At what age is acceptable to leave child locked in car whilst paying for petrol

[SuperWomanX4]

I personally have never left my child locked in car whilst paying for petrol as I go to ASDA which is only pay at pump. But I am curious as to what people feel is an acceptable age to leave them in the car - locked of course whilst you pay for petrol at the kiosk.

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1762734.ece

Can't find much on it - but have a look at this (sorry not v good at links).

always. a forecourt is not a safe place for a child.

Have not read whole thread but is this for real?

I have always left mine, strapped in their car seats and with the doors locked.

Total bloody pain otherwise and for what?!

I leave mine strapped in the car. I leave the doors unlocked, as I have a fear that I may need to grab them out quickly in the event of a fire.

I do watch them like a hawk from the the pay station. Nothing awful has happened yet

I always get my 2 DC (3 & 5) out and take them in. Just wouldn't leave them in the car, unattended, on a petrol forecourt, because of the increased risk of fire.

I have left them in the car, when they were younger, while I ran in a local shop for bread/milk - now I send my 5 year old in to get the bread while I watch from the car.

Either way, I'd never lock them in. I just don't think the risk of them being snatched while I'm in sight is high enough, whereas the risk of a fire is.

i've always left mine in the car.

i think the risks of carrying/dragging 3 children across a forecourt is much higher than my car being stolen/bursting into flames/something else happening

i mean, if i was that worried about it catching fire i just wouldn't go to the petrol station at all!

It never even crossed my mind, until I read MN! Ds has been left since he was a baby. To be fair, I don't go very often as Dh usually gets petrol on way to work.

If I am on my own I and going out in car I also put him in car first, lock car and go back in house to get stuff. Much safer than leaving him alone in car.

He has never seemed bothered by it.

I always leave mine in the car because I think it is safer than taking them out.

I've always left DD in the car when paying for petrol, never occurred to me to take her in as I'd never be able to pay if I was also holding a wriggly baby! I do usually go when it's fairly quiet and there's not a long queue in case DD does get grumbly.

I think though, if I had two older children, I might not if they'd argue in the car.

I take ds with me because I have the fear of the car blowing up or someone breaking in and stealing him. He's 2. However, I'm a bit of a different case... for the first 14 months of his life I was in a panic about making sure the bedroom window was shut. I was convinced someone might scale the wall to the frat floor and come take him!

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I also worry that if I don't take him in with me, he will gf scared. Or, someone might see and tell me off for leaving him unattended.

Always take DS with me, 2yrs old. Am totally OTT i agree but when i was 21 my car caught fire (had broken done in a dark country lane - but thats a whole other thread).

I'd hate to try to cross a busy forecourt with my two kids, there was a phase when my DD was so flighty that I avoided busy roads, heck I avoided a whole small town for several months because of a particular road that had to be crossed between the car park and shops, I just couldn't rely on her to stay unsquished (around abouts the time she turned four to four and a half, earlier than this I used reins).

Now that she's bigger I can explain and reason but it still seems to take us about four attempts to cross a road...

"Right now DD - are you ready? I said are you ready?? Face the front and pay attention.... now I see a big gap coming, after this car, now get ready, and cross !!! .... C'mon now cross the road !! I said CROSS THE ROAD NOW!!! Wait too late." On repeat, usually while juggling pram and shopping, or else I'd grab her and carry her over. It seems to take a full ten mins to cross our nearest road.

You see why I don't attempt forecourts!

frat floor firstt floor! and get not gf!

oh I just can't win!

Last week was the first time that I took one of my DTs into the shop with me. He's 7 and he asked if he could come because he didn't want to sit in the car on his own (he's a twin it doesn't happen very often). He thought it was the best place ever - who doesn't like 5 aisles of sweets?

I can't imagine that wrangling two kids across a petrol forecourt is safer than them sitting inside the car.

I always leave them, but then stare at the car anxiously the whole time I am queuing just in case it spontaneously combusts/a monster eats them etc

Once I locked them in, just automatically pressed the blipper without thinking... they managed to set the car alarm off, had to run back to 2 screaming (previously sleeping) kids!

I've been tutted at by a disapproving woman once for leaving my DC in the car whilst paying. I have no idea what she wanted me to do though. I have 2 DD and at the time the eldest hadn't learnt to walk. I would have to carry her and DD2 in her carseat to and from the kiosk. Manage to get the unbelieveably heavy door open and pay whilst juggling them both.

These days its no better, DD1 can walk now but still very wobbly and I reckon she is considerably safer in car seat in a locked car than she is toddling across the forecourt, even holding my hand.

I can imaging the look on the driver waiting behind me as I manoeuvre both out of the car, put reins on DD1 to make it safer to walk across forecourt or even get out my massive double buggy for the occasion...

And in answer to the woman who tutted and muttered under her breath, No there isn't a pay at the pump station anywhere near here. Thank. You. Very. Much.

Birth

Never crossed my mind that anyone would get them out of the car to pay until I came across threads like this on MN.
I have never seen anyone get them out in RL though.

I'd love to know the statistics on car fires on forecourts. Personally I've never heard of one. If I saw a parent walking across the forecourt with a baby I would probably think they were taking a risk but that's because I don't think I've ever seen it happen. The mums who do this - do your partners do it as well?

Well today I left my three in the car. (9 and 7 and 16 months) I didn't lock it and I left a window open. Didn't occur to me that it could be a problem. I can see them from the shop and they can see me in the shop.

TBH I did lock it once and by the time I came out again the alarm was going so now I don't bother.

I used to work shifts at a petrol station in my 20s. Just a suburban outlet on the edge of a happy, crime-free modern housing estate in a run of the mill southern town. Crime I experienced included:

drunks falling out of taxis, peeing on the forecourt, throwing up on someone else's bonnet, ruckus ensued..

fisticuffs between taxi drivers and passengers ..

HOW many people lighting up mid-pump! They thyink, "Hm, the petrol's inside this pipe, it's not going to catch fire". They forget the fumes are what catch fire.

A custody battle family doing the weekend changeover and having a massive barney, then the one dropping off whizzing off without the kids, having also taken mum's keys, leaving them all stranded..

Lots of drive-offs, people deliberatley or forgetfully not paying for thier petrol then burning rubber into the sunset..

Schoolkids on mopeds forgettting to brake as they speed onto the forecourt - nasty!

School run stressed mums forgetting to belt the children in their seats in the first place, never mind putting the handbrake on before filling up..

I can't think why complacency rules on this issue, who's to say inner city forecourts aren't just as attractive to criminals as rural ones, think about it...

Especially since the really stupid idea of allowing franchised shops onto the forecourt, meaning alcohol and fastfood licences are granged, encouraging loiterers.

DO google to find recent examples of carjacking, child abductions, etc, THIS YEAR in UK petrol stations, then re-consider leaving your kids unlocked in the car

www.autoweb.co.uk/article/615

'Petrol stations are the third highest in the league table for robberies in the UK retail trade'

I must be mad - I never leave mine!! I always take my baby in, not sure why but I do. I will leave the other two, 13 and 9 and the baby if they are there, but never on his own.