Do you leave kids in car whilst paying for fuel?

[elm26]

I’m not saying which one of us does which but here’s the scenario, 9 month old and 3 year old in car. You cannot pay at pump (we have one of these which is miles from us).

You’re only paying for fuel, you’re not choosing drink/crisps or anything else, literally in, pay and out.

YABU - you’d take both kids in with you
YANBU - you’d leave them in the car

I would say it's safer leaving them in the car.

I know. It’s utterly bonkers that people would believe this.

its a retail worker in a petrol station. What exactly do you imagine they’d do to “not let you”?! Pin you to the ground whilst your baby burned?

I’d try to fill up without kids, but if I had to I’d leave them and be in and out as fast as I could.

i never considered leaving them IN the car, i didnt think you could. that said, forecourts are not particularly dangerous im not sure what the issue is taking them with you. for me, its about habit - Mummy goes, you follow.

At that age I'd take them in, but that's because I stupidly read a novel at 8 and a half months pregnant about a baby kidnapped from a car at a petrol station...🙀

This has been done to death on here, loads of mnetters would apparently wake a sleeping baby to take them in to pay

I never did. Far far more dangerous to have toddlers in a forecourt that could potentially run off, than anything that could happen to them safely locked in car

Guess I'm in the minority because I always took mine with me....
Surely walking across the forecourt is no more dangerous than crossing a road....you just hold hands and there you go...

Keep in car...

Think you have misunderstood the meaning and usage of voilà

I left mine with instructions to stay in the their seat and that I would be quick, I would watch the car through the window whilst I paid. I didn't ever have any problems.

If I can't pay at the pump, the kids come in with me.

I don't ever lock my kids in the car full stop. No child locks. They need to be able to get out in an emergency. I taught them how to open doors/windows and get out safely from a very young age.

But why deal with faff of getting them in and out when you don't need to?

Everyday is a school day. Unless getting them to choose something, I cannot see why they would not remain in the car. I am surprised by the responses.

Kids stay in car. Let’s not forget that if a pump catches fire and explodes, it will be everyone in the vicinity (including those in the shop).

a fortnight ago, I saw a mum letting her two (under 5) sons play on the forecourt while she filled up. When a member of staff protested, she said that she didn’t want to put the kids in danger by leaving them in the car. As she pumped her car full of petrol and her children ran around, there were several near misses. Terrifying, but an extension of the lack of risk assessment on these threads.

Yes youre happy to accept the much more likely risk of an accident while driving

That make absolutely no sense at all

Ask yourself - do I regularly hear of serious traffic accidents? Do i regularly hear of petrol stations bursting into flames?

Unless the shop has some kind of automatic instant door lock or a ninja shop assistant how are they going to stop you going to your car?

Does anyone else with grown up children wonder how they managed to keep them alive to that age given all the things they realize from here they never taught them?

It never crossed my mind that car evacuation policy was a must teach 😀

I have a 2 year old, I did used to take her with me until I realised Esso has an app that lets you pay on your phone, game changer

Everyone I know who has children at that age brings them with them

Some things we learn through our jobs, some sadly through experience and hindsight.

Luckily my job taught me.

This is such a well worn topic of discussion and from that i have found that so many posters live in places where cars burst into flames, children let off handbrakes and accidents are common place on their local Shell forecourt

Thankfully not anything I've experienced

Really? Firstly how do you know that about everyone you know? Is it a normal topic of conversation and secondly what a statistical anomaly that must be. Surely no ones entire cohort of "people they know" acts in that same way about anything

How many people do you know? I bet previous generations had a rather different attitude.

It depends on the set up of the gas station.
if there is no que and I can see them from inside il leave them in the car (especially if my 10 year old is in the car aswell)

but if it’s one where I can’t see them from inside or there is a long Que i would take them in (which I don’t think is practical so generally DH fills up my car for me anyway)

Leave in car. Dear god if we have got to the stage of hysteria that kids can't be left in the car for 2 minutes....

Safer to leave in the car I think as long as it’s locked, it’s not too hot etc. you can usually see your car through the window while paying anyway. I would only take the baby in if they were likely to start crying if I wasn’t there

They’re safer in the car than in the forecourt.