Left baby in car for a minute

[LifeOnAmber]

I need some advice.

Earlier today we were at a retail park. I was in the shop whilst my husband stayed in the car as the 15 month old was asleep and the 4 year old didn't wanna go in.

I forgot to take my purse. So he brought it into the shop whilst the kids were in the car.

Our car was directly outside the shop. Well not immediate but the second row. But it was in the eye line.

My husband popped in, handed over and went back. It took less than a minute.

When he went back out, a very cross lady was on the phone and with a face like there are abandoned children. He obviously said they are mine. She showed disapproval.

Then he hears her reading out our number plate to someone on the phone and that the parent is here. I guess she called the police?

Basically did we break the law or is it negligence? What can we expect?

But that wouldn't involve being out of a line of sight of your car, or give a passerby long enough to stand next to your car and and up phoning someone.

If you read the post you are commenting on properly you will see it mentions risk. You cannot just have a set rule on your head without thinking it through. Every action we take with children involves an element of risk assessment but for some reason people seem to switch their brains off. Admittedly the safest thing would have been for op to return to car, however for her DH to take her her purse whilst car is visible, carries virtually no risk at all if the car park is flat( as opposed to a steep hill) and kids are strapped in.
To take them out and drag them across the car park is way more risky. I never understand people who takes their little ones in to pay for fuel, rather than leave them asleep or settled in car. Crazy. As previous person said, police would not be interested.
All the worries about them choking/ being sick, does that mean we should never leave them in their bedrooms in case these things happen whilst we are in shower or watching telly etc. They will only choke if you leave then eating, which would be an extra risk( and easily avoided)

Bit of an overreaction from the phone woman if it was literally an immediate phonecall. Surely stand by car to ward off any danger for a few mins to give parents time to come back at least before making a distress call. That's what I'd do anyway.

I'm going to guess it was more than a minute for someone to walk by notice children were alone and call police.... I wouldn't say anything when it was a sleeping baby but a 4 year old i wouldn't leave alone as they could unbuckle car seat and be beeping horn, touching handbrake etc

So many assumptions.

It was someone who parked next to us. So he leaves. She pulls up and sees kids alone. Whilst he is walking to the car from the shop. He can see someone looking concerned. Then comes out phone.. Even though he sort of hints that's my car.

She was on the phone and just said you shouldn't leave kids alone in car. He said OKay... As she was getting her own kids out. Then as he was belting in 4yo, he heard her saying the number plate on the phone.

I was in the middle of a queue that I'd been standing in 10 mins. Yes I should have excused myself. But it's just one of those moments, you think this is awkward saying I'll be back save my place. So I called him to bring it in.

The keys weren't in the ignition. Our son did not wanna go. He wasn't flustered. He was playing with his sticker book.

As someone says he took less time that someone returning a trolley. He didn't stroll.. But rushed in and out.

"Team Police Contacter"

Perhaps learn to spell.

@LifeOnAmber you need to set up ApplePay or equivalent, so it doesn’t matter if you forget your purse.

People will assume when you give NONE of this information in your first post. You can’t get cross at us when you missed so much stuff out!!

’Hinting’ at a car means what? If it’s a hint it’s not clear at all. Hints as a concept are vague. You ‘hint’ at what you want as a birthday present.

She was probably too far into the phone call by that point to not answer the question about the number plate - and the police need to ask this information if they have been contacted. It’s a safeguarding issue.

But you know what to do for next time, ask an assistant to put your stuff aside and go back to the car for your purse.

That is how it is spelled. If you’re going to be rude then at least try not to be wrong!

Unless you meant one of these?
uk.rs-online.com/web/content/discovery/ideas-and-advice/contactors-guide

She jumped the gun and reacted too quickly. She should have waited more than 2 mins before deciding to call police

The purse is a red herring.

The time line doesn’t make any sense, the woman pulled up, saw the kids, got connected to the police, had time to explain the situation enough to have them ask the registration, all in the time it took your husband to walk from a shop to the car two rows down? Nah.

I’m sure she did.

She likely waited much longer than two minutes.

You asked a question and now you’re being pissy because you don’t like the responses.

Whilst it's not ideal, the woman was over zealous and it's highly unlikely the police will be interested. But perhaps it's a good reminder not to do it again.

Yes to all of this! It’s not catasrophising, however unlikely it might be, the worst can happen! Children this small shouldn’t be left unattended.

I left mine sleeping in the car when buying petrol. Safer than getting them out and across the forecourt.

I always used fo keep my kids in the car when I paid for petrol. I could never understand why I was supposed to get them out and walk them/carry them around busy forecourts, trying to avoid other cars

If this really was a minute or less then yes the lady was being completely OTT. In that scenario I would wait by the car and start to get concerned if nobody was back after a couple of minutes. That would suggest they were doing more than returning a trolley or whatever.

The chances of something happening in that tiny window of time are very very slim.

Perhaps learn to be a more responsible parent?

Did she ring the police while the DH was standing there

There’s lots of TikToks of American babies left in cars in high heats which is totally different to this situation and is genuinely endangering the child in those temps. In the UK when it’s 15 degrees that’s really not a thing but people cannot tell the difference and understand degrees of risk. I’d say don’t do it again, not because I think dc were at risk but someone might film you and put it on fb.

I've called 101 (non emergency police line) several times this week and first you get a message telling you it's best to do stuff online, then they tell you which force you are being connected to, then they give you the option to request a different force, then they put you through (whilst again playing the message about contacting them online). Some 3 minutes later you get to speak to a call handler and give them your name, address, contact number and then tell them what the issue is....... It takes a minimum of 5 minutes (my shortest contact with a reference number to quote was 7 minutes 44 seconds) so I don't believe that your husband left the car for less than a minute!

Under 15s aren’t supposed to be out of the car on a forecourt and I’ve never seen anyone take their dc into the petrol station shop, but on mn you get the impression everyone does this and no one leaves them in the car. Mn and rl are very different ime.

She probably called 999 which would be much faster.