me its just basic manners. I no longer require a proper space when I am in the car, I can pull over to the side for a minute or two.

If people would just use common sense and show basic manners a bit more, the world would be a much nicer place.

We all know you’re entitled to sit there eating. Perfectly entitled.

It’s still annoying though when there are no parking spaces and people use them to have their lunch. It’s not hard to find somewhere else to pull up for a few minutes.