Mum in school car park

[Hopper123]

Just want to know if I'm being unreasonable or not. Today at school pick up as I was buckling my child in I accidentally bumped another mums car with our door. It was a very light bump and I caught the door and held it as soon as it happened to ensure it didn't happen again. There was no damage to her car and again it was literally the lightest bump hardly made a sound and couldn't have made more than a very light tap. For context the car parking spaces are the usual small ones and I was parked between my lines on the space I was in not encroaching on her space at all and there was space enough for me to have the door open slightly and fit myself in to get the seat belt on. She went absolutely off on one about how I shouldn't park like that and how I'd parked too close to her car. I had already apologised twice and checked her car for damage of which there was none. In the end when she kept going on I just calmly rolled my eyes walked to my side of the car and got in as clearly nothing was going to be gained from talking to her anymore i had already apologised and there was zero damage to sort out. I don't understand what she wanted out of going on and on if there had been damage I could understand it but there wasn't. Obviously I do need to be more careful when getting in and out but surely everyone at some point has lightly bumped the car next to them with a door by accident in a supermarket for example. I'm always super careful won't let kids let themselves out in tight spaces and buffer their door with my hand if we're parked near cars so this is not usual behaviour for me. Aibu tonjustbhave ended up ignoring her when she kept on and on about it after I apologised? Now I'll have to see her at school and it'll just be bloody awkward. If there had been damage I would of course have sorted out any insurances and ensured it was paid for alongside a grovelling apology but there was zero for goodness sake.

Car parking spaces are so small nowadays it's a struggle to get out whilst trying not to touch the other car.

I think it's more a case of cars being so big these days rather than parking spaces having shrunk.

😂 someone’s kid threw their door into my car when I was sat in it and their mum looked up at me like they’d just killed my dog. They hadn’t actually made any mark that I could see and I was like honestly they picked the right car cuz it’s covered in chips and scuffs. She was still so apologetic and was like he never does that I’m so sorry. These things happen. I have thrown an “EXCUSE ME” when a fully grown adult has done it so hard it shook my car then not been bothered about it but a quick sorry and evidence of being more careful is enough to quell any upset over an accidental knock. Hopefully she was just having a bad day and it’s not awkward for you in the school carpark!

I've had a massive truck take my wing mirror off and cause damage to the side of our car. Because I had no camera or evidence insurance wouldn't cover it so 1500 pounds of our own money later and wing mirror is fixed but we still need body work done on the car although thankfully it's only noticeable to us as wing mirror wobbles slightly so i do know how frustrating that is when someone damages your property that you work damn hard for...it doesnt matter whether it's expensive or not, but I don't take that out on random people who might lightly tap the car with their door causing no damage which happens in small spaces. I do though give the benefit of the doubt that it may well have just been a bad day and I was in the wrong obviously by not being as careful as I could be but the reaction was a bit ott. Water under the bridge now though if I see her I will just be cordial and apologise to her again if she starts going on about it.

I checked but she didn't even bother getting out of her car to have a look all she did was shout at me out of her window. If I was that concerned I would have gotten out and checked it properly.

I don’t think you did anything wrong either but this trend to have overly large cars does seem to cause more issues like this than before. Maybe if manufacturers start using the door bumpers as a norm would help. I have dents and scratches in my small car that seem to be at door level that have happened in car parks. Just because my car is a little older (68 reg) than some of these large new expensive cars is no excuse to not be more careful.

I really need my door open wide nowadays and my blue badge allows that, but what I used to do before was hold my purse between the door and other car, it always worked, although the rubber sleeve thing sounds fantastic, which was posted further up.

Or cars are stupidly big 😬

I have to admit one of my reactions to some minor damage caused to my car was OTT, I did apologise, the reason for the reaction:

Within the 6 months:

1. A child went down the side of my car with his bike and damaged two panels.
2. An uninsured driver crashed into the same car and damaged a third panel.
3. A neighbour drove down our very steep street and in fresh snow, lost control and wrote my car off, the previous damage having just having been done.

Then.... very soon after I got my new car this incident happened, she reversed out of a car park, didnt look and hit my car.

By this point I suppose I just lost my shit, that despite the fact that I was doing my best to look after my cars and be careful, four individual strangers in 6 months had 'lapses in concentration' and I bore the brunt and I lost my patience.

When someone asked me to calm down, 'it was just a minor bump', even they understood why I was so p**d off when I described the above.

I know its unlucky but it can show how many people can be 'just a bit careless'. Once is fine, twice unlucky four times in 6 months well, it does change your view on it slightly!

We have a 7 seater but it's not to be trendy it's due to family circumstances and I would much prefer a smaller car but parents with early onset alzheimers and 3 kids we have no choice if we want to maintain a quality of life for them and also give other family members respite from care. However in this instance I was driving our smaller run around car so it wasn't the size of the car that was the issue the spaces are genuinely tiny. If I'm driving the large one I often would park further away on a side street and walk up as I know the spaces are small at the school. You do see some tanks trying to get in there and it is a bit silly.

That's a different matter altogether. If it's needed. Then a large SUV is different but when there's only one or two children and both parents have SUVs it takes up far too much room in all parking problems. Especially when at school or in a row of terraced houses.

We traded our 7 seater for a mini now we only have 1dc at home, the other 3 having flown the nest. Do miss being able to fit large pieces of furniture etc in it! Probably going to change it to something like a Peugeot 308 next year and give the mini to ds.

I haven’t read through all of the comments so someone may have already said this but just keep an eye on your car is there any CCTV where you park just incase she damages your car she sounds the type you were not in the wrong and you definitely done the right thing walking/driving away

I've seen her today, she had a new looking baby with her so I'm guessing she's quite newly postpartum, I'm assuming she's sleep deprived and learning how to deal with two kids and fitting school runs etc with a newborn son whilst it might have been ott I can see why it might have happened that way if that's the case, I should probably just give her leeway and be kind I was a bit in the wrong and so was she so ill just be more careful and try to be kind if I have to speak with her again.