To have told this dad off at the petrol station.

[Duckingella]

A car pulled up next to the pump where my DH was filling the car.

My jaw dropped when I saw inside of it;3 small children,no seat belts,no car seats and one sitting in the front.

I got out of the car and lost my shit with their twat of a father;he at least put their seat belts on before pulling off.

Gobsmacked doesn't even cover it;how can anyone be so damn reckless with their children's safety;I normally wouldn't confront someone like that but I just couldn't leave it.

You don't let little kids crawl around a car alone and unrestrained when it's stopped, either! They could let themselves out, take the handbrake off, all manner of things that they shouldn't be doing.

You don't legally need car seats if it is an emergency. They should have seat belts on though.

YABU - you don’t know the circumstances so keep your beak out.

It's pretty clear....

@Saschka of the top of my head an "emergency" (or "unexpected journey" as it says on gov.uk) could have been the children were being taken from one house where their parents had been taken seriously ill and rushed to hospital and another family member is taking them to their house for the night. If that family member has no children they wouldn't own car seats - but they need to transport those children in their car and that car needs petrol so that's why they were at a petrol station.
There....one completely random scenario that could explain why the children weren't in car seats. There's dozens of scenarios.
Or he could have just been a shit parent.
We don't know.
The OP didn't know.
It quite frankly was none of her business.

The appropriate action is to call the police and report, telling him off only makes you feel better about telling him off

The fact he seems to have taken it well, would seem to suggest it’s out of character for him.

He might be dealing with a family emergency and filling up his car beforehand. Could you not just have told him politely his kids didn’t have their belts on?

The replies to this thread are batshit!

@DerekFaker someone "losing their shit" at a random stranger is batshit.

Well your little paddy on the forecourt made you feel smug and superior so I guess that helped you with your jollies.

No, U.

Classic Mumsnet. Posters trying to out virtue each other while coming up with increasingly bizarre scenarios.

YABU. Of course they should have been wearing proper restraints but who are you to step in and pass judgement? Perhaos there are some aspects of parenting that you are getting wrong. How would you feel if the dad that you undermined and humiliated in front of his children did the same to you?

I'm a child of the sixties/seventies and my dad regularly drove me and my two siblings around with no seatbelts or carseats since the law didn't require it then. Your OP made me think of him, and all the exciting places he may have been taking us. Times change, rules change for good reason but those rules shouldn't be an excuse for getting a kick out of letting rip against someone you dont know. Save that for social media.

They will be sitting in a car somewhere eating Haribos.

Yes, it's embarrassing

This place though, been going this way for years

He had belts, ffs, he could have used them at least.

Always people its saying none of your business, for everything. So just let people put their kids in actual serious danger, do nothing say nothing mind your own? WTF is wrong with you?

I called the cops recently on a woman on the school run who had a baby in a bassinet on the floor in the car, and two toddlers completely unrestrained in the back. I don't care what her excuse was, there is no excuse good enough for that.

I followed a truck on the school run this morning with 9 primary aged children travelling in the open bed at the back 🤷‍♀️

@DerekFaker I personally suggested ONE possible scenario because someone else couldn't apparently seem to think what type of emergency some children in a car getting petrol could possibly be. There's a 1001 reasons why.
The OP didn't know the reason why. It was none of her business why.
I'm sorry but in my world you don't go around "losing your shit" at random strangers over a situation which is nothing you know about.
There is far too much aggression and violence in our society. Just look at what happened in Peckham last week.
People like the OP don't help.

There’s no excuse that doesn’t warrant at least putting the seatbelts on. Even in a it’s an emergency and mum’s been rushed to hospital, and this is the uncle taking them to Grandmas blah blah, there are still seatbelts even if car seats can’t be conjured out of a thin air. That said, OP you were stupid to put yourself at risk by yelling at a complete stranger and to think that a telling off from you would change anything. The appropriate thing to do would have been to note the car reg and call the police.

@boromu222 if the children didn't have the seatbelts on it was most likely because they needed to get out of the car to go and pay for the petrol - because God forbid you leave your children unattended in the car. The OP probably wouldn't have approved of that either.
She saw a brief snapshot into someone else's life.... that she knew nothing about.
To be honest if I saw someone ranting and raging at a petrol station I would call the police on them. Flammable liquid and crazy people are not a good mix.

@boromu222 the children may not have been "in danger".
It is perfectly legal to not have carseats in certain circumstances. Not completely safe - but perfectly legal.

She saw them pull up, and they were not in seatbelts. So your explanation doesn't make sense.

It's safer to leave them in the car while paying for petrol.

Stop making excuses for child endangerment.

This ^.
Next time you might get punched in the face or worse.

I truly hope losing your sh*t will have made a difference but you can’t educate pork.

I find these sort of threads tedious really.

A bit like Was I unreasonable to help a granny cross the road?.. did I do the “right thing”? <faux innocent face>

You don’t think you’re unreasonable- this is just getting off on the idea of being a hero and telling the internet about it.

Have you given any thought to who would play you if this was televised.

@boromu222 how did she know the children hadn't undone the seatbelts half a nano second earlier 🙄
I actually thought it was against "the rules" to leave unaccompanied children in cars at petrol station if you are paying (I am a non driver so don't know all the rules of the Highway Code).
Anyways....got to go now.
Have a nice day.

Another one in the 'mind your own business' camp.

It's madness to go around 'losing your shit' at strangers over things that have absolutely nothing to do with you.