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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

car park car wash men

33 replies

loobeylou · 30/01/2009 10:58

OK, so I hate the constant cries of "car wash, madam?" as you try to get from car to supermarket in the cold and wind with toddler in tow anyway, BUT, I also have a very serious point to make......

why the HECK are they allowed to chuck water all over the blardy car park when it is flippin freezing cold?? Surely this must go against all health and safety (yes, i know some of that stuff is stark raving bonkers, but most of it is common sense rules for those who have none, and is there for good reason)

I know from a friend who works in the petrol station (same supermarket) that the big car wash has an automoatic shut off and does not work below a certain temp because of the dangers of lots of water on the ground freezing. And thats not even where lots of people are walking around! So why oh why is it apparently OK for this hand car washing to continue - even in the disabled and "mum to be" spaces, if you arrive early in the morning, you can still see the iced over puddles from the day before - surely this is an accident waiting to happen? if a heavily pg woman put her foot out of the car, or an elderly, frail, or disabled person did, straight onto a big patch of ice, there could be very serious consequences.

I speak as someone whose teaching colleage fell in a staff car park and broke her hip, and got a great deal of compensation! My nan and aunt have also had broken hips - nan took 6 months to recover and still walks with a stick/goes out much less on her own 2 yrs on.

so, am I talking sense, or AIBU - after all, who would envy them out in the cold trying to earn a living??

should i write and complain?

OP posts:
Tamarto · 30/01/2009 10:59

yes i would.

themoon66 · 30/01/2009 11:02

I would complain loudly. Bloody ridiculous.

Original poster
loobeylou · 30/01/2009 11:05

is this happening everywhere then, or is it just here? (kent)

OP posts:
Lovesdogsandcats · 30/01/2009 11:16

Nope its happening all over.
Its Tesco is it?

littlelyn · 30/01/2009 11:23

Sainsbury's have them too (Berkshire). Bloody nuisance, imo.

Bubbaluv · 30/01/2009 11:23

Maybe they put salt down after they finish washing? If not, they should.
I wish they offered carwash at my supermarket I have to say, but agree that the ice issue would need to be dealt with.

Original poster
loobeylou · 30/01/2009 11:27

It is tesco where I have seen this 3 or 4 times since christmas and wondered WTF, I have seen it again this morning when I was already conscious of having to tread very carefully cos of the ice, they were out washing cars shortly after 8.30 and will be there till it goes dark, then the temperature is set to plummet again and it will be lethal to those who shop late at night

asda and sainsbos also have the same car wash people in their carparks, but I don't go there often

OP posts:
Original poster
loobeylou · 30/01/2009 11:30

bubb, they absolutely don't put salt down, you can clearly see frozen water in the outlines of cars on the ground the next day. it is madness!

it would not be so bad if there was a set aisle in the car park where this happened, but it is willy nilly all over the place, so it's hard to avoid

OP posts:
MadMarg · 30/01/2009 11:32

I've noticed this too! I loved getting my car washed, but now that the weather is so cold I am terrified of falling over with my DS.

bran · 30/01/2009 11:32

They have a car wash thing at both my local Tesco and Asda, but they are located right at the outer corner of the car park. You wouldn't park there unless you wanted your car to be washed so the water isn't in unexpected places. The Asda wash doesn't usually have a queue and there are loads of washers so I generally just drive through with the car, there is a drain where they pressure wash. The Tesco one I tend to leave and I leave the keys with them so that they can wash the car in a wet area and move it to a dry area afterwards.

Tamarto · 30/01/2009 11:32

I've not seen it up here. (Scotland)

bran · 30/01/2009 11:39

I think it is a franchise thing Tamarto. The franchise has an agreement with the supermarkets to operate in the carpark and then they sell on the site to franchisees. They all have a standard yellow portakabin office thing and a yellow canapy. I thought the standard operation was to only wash cars under the canapy and nowhere else, but obviously that varies between locations, unless it's a different company where loobeyloo is.

Original poster
loobeylou · 30/01/2009 11:46

no portacabin or canopy here bran, just a big container for them to lock their trolleys in and each chap has a trolley similar to a roadsweepers trolley, they wheel them all over the car park, racing each other to get to you and yell "car wash madam?"

it sounds much better to have a system where you know where to go if you want to have yr car done, rather than always feeling hassled. safer for them too, less chance of being run over!

OP posts:
bran · 30/01/2009 11:50

It must be a different franchise then. Perhaps talk to customer services in the supermarket and suggest that they nominate a car wash area while the weather is cold. You could put the wind up them a bit by suggesting that they would be considered negligent if someone does slip on ice and injure themselves.

Lovesdogsandcats · 30/01/2009 12:31

Before anyone says this is rascist it is not,it is observational and curious, why are all the car wash men black?

bran · 30/01/2009 12:36

They're not IME. However each carwash franchise seems to be one ethnic group. My Asda carwash is all eastern European, I'm not sure which country they're from but they all speak the same language. The Tesco carwash is all African, I can't judge the accent well enough to be sure but I would guess they are all Ghananian.

I think it's one of those professions that you are most likely to work in as a newish immigrant while you learn the language or get yourself set up in another career.

Original poster
loobeylou · 30/01/2009 12:44

mainly eastern european here too - i guess the reason is simply as they have a language barrier which excludes them from many other jobs and are so glad to be here they are happy to work outside in bad weather for low pay, unlike alot of our "homegrown" young men

OP posts:
Lovesdogsandcats · 30/01/2009 12:58

The men at local Tesco here are African as you say bran.
they do a good job, hardworking yes lou. Having said that if they are openly working on low pay, it must be above minimum wage?

tumtumtetum · 30/01/2009 13:05

I very much doubt they get paid minimum wage .

Maybe at some of the larger chain ones but not the local/small ones.

I wonder if some of it is gang=master style - apparently the cleaners at the local hospitals have that sort of set-up.

laweaselmys · 30/01/2009 13:08

If you are worried it might be worth investigating.

I had noticed that all of the car washers at our tesco's are asian - it's unusal because there are very few asian people in our area at all. I wondered if perhaps they were being bused in together from a local city. How do you find out if they are being paid appropriately or not though? (It seems rude to ask!)

Simplysally · 30/01/2009 13:10

They've probably clubbed together to buy a franchise which is being run by a group of friends which just happen to be from the same ethnic mix.

I work for a contract cleaning company and we get lots of speculative/word of mouth applications from people connected to current employees. Saves us advertising....

Simplysally · 30/01/2009 13:15

If you are worried about possible worker exploitation though do then contact your local council as they can investigate.

tumtumtetum · 30/01/2009 13:16

That's a tricky one laweaselmys. And so many people get paid less than the minimum wage anyway, where to start.

tumtumtetum · 30/01/2009 13:23

Really simplysally? But for eg the hospital are funded by the PCT which gets funding from the govt/council (not sure exactly how it works) and it is widely known that the cleaners are paid much less than they should be by the contractors. The contractors won the contract because they were cheapest and that's why.

But the govt/PCT seems OK with that otherwise they wouldn't have given them the contract in the first place.

Stacks and stacks of people work for less than minimum wage - I'm not sure I can shop them all, and don't think anyone would be interested

I'm sorry and I'm but I honestly think if I rang the council about people on less than minimum wage they would tell me to get stuffed.

etchasketch · 30/01/2009 13:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.