Is it an offence to leave a baby in the car whislt paying for petrol?

[TheSleepFairy]

I have always deemed it much safer if my children stay in the car whilst I go & pay for petrol.

Today I have read on another forum that it is an offence & apparently a mother was approached by a social worker who took her details & arranged a home visit & advised her she would be "in serious trouble" if it happened again.

Would leaving my child in the car be viewed as abandonment &/or neglect on my behalf?

I've never left my children in the car whilst paying for petrol but even I think you are stirring the shit mollieo

No intention to do that at all. Think I am entitled to express my opinion as I wish. If I wanted to stir I could recount the horrific story told to me by Thames Valley police about a mother who left her baby in a locked car on a petrol forecourt.

Why not just go to a pay at the pump petrol station. Then no issue?

Please do. If you have evidence to back this up then you should share it.

The police have a story for every occasion though, they are great pub friends because they see the absolute worst in people/life generally and tell a great story.
I have 2 such friends who won't have children because they've worked on too many dreadful cases, cars on forecourts being the least of your worries.

do bugger off Mollie, Sanctimonious towers is that way ======>

Its not illegal, it ia what sensible people do, and it is not dangerous in the slightest. Unless you are bonkers paranoid.

I have 2 sets of twins - 3 year old boys and 4 month old babies. There is NO WAY that I would consider taking them out of the car with me to pay.

but bellabelly, don't you know how irresponsible and feckless you are not to have 3 pairs of arms? I mean, really, you shouldn't ever leave the house!

no its not an offence. Legislation (scots law) states you can leave a child unattended for a reasonable amount of time, however the law doesn't stipulate what a is reasonable amount of time.

As a social work student i was shocked to learn this, i feel no child should be left unattended for any amount of time. When i use a car i always drive right up to the building once my tanks been filled so i can keep an eye on ds. just me though!

no child? I can't let my 14 year old walk home from school then?

Where I live we only have one petrol station where you have the option of paying at the pump and the queues are always horrendous (six cars per pump waiting).

I have always left ds in the car since tiny and as he is a wriggler and will not be carried and must walk everywhere I have risk assessed and deemed leaving him in the car the safer option for us.

But horses for courses. What is right for us may not be applicable elsewhere. We live in a rural county where crime is perceived as being quite low - some of our local petrol stations are still served stations so self service is not an option.

cat64 and buzz. Having read this thread, I now want to move to where Madamdeathstare is and get me some of that drive-through action!

I beleive it is safer becasue when I had two under fives it was much harder to carry them/walk them across the forecourt with lots of cars not really watching where they are going.

Mollie your policeman has a story - did you not read earlier that I had a van run into me on a petrol forecourt. He was reversing and not looking where he was going, he just didn't see me. I was luckily standing by the side of my car and managed to jump out of the way. I was pregnant at the time. He then hit my car afterwards.

But that is just one incident, it doesn;t meanI will never fill up with petrol again.

I'd have thought that children sat safely in a car are a far better idea than children loose on a forecourt of a garage?

Let's face it, you are usually not away from the car that long to pay are you? Most of the time you are stood by the car waiting for it to fill up.

And you'd obviously lock the car while you go and pay wouldn't you? Kids or no kids.

I would say a 14 year old is a teenager, who should have reasonable knowledge about the hazards and dangers of the world around them. Even though technically yes they are still children they usually have a better sense of what is dangerous whereas a younger child does not therefore it can be dangerous leaving them unattended.

I suppose it would depend on the level of maturity and, for lack of a better phrase, "common sense" that a child has that would determine if they can be left unattended. for me anyway

everyone's different though!

Wow - on reading all these posts, there are either some very intense people posting on here, or many of you have to find something better to do to occupy your time. I mean - 44 posts on whether your kids stay in the car when you pay for petrol - you'd think it was important and not one of those things that matter not what parents decide to do.

smh

Um.. unimportant enough for you to post on here though resolution?

you see the flaw in my logic. foiled again. Plan for world domination placed on hold for now.

hehe

There are risks to both options:

Leave child in car

• car could spontaneously blow up (massively unlikely)
• car could be stolen (less unlikely but still pretty rare if locked)
• child could take handbrake off (quite possible- luckily most petrol forecourts are flat)

Take Child out

• child gets hit by another vehicle crossing forecourt
• petrol station gets robbed and child gets taken hostage or hit by stray bullet
• child steals mars bar during government crack down on shop lifting and gets 18 months inside.