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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Idling cars

157 replies

VegMam · 09/12/2021 17:30

AIBU to ask people with engines idling to switch them off (primary culprits are workmen and parents at schools)?

It’s terribly polluting and totally unnecessary. Drives me mad and I don’t know why so many people do it (and seem miffed when you ask them to switch their engines off)?

OP posts:
meganorks · 09/12/2021 17:39

YANBU and it is actually illegal. But I doubt you will get much of a positive response telling people, just a load of abuse.

Giggorata · 09/12/2021 17:41

I hate this, and ask people to switch off, with results varying from nice to awful.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 09/12/2021 17:47

My car is old and doesn't have automatic stop start and I am that most hated group - diesel SUV drivers but I always stop my engine if I'm going to be standing a while - I even do it in slow drive through queues and traffic jams.

jetadore · 09/12/2021 17:48

Yes! does my head in, usually twats in Audi/bmw/suv/Chelsea tractors. On the odd occasion I’ve asked they usually say they need the heater/air con on, usually in the passive aggressive entitled way these types usually behave in public. Selfish, stupid idiots.

There was guy used to leave the car running in the car park while he went inside to pick his kid up from an activity my kids went to, which would usually take 5-10 mins while the instructor chatted/give out info at the end - usually for longer than necessary due to this dick head’s inane interruptions and ‘banter’. Was always tempted to switch it off for him, but never did.

Someone else I used to work with used to spend his lunch break in his car with the engine idling the whole time. His car ended up needing a new engine, at a cost of a few grand, I would like to hope as a direct result of this ridiculous behaviour. He continued to do it afterwards though.

One of my pet hates, but this being aibu there will soon be some smart arses along trying to justify such idiocy.

CheesyFootballsAreEvil · 09/12/2021 17:48

Yes you may

Sirzy · 09/12/2021 17:49

Drives me mad.

I have noticed a correlation between those who need to be an hour early for school pick up and those who do this!

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 09/12/2021 17:49

I once came out of Liverpool street station into a quiet side road - it was a cold day and there was a big diesel Police van sitting there idling with the two coppers in the front chatting away - I decided not to risk saying anything to them though.

Burnt0utMum · 09/12/2021 17:54

Probably to keep warm or to leave the radio on without risking draining the battery

DixonD · 09/12/2021 17:56

@Sirzy

Drives me mad.

I have noticed a correlation between those who need to be an hour early for school pick up and those who do this!

I’m always at least 30 minutes early for pick up because of when I finish work.

I’ve definitely never done this.

I also drive a Land Rover, so I must be very unusual!

Etinoxaurus · 09/12/2021 17:58

@Burnt0utMum

Probably to keep warm or to leave the radio on without risking draining the battery
Tough shit. It grinds my gears and I’ve been asking wankers to switch their engines off for 20 years.
lanthanum · 09/12/2021 17:59

I had some sympathy for the guys working on the building site near us who, in very cold weather, sat in their car with the heating on. However I did let them know that the nearby library was open, so there was a warm space to go without polluting the street.

Wombat69 · 09/12/2021 18:00

Had a discussion with the driving instructors sat idling outside my house once. They didn't seem to know not to do it. Got a bit heated.

It also tends to be big cars in supermarket car parks. I wish the shops would enforce no idling.

Drives me potty. Air quality is shite here.

Wombat69 · 09/12/2021 18:01

And it particularly marks me when the windows are wound down, so not for warmth.

Evergreenblue · 09/12/2021 18:02

Op I sit my with my hybrid car idling and if you said something I'd tell you to sling your hook and learn more about some cars.

Toyota give clear instructions to leave your hybrid in park mode for one hour minimum per week if you don not use them alot as it is essential to keep the battery topped up. So if I'm sat idling there is a completely valid reason. 🤔

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 09/12/2021 18:04

Very often it's DPD or UPS delivery vans. I asked one of the drivers once to switch it off and he was horrible. I said I was going to email his company, took my phone out for a photo and he drove off.

What's the bloody point of the bloody ULEZ?

fakereview · 09/12/2021 18:05

@meganorks

YANBU and it is actually illegal. But I doubt you will get much of a positive response telling people, just a load of abuse.
Agreed. I hate it too and there are so many entitled parents mothers who do it while waiting for their kids. But I don't say anything because I know I will get a torrent of abuse. Not sure if the police would do anything if I videoed them and sent it to them - I doubt it though.

But you are completely right OP, it is completely unacceptable. If you are cold, put a coat on. If you are warm in summer, open the window. And even better - walk to school to collect your kids and don't spend 30-45 minutes polluting everyone's air while you wait ages because you "had" to get there early to get a parking space.

Onairjunkie · 09/12/2021 18:08

I got bollocked for doing it once, but I had my newborn in the car and it was absolutely boiling and I needed the aircon on. I refused to kill the engine. I was waiting for a postnatal appointment (when we weren’t allowed to sit inside hospitals, they made you wait in the car) and they were running behind. They went on and on at me.

fakereview · 09/12/2021 18:09

@Evergreenblue

Op I sit my with my hybrid car idling and if you said something I'd tell you to sling your hook and learn more about some cars.

Toyota give clear instructions to leave your hybrid in park mode for one hour minimum per week if you don not use them alot as it is essential to keep the battery topped up. So if I'm sat idling there is a completely valid reason. 🤔

It seems rather unlikely that they would advise you to commit a criminal act though, as if you don't have much electricity left when driving around it will simply use the petrol for a while .

And if I sit still in my Toyota hybrid (eg at red traffic lights) it turns itself off anyway. So if I tried to sit idling for an hour it wouldn't work.

fakereview · 09/12/2021 18:10

@Onairjunkie

I got bollocked for doing it once, but I had my newborn in the car and it was absolutely boiling and I needed the aircon on. I refused to kill the engine. I was waiting for a postnatal appointment (when we weren’t allowed to sit inside hospitals, they made you wait in the car) and they were running behind. They went on and on at me.
There are these new fangled things called "windows" and you can "open" them. Or just go for a walk and find some shade to wait in!
Stellaris22 · 09/12/2021 18:11

YANBU.

I queue outside primary school to collect DD and parents sit with their engines idling till the gates open.

I understand parents need to drive because of work etc. The idling engines is 100% inexcusable and I have to resist tapping their doors and demanding they turn it off.

I have asthma made worse by fumes/smoke, so I have to leave the queue and move because of it.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 09/12/2021 18:12

@Evergreenblue

Op I sit my with my hybrid car idling and if you said something I'd tell you to sling your hook and learn more about some cars.

Toyota give clear instructions to leave your hybrid in park mode for one hour minimum per week if you don not use them alot as it is essential to keep the battery topped up. So if I'm sat idling there is a completely valid reason. 🤔

That kind of negates the point of having a hybrid doesn't it? Why bother?
Stellaris22 · 09/12/2021 18:13

Hybrids are pointless marketing rubbish anyway.

If you buy a hybrid because you care about the environment, buy electric.

Onairjunkie · 09/12/2021 18:16

There are these new fangled things called "windows" and you can "open" them. Or just go for a walk and find some shade to wait in!

I was waiting for this. It was boiling and still, there was no breeze. The car park had no shade. The car was absolutely roasting. Opening windows would make fuck all difference. My baby was days old. Also we had to wait in our cars, those were the instructions. It was so they could find you for your appointment, and also they couldn’t force women and babies to loiter loose around a car park, forcing them to be at increased risk from moving cars. Think. 🧠

If you weren’t arriving by car, you had to phone ahead so they could arrange somewhere for you to wait. This was balls deep in the first lockdown.

megletthesecond · 09/12/2021 18:17

Yanbu.
We have problems at the school near here. I was laughed at by a couple of cunts who I asked nicely to not do it.
Escalated to the council and police now. I'll win this.....

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 09/12/2021 18:18

@Stellaris22

YANBU.

I queue outside primary school to collect DD and parents sit with their engines idling till the gates open.

I understand parents need to drive because of work etc. The idling engines is 100% inexcusable and I have to resist tapping their doors and demanding they turn it off.

I have asthma made worse by fumes/smoke, so I have to leave the queue and move because of it.

Can you send an email to the school office about this?