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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think I am really not being unreasonable over car parking

50 replies

Campingcarryon · 07/08/2021 20:22

We are on a campsite & leaving in the morning. Our pitch is on a slight slope & DP has parked the car above the tent facing into the tent & our sleeping area. I have said I am not comfortable with the car on a slope basically aiming for where we are sleeping in case the handbrake failed- I know it’s irrational but I don’t want to sleep knowing there is a car above us facing us! He had a massive strop and said I was ridiculous & I have now moved the car so it’s not facing us! I know it’s irrational but aibu? He’s behaving like a dick and dismissing my concerns!

OP posts:
Sprig1 · 07/08/2021 20:24

Better to be unreasonable than dead.

endofthelinefinally · 07/08/2021 20:24

It is a very small chance, but it has happened, with serious consequences.
It isnt difficult to park more carefully.

KatherineOfGaunt · 07/08/2021 20:25

Totally agree with you, OP.

Clangerschick1 · 07/08/2021 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

swapsicles · 07/08/2021 20:25

I wouldn't like it, was always taught to leave car in gear on a hill too.
I think technology has changed somewhat since I learned though and handbrake should never fail, still wouldn't Trust the automatic ones entirely though!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 07/08/2021 20:26

Make sure its parked in gear on a slope.
I wouldn't want it just above a tent either.

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 07/08/2021 20:26

Having been in a car park when the handbrake on the car next to me randomly and suddenly failed and the car rolled quite quickly down the hill, I’d say YANBU!

ThePontiacBandit · 07/08/2021 20:27

Nope you’re definitely right. I know of someone where the handbrake failed (recent years) and it caused serious injuries. I wouldn’t be able to sleep with it there either.

Biancadelrioisback · 07/08/2021 20:28

I agree with you OP. But I also have a habit of creating catastrophies in my mind. For example, I was too scared to put anything heavy or hot on the coffee table when DS was a baby incase I somehow managed to knock it into his Moses basket which was about a foot away...

Sexnotgender · 07/08/2021 20:29

YANBU. Why on earth take the chance?

lannistunut · 07/08/2021 20:34

YANBU, I saw a neighbour's car roll once due to a handbrake issue, they go very fast very quickly.

I know it is very unlikely but once you have that thought it is easier to move it than try not to think about it all night.

Floralnomad · 07/08/2021 20:40

I was taught to leave my car in 1st gear when parked so it wouldn’t be an issue for me .

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 20:54

you leave the car in gear with the wheels slightly turned from straight. Its parking 101

godmum56 · 07/08/2021 20:56

oh PS if the handbrake fails and the car is not in gear it will roll backwards and still hit you!

Titterofwit · 07/08/2021 20:56

The chance of the handbrake failing on the one time it would cause injury or death is infinitesimally small. But such things can and do happen and why on earth would a person not take every precation to not to try to kill their nearest and dearest.
I would have done the same OP.

OddBoots · 07/08/2021 21:00

Only a couple of weeks ago I saw a car have a handbrake fail while it was parked on a driveway and it quickly crossed the road and landed in the garden of the house opposite (and in doing so crossed both pavements on a road right near an infant school at morning school run - no one hurt but I dread to think what could have been).

I wouldn't take that risk.

EngelbertsRumpispink · 07/08/2021 21:03

It's just common sense, surely.
Not irrational at all.
The reason he is acting like a dick is because he knows you are right.
He knows he should have thought of it himself, and is now trying to discredit you, to deflect from his failure.

yanbu -- your stroppy DH is!

ShesComeUndone · 07/08/2021 21:04

This exact scenario happened only a couple of weeks ago. Don’t take the risk.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57979208.amp

Tara336 · 07/08/2021 21:06

Ive had a handbrake fail on my car, it rolled off y drive into a neighbours car. I also recently cake across a car horizontal across the road as it had rolled out of a parking space into the high street. It’s common sense not to park a car in a position that could potentially cause you harm.

MikeWozniaksMohawk · 07/08/2021 21:08

[quote ShesComeUndone]This exact scenario happened only a couple of weeks ago. Don’t take the risk.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57979208.amp[/quote]
I was about to link to this story. Horrendous. You were right to move the car.

MarianneUnfaithful · 07/08/2021 21:09

I never park the car pointing at the tent.

Two different campsites we go to that have slopey bits put it in their campsite rules that you must park across the slope.

UDontDans2Tekno · 07/08/2021 21:10

@godmum56

oh PS if the handbrake fails and the car is not in gear it will roll backwards and still hit you!
I thought op moved the car so it was sideways on
Whinginadeville · 07/08/2021 21:11

I saw a car roll onto a tennis court randomly due to handbrake failure it was shocking how fast it went from a relatively slight slope

MarianneUnfaithful · 07/08/2021 21:13

I also park my car in such away as to best protect the tent from anyone else driving into it, after a horrible drunk driver incident a few years ago.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/22/drink-driver-who-killed-woman-on-snowdonia-campsite-jailed

EastWestWhosBest · 07/08/2021 21:18

[quote ShesComeUndone]This exact scenario happened only a couple of weeks ago. Don’t take the risk.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57979208.amp[/quote]
Get him to read that news story and then shut up.