Leaving child unattended in car

leck

Last week a car pulled in beside me in a parking lot. There was a little girl, 2-3 years old, strapped into the back seat. The driver, probably her father, got out, locked the car and walked away. I think he was going into a nearby leisure centre. He might have only been going in for five minutes or an hour. I was leaving the car park at the time.

Is there a law against leaving a child alone like that? I thought of calling after him but figured he'd tell me to mind my own business.

sbsquarepants

If there's not, there certainly should be! Fúcking idiot:mad:

BoJack Horseman

leck wrote: »

Last week a car pulled in beside me in a parking lot. There was a little girl, 2-3 years old, strapped into the back seat. The driver, probably her father, got out, locked the car and walked away. I think he was going into a nearby leisure centre. He might have only been going in for five minutes or an hour. I was leaving the car park at the time.

Is there a law against leaving a child alone like that? I thought of calling after him but figured he'd tell me to mind my own business.

Pretty sure there is.

Parents should be obliged to at least leave the window slightly open & have a water bowl in the car.

Sir Arthur Daley

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Pretty sure there is.

Parents should be obliged to at least leave the window slightly open & have a water bowl in the car.

And packet of cheese and onion crisps.

Little CuChulainn

Call the Gardaí. If they don't actually take the child they will notify social services.

uch

Darwin Award ??

droidman123

Whether there is a law against it or not,the father should be horsewhipped and never allowed to be in charge of a child again.it is unforgivable to leave a child unattended in a car.

ThisRegard

uch wrote: »

Darwin Award ??

How will the father die as a result of what he did or didn't do? The op doesn't know if the driver was just dropping something to reception or planting a bomb which went off in his face.

Tonyandthewhale

I was left alone in a car as a child many a time. Never for hours on end, never in blistering heat but now and again for two or three minutes at a time while the mammy popped into the post office or the local shop or down the street to pay a parking ticket. As far as I know I survived all these occasions. Children, even as young as two or three don't tend to spontaneously combust if left briefly unattended.

Donkey Oaty

Hope that kid is okay.

They've been in that car for a week now.

somesoldiers

Idiot, isn't there cases every so often of kids boiling to death in cars ( or was that CSI), admittedly we don't get those type of temperatures but grossly irresponsible if even for 1 minute

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/utah-baby-dies-forgotten-hot-car-article-1.1890957

Closed_Account

My mother used to leave the 4 of us in the car to pop into the shop when we were kids. Until one day, she came out with the sliced pan to see my brothers on the footpath looking guilty and the car rolling down the hill backwards with me in a moses basket on the back seat :eek: Thankfully, the shopkeeper legged it down and managed to stop the car before it reached the main road. My brother got a stern talking to for letting off the handbrake and my mother never left us in the car again.

FTA69

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

I was left alone in a car as a child many a time. Never for hours on end, never in blistering heat but now and again for two or three minutes at a time while the mammy popped into the post office or the local shop or down the street to pay a parking ticket. As far as I know I survived all these occasions. Children, even as young as two or three don't tend to spontaneously combust if left briefly unattended.

Chalk it down. However incidents like these usually bring out the moral outrage brigade.

AnonoBoy

If you have a convertible you can leave your child in the car while it goes through a carwash and you save on bath water.

Beano

Sure me man used to leave me in the pram outside the shop when she was doing her shopping. Until one day she got home and my dad asked her where i was.

Jawgap

leck wrote: »

Last week a car pulled in beside me in a parking lot. There was a little girl, 2-3 years old, strapped into the back seat. The driver, probably her father, got out, locked the car and walked away. I think he was going into a nearby leisure centre. He might have only been going in for five minutes or an hour. I was leaving the car park at the time.

Is there a law against leaving a child alone like that? I thought of calling after him but figured he'd tell me to mind my own business.

So for all you know she could still be there or the Dad was away for a minute or two?

Was the child awake or asleep? Did she have toys with her?

mfceiling

somesoldiers wrote: »

Idiot, isn't there cases every so often of kids boiling to death in cars ( or was that CSI), admittedly we don't get those type of temperatures but grossly irresponsible if even for 1 minute

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/utah-baby-dies-forgotten-hot-car-article-1.1890957

Car locked, father goes in to shop, comes out 2 minutes later, drives off, kid still alive/hasn't melted in the 14 degree weather.

Move on nothing to see here...

MistyCheese

ThisRegard wrote: »

How will the father die as a result of what he did or didn't do? The op doesn't know if the driver was just dropping something to reception or planting a bomb which went off in his face.

Plus, a Darwin Award commemorates stupid people for removing themselves from the gene pool. So no award if they've already passed on those genes. Unless maybe if they take their child/ren with them.

Jawgap

mfceiling wrote: »

Car locked, father goes in to shop, comes out 2 minutes later, drives off, kid still alive/hasn't melted in the 14 degree weather.

Move on nothing to see here...

Have to disagree there - it's grossly irresponsible. A friend of mine left his daughter in the car for a few minutes once and came back to find she'd occupied herself by doing some colouring........

........of the upholstery of his Rover 220gti - the Paisley pattern (this was the mid-1990s) was too much for her to resist!!

Lesson learned about leaving kids in the car!!

recylingbin

Sometimes you just need to get away from the little feckers

Cee-Jay-Cee

Hang on a second...the OP has no idea how long he was away, it may have been just minutes. I often leave my daughters in the car on their own if I'm just nipping into a shop for a minute or two BUT only if I get a parking spot right outside the shop where the car is in full view at all times otherwise I take them with me.

krudler

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Hang on a second...the OP has no idea how long he was away, it may have been just minutes. I often leave my daughters in the car on their own if I'm just nipping into a shop for a minute or two BUT only if I get a parking spot right outside the shop where the car is in full view at all times otherwise I take them with me.

What?! don't you know your kid will burst into flames and/or there'll be paedophiles clawing at the car windows? you monster.

Leaving a newborn on it's own in a hot car is idiotic, but a child won't explode if left by itself in mild weather for a minute or two. If they did none of us would have survived the 80's.

If you're using the atm/garage/shop and you can clearly see them from where you are, and its only for a minute or two, then I don't see a big issue.

If you're going into the leisure centre for a swim and you've forgotten/don't care they're in the car, then you should have the Guards on you.

anncoates

No harm for a few minutes in a locked car if you're doing something like running in to pay for petrol and you can watch the car from the window. I do it myself. Anything else and I'd bring them with me.

anncoates

FTA69 wrote: »

Chalk it down. However incidents like these usually bring out the moral outrage brigade.

Don't you know it's full time work toiling in the parenting outrage mines.

krudler

Candie wrote: »

If you're using the atm/garage/shop and you can clearly see them from where you are, and its only for a minute or two, then I don't see a big issue.

If you're going into the leisure centre for a swim and you've forgotten/don't care they're in the car, then you should have the Guards on you.

Exactly, you see it all the time in garage forecourts, lock car, nip into shop, pay, back in car a few mins later. Kid remains unmolested/in flames.

Long as you can see them it's a non issue, be different leaving them in the car and heading off shopping for a few hours, nipping into a shop is something I'd wager most parents have done at some point out of necessity, you'd have what you need to do done by the time you unpackaged the kid from it's seat and carted it in with you.

KERSPLAT!

Car locked, a window cracked open and only left for a minute or two and I'd have no problem.

ScumLord

The fact that children can melt, boil and or burst into flames if left unattended makes me worried that parents don't have the necessary containers to protect the general public from their potentially dangerous children.

Tiddlypeeps

I could understand leaving a baby alone for a minute or two while popping in to pay for petrol or whatever, but aren't toddlers who lover to push buttons and stuff liable to letting off the hand break?

anncoates

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Car locked, a window cracked open and only left for a minute or two and I'd have no problem.

You hardly need a window open even in warm weather for the amount of time you're away.

It's just increasing the chance the car will be stolen.

KERSPLAT!

anncoates wrote: »

You hardly need a window open even in warm weather for the amount of time you're away.

It's just increasing the chance the car will be stolen.

Would depend on the day and how hot it was I suppose

Holsten

What is the problem here?

What is going to happen to the child who is strapped into their car seat?

You want a law where there is X amount of minutes you can be X meters from your child? Madness.

recylingbin

Holsten wrote: »

What is the problem here?

What is going to happen to the child who is strapped into their car seat?

You want a law where there is X amount of minutes you can be X meters from your child? Madness.

Feck it, why not.
You;re not thinking of the situation where the child manages to free itself, goes looking for a biscuit in the front seat, accidentally hotwires the car, scaring itself, crouches in the footwell, pushing down on the accelerator and ends up taking out a train and a power station causing untold inconvenience to thousands.

Holsten

recylingbin wrote: »

Feck it, why not.
You;re not thinking of the situation where the child manages to free itself, goes looking for a biscuit in the front seat, accidentally hotwires the car, scaring itself, crouches in the footwell, pushing down on the accelerator and ends up taking out a train and a power station causing untold inconvenience to thousands.

Haha.

Ah yes, the ever common Baby Theft Auto.

Flippyfloppy

Holsten wrote: »

What is the problem here?

What is going to happen to the child who is strapped into their car seat?

You want a law where there is X amount of minutes you can be X meters from your child? Madness.

Yeah, you see you're generally not supposed to leave small children unsupervised.

Unless there's something I don't know.....is a car seat some magical form of super nanny? Who needs childcare, just leave ur child plonked outside your job in a car seat.

Gongoozler

http://www.newpolandexpress.pl/polish_news_story-6620-heat_stroke_kills_child_left_in_car.php

Not the same thing, but this reminded me if it.

anncoates

Gongoozler wrote: »

Not the same thing,

Ah sure post it anyway.

the_syco

Meh. Better to leave the child in the car for an hour or two, than to leave the child in a toystore and let the staff mind the child :mad:

GrumpyMe

Sure why bother taking them with ya at all - just leave them is the safety of your home, alone...
Or if they are the active type just drop them off at the local playground and pick them up on the way back - sure they'll be fine!

I mean what is the worst that can happen?

How often would you leave you wallet on view in your locked car in a car park?
Which do you value more?
:rolleyes:

Gongoozler

anncoates wrote: »

Ah sure post it anyway.

Feeling a little grumpy are ya?

KERSPLAT!

GrumpyMe wrote: »

Sure why bother taking them with ya at all - just leave them is the safety of your home, alone...
Or if they are the active type just drop them off at the local playground and pick them up on the way back - sure they'll be fine!

I mean what is the worst that can happen?

How often would you leave you wallet on view in your locked car in a car park?
Which do you value more?
:rolleyes:

How much is in the wallet?

MaroonAndGreen

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Call the Gardaí. If they don't actually take the child they will notify social services.

Fcuking hate these pure PC posts.

He left the child in the car for a few minutes, hes not batin' the shìte of him!

GrumpyMe

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

How much is in the wallet?

Mine - feck all!
Yours?

Judgement Day

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

I was left alone in a car as a child many a time. Never for hours on end, never in blistering heat but now and again for two or three minutes at a time while the mammy popped into the post office or the local shop or down the street to pay a parking ticket. As far as I know I survived all these occasions. Children, even as young as two or three don't tend to spontaneously combust if left briefly unattended.

Children may not spontaneously combust but cars do. The electrical wiring in the dashboard loom can ignite even when the engine is switched off - I've seen a van burnt-out as a result of same but sure you can always grow some more children.

Frigga_92

Anyone else have an older brother or sister talk them into letting off the handbrake by saying the car wouldn't move because the engine was off and then when the car did move you nearly wet yourself?

farmerjj

leck wrote: »

Last week a car pulled in beside me in a parking lot. There was a little girl, 2-3 years old, strapped into the back seat. The driver, probably her father, got out, locked the car and walked away. I think he was going into a nearby leisure centre. He might have only been going in for five minutes or an hour. I was leaving the car park at the time.

Is there a law against leaving a child alone like that? I thought of calling after him but figured he'd tell me to mind my own business.

Why do you say that?

If he was male he probably wasn't her mother

darkpagandeath

Judgement Day wrote: »

Children may not spontaneously combust but cars do. The electrical wiring in the dashboard loom can ignite even when the engine is switched off - I've seen a van burnt-out as a result of same but sure you can always grow some more children.

You must not get much sleep at night then with the fridge running. Sure how do you know there was not a gas leak in the shop and it explodes killing the father and potentially the child...? But the child being left in the car saved it's life :pac:

Tonyandthewhale

Judgement Day wrote: »

Children may not spontaneously combust but cars do. The electrical wiring in the dashboard loom can ignite even when the engine is switched off - I've seen a van burnt-out as a result of same but sure you can always grow some more children.

As darkpagandeath pointed out, buildings catch fire too, what if he brought the child into the leisure centre or where-ever he was going and then it burnt down with the two of them inside?

A truly responsible parent wouldn't let their child be anywhere.

JuliusCaesar

This and this and this... Do you need any more stories?

Sure it's unusual enough to make the headlines. But would you take the risk with your own child/wallet?

There was a case where 3 children died in a car arson attack a few years ago. A case of mistaken identity I think. Somewhere in Ireland too.

leck

Jawgap wrote: »

So for all you know she could still be there or the Dad was away for a minute or two?

Was the child awake or asleep? Did she have toys with her?

Child was awake. No sign of any toys.