Petrol station dilemma

[Pipsqueak]

well i have RA in place in which i state that in the event that i need to put petrol in car with minded children in car i would leave them in the car.

i think it's more dangerous to try to walk 3 to 6 children around cars, walking on spillage when they would be a lot safer in the car.

it's not a convenience choice, it's a safety choice. I don't get my own children out of the car as i find the car fume more dangerous, the vehicle pulling from behind and try to squeeze between lane, the loony who pull in too fast without thinking children could be there....

I park at the pump in front of windows even if it means queuing longer.

I do try to have petrol in car but we're human and not all Mary Poppins with super organisation skills which cover ALL eventuallity.

this week we did 4 outings, I did nearly 200miles i didn't plan on last outings and had to fill petrol pump.

I work until 7pm every night and do not always fancy popping out to pull petrol in knowing we will drive past in the morning.

the pay @pump garage is 8miles away!! I'm not driving 16miles for nonsense.


what is the big risk? car auto combusting? i'm sorry but it's far more likely that a car is going to lose control and climb curb and drive on children... i know of 4incident like this happening in 4years, once where my daughter was with her childminder and a baby died in the buggy YET I still walk on pavement.

hear hear

I do try NOT to have to fill up whilst I have kids in the car - even my own - I try and do it in the evenings/whilst I am not working however.

But i WHOLE heartedly agree -its MORE dangerous in a filling station to get them out of the car and march them across a busy forecourt

You CAN leave children alone - they have to be in sight OR sound.
Most filling stations you can see your vehicle - ergo the children.

[rickysmiths]

Some how I don't think Ofsted would agree on this one. Or your insurance company if anything happened. Have you rung and asked them?

[Pipsqueak]

Some how I don't think Ofsted would agree on this one. Or your insurance company if anything happened. Have you rung and asked them?

funnily enough -about 6 years ago I did ask them and they agreed that IF it was correctly assessed then my judgement as a professional childcarer was acceptable.
Perhaps its time to re-ask them

Colleague of mine (outstanding graded recently) leaves children in the car whilst she 'fills up' - ofsted praised her on her RA's!!!

Mind you - both me and another member asked the same insurers the same question relating to our large play equipment and got two different answers.

[Ripeberry]

If I have mindees in the car and they are asleep and I need to fill up then there is only one petrol station I can go to where I fill up then drive to the front of the shop where I am inches away from the children whilst I pay. Much safer than getting everyone out and waking up sleeping children who have been up since 5am.

[rickysmiths]

funnily enough -about 6 years ago I did ask them and they agreed that IF it was correctly assessed then my judgement as a professional childcarer was acceptable.
Perhaps its time to re-ask them

Colleague of mine (outstanding graded recently) leaves children in the car whilst she 'fills up' - ofsted praised her on her RA's!!!

Mind you - both me and another member asked the same insurers the same question relating to our large play equipment and got two different answers.

This is why I think it is safer to, if you have to fill up while minding, that you take any children with you then there can be no question or criticism from others.

The petrol station I go to I can't go to the pumps nearest to the shop because they only have the premium stuff that I don't use. To be honest I can't see the problem in filling up 'out of hours' then you don't have a problem. On a full tank I can do 500 miles so it lasts me a month anyway but I can easily top up over the weekend or pop out in the evening.

[gegele]

my problem with the out of hours filling is that the out of hour is quite short in my day.

and I'm the kind of person who goes to shop to buy washing powder, spend £30 and come back home without. I've been known to repeat process 3times the same week!!!
Don't let me start about toilet rolls

I DO try to fill my car on my way from sport or at week ends, I don't make it a mission to only fill when kids are in the car

BUT it happens no need to deny it.

[Carol M]

I'm not comfortable with taking mindees to a petrol station. In my policies I state that I will always endeavour to fill up when mindees are not present, if there is an emergency and I need petrol i will use the pay at pump option or if I'm local our Tesco station the staff have told me to use the pump nearest the kiosk window and honk horn, they will come out to me . In 12 years of minding I have never had to use a petrol station whilst minding.
Carol xx

[Chatterbox Childcare]

We have genuinely never left the children in the car to go into the shop and pay, and never would, nor have we taken kids into the petrol station. Either we pay at pump, or fill up when there are no kids or when DH and I are both in the car. I'd be really unhappy if I were the parent to be honest.

I agree that it's unsafe to take the children across the forecourt, but then if the car is kept full and filled outside minding hours, it shouldn't be necessary to - unless you are doing more miles than a full tank of petrol allows for in a single day?

Sorry but you are in dream land - outside working hours ha ha My working hours last week were 6.30am to 8pm and I am certainly not filling up outside of these hours.

Where has common sense gone?? If you have to fill up then do it at pumps that either take cards or you have to drive to a window to pay (Asda for example) and then the children are right beside you.

For some who lock the car, what if there was a fire? who would get the children out as they would be incinerated by the time you got to them?

Safeguarding in my opinion is keeping children safe and we all have to RA what we consider that to be and then Ofsted will be the judge (well the inspector as they all have different opinions!) of whether what we consider safe is actually that.

[LauraS]

[QUOTE=Chatterbox Childcare;1135731]Sorry but you are in dream land - outside working hours ha ha My working hours last week were 6.30am to 8pm and I am certainly not filling up outside of these hours.
[QUOTE]

Blimey how rude

[marnieb]

[QUOTE=LauraS;1135761][QUOTE=Chatterbox Childcare;1135731]Sorry but you are in dream land - outside working hours ha ha My working hours last week were 6.30am to 8pm and I am certainly not filling up outside of these hours.

Blimey how rude

I don't think that's rude - She's just trying to prove a point, that working such long hours who wants to go out in the car at 8pm or later JUST to get petrol, especially when you know you will be passing one in the next day or so on an outing??????

And I agree, I go with mindees, I dont see the problem - I think you'll find that most parents leave their kids in the car if you ask them.

[mushpea]

before i started minding and mine were little I used to leave them in the car whilst I went and paid untill one day I pulled in to the petrol station and there were people in the shop paying and some people on the forecourt wanting to go and pay but the shop door had jammed shut so the people couldnt get out of the shop and others couldnt get in, I didnt waint around to find out the reason for this or to see how long it went on for but it made me realise that if that was me shut in the shop my kids would be in the car on their own and anything could have happend to them if there was a fire I couldnt have got to them or somone could have just taken them and it really upset me that I woldnt have been there for my kids so now I either pay at the pump or fill up when I am not working.
after seeing this, as a mum, I woldnt be happy for my young children to be left in the car on their own but I do understand what you say about you feel is safer and quicker to do this.

[hectors house]

When *****minded before when my children were small, I didn't think twice about leaving my children and mindees in car while I went in to pay. I also used to leave the children in the car in off road car park at the playgroup I collected from - I could see the car at all times as playgroup staff brought kids to door at end of session.

However when I registered again 7 years ago, I was told on my ICP that we couldn't leave children in car while paying for petrol and whilst I agree that a car could be hit by another car and that petrol is a very flammable liquid, petrol forecourts are equally as dangerous especially when you have a couple of non walkers, would take me 10 mins to get out double buggy, put kids in and out, pay and get back in car - can't see the people waiting for a pump being very happy.

So during the last 7 years I have never left the kids in the car but only because I am lucky enough to have an Asda where I can pay by card at the pump. So I can sympathise with people who do not have this facility.

A friend of mine had a car burst into flames on her drive - imagine if she had left a sleeping child in the car - she had taken out the cigarette lighter to charge her phone and a penny had got stuck in the end of cigarette lighter, when she put it back in, it caused an electrical fire when the penny heated up!

[MAWI]

I always ensure I have fuel in car before mindees get in.

Never leave them alone. You just don't know what they can do in a few seconds.

When my DD went to a childminder many years ago, she left her in the car at petrol station to pay. She claims she was only one minute. In that one minute My DD panicked because I never left her on her own in the car and she managed to open the car door and get across the forecourt to theshop without being knocked down. She was only 4 and panicked as she thought the childminder had left her!!! Needless to say, the ramifications of what could have happened didnt bear thinking about. My daughter was articulate enough to tell me what happened otherwise the childminder wasn't going to bother. As you can imagine, I withdrew my daughter from her care immediately.

[rickysmiths]

Totally makes sense, I bet all those that say they never have left a child in a car - have!

What a stupid comment!


I HAVE NEVER LEFT A CHILDMINDED CHILD ALONE IN A CAR IN ALL THE 18 YEARS I HAVE BEEN A CHILDMINDER.

How dare you suggest that people on here lie. Maybe you do but don't judge others by yourself.

Do you know I have never said this about anyone on this Forum before but your posts really get up my nose. I wish you would quietly disappear and go push your wears elsewhere and stop making crass comments.

[rickysmiths]

[QUOTE=marnieb;1135788][QUOTE=LauraS;1135761]

Sorry but you are in dream land - outside working hours ha ha My working hours last week were 6.30am to 8pm and I am certainly not filling up outside of these hours.


I don't think that's rude - She's just trying to prove a point, that working such long hours who wants to go out in the car at 8pm or later JUST to get petrol, especially when you know you will be passing one in the next day or so on an outing??????

And I agree, I go with mindees, I dont see the problem - I think you'll find that most parents leave their kids in the car if you ask them.

What parents do with their children is up to them and can be very different to what we are allowed to do or consider good practice.

One of my parents forgot to bring a swim suit for a child last week and said she was happy for her son to go to the local park paddling pool and run around with no clothes on and that is what she has done in the past. There is no way I would let a child in my care run around naked in my back garden never mind a public park.

Just because a parent may consider it all right to leave their child in a car unattended doesn't make it good practice for a childminder to do it.

As I have stated before, I think however well you have RA it I think if someone reported you to Ofsted they would take a very dim view.

For what its worth I don't think there is ever a need to fill the car up with mindees in it. Most cars run a far distance on a full tank so what is the problem just doing it at the weekend or in the evening? I know early starts and late finishes are difficult but there are ways around it. Even if you only get 200 miles out of a tank that is 40 miles a day for a 5 day working week.

[rickysmiths]

I always ensure I have fuel in car before mindees get in.

Never leave them alone. You just don't know what they can do in a few seconds.

When my DD went to a childminder many years ago, she left her in the car at petrol station to pay. She claims she was only one minute. In that one minute My DD panicked because I never left her on her own in the car and she managed to open the car door and get across the forecourt to theshop without being knocked down. She was only 4 and panicked as she thought the childminder had left her!!! Needless to say, the ramifications of what could have happened didnt bear thinking about. My daughter was articulate enough to tell me what happened otherwise the childminder wasn't going to bother. As you can imagine, I withdrew my daughter from her care immediately.

I agree. I have seen children left in shop car parks, outside school, getting out of their seats and bouncing around. If a child did that in a petrol station and maybe released a hand brake the till is a long way from the car to get back to them.

[Carol M]

Totally makes sense, I bet all those that say they never have left a child in a car - have!

That's a rather sweeping statement
I find your comment offensive! Please think before you post.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

[QUOTE=rickysmiths;1135946][QUOTE=marnieb;1135788]

What parents do with their children is up to them and can be very different to what we are allowed to do or consider good practice.

One of my parents forgot to bring a swim suit for a child last week and said she was happy for her son to go to the local park paddling pool and run around with no clothes on and that is what she has done in the past. There is no way I would let a child in my care run around naked in my back garden never mind a public park.

Just because a parent may consider it all right to leave their child in a car unattended doesn't make it good practice for a childminder to do it.

As I have stated before, I think however well you have RA it I think if someone reported you to Ofsted they would take a very dim view.

For what its worth I don't think there is ever a need to fill the car up with mindees in it. Most cars run a far distance on a full tank so what is the problem just doing it at the weekend or in the evening? I know early starts and late finishes are difficult but there are ways around it. Even if you only get 200 miles out of a tank that is 40 miles a day for a 5 day working week.

I work darn long days and I will judge whether I need petrol or not. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and working practice and that includes ME!

Ricky I have highlighted your post, not because of my opening paragraph but because I did nearly 200 miles with the children in one day last week. Yes I went on a trip that took me nearly 2 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back. I left with a full tank at 8am and dropped the last mindee off at 8pm. Are you suggesting that I then go and fill up? It is 5 miles for me as a round trip to the petrol station and I am not going to go after work when I can do it the next morning on the way out.

[EmmaReed84]

I think this is going to be down to personal opinion. As long as YOU (the CM) are happy and parents are happy and it has been RA'd then it is up to the individual. Not everyone is going to agree and that is perfectly fine, each to their own.

It is like the "Shower or not to shower" debate

[Chatterbox Childcare]

[QUOTE=LauraS;1135761][QUOTE=Chatterbox Childcare;1135731]Sorry but you are in dream land - outside working hours ha ha My working hours last week were 6.30am to 8pm and I am certainly not filling up outside of these hours.

Blimey how rude

Laura why am I rude - I just stated that it is not always possible and to believe that it is isn't always correct

I see that you have been minding since June 2012, see how your practice runs in 20 years time when you are full to the rafters and working in excess of 12 hours days