Father discovers angry note on his car window calling him ‘fat’ and ‘selfish’ for wrongly parking in a Tesco parent and child space – despite his wife and daughter being in the back seat
- Gilly Patel, 37, parked in a parents’ bay at a Tesco Extra in Coventry on Sunday
- He returned to find a note telling him: ‘If you walked a bit you would not be so fat’
- It also called him ‘selfish,’ for using a family parking bay when he was on his own
- In actual fact his daughter and wife were sat in the car when the note was left
An angry note branded a father ‘fat’ and ‘selfish,’ for wrongly parking in a family bay – despite his wife and daughter being inside the car at the time.
Gilly Patel had stopped off at a Tesco Extra supermarket near the Ricoh Arena in Coventry to buy sweets and other items for a family party on Sunday, leaving his family in the back seat of his BMW.
When he returned he found a note which read: ‘Bit selfish parking in a family space when you on your own.
‘If you walked a bit you would not be so FAT.’
The writer, who was seemingly oblivious to Mr Patel’s family in the back of the car, returned to his own Land Rover Discovery, where he was confronted over the message.
Gilly Patel was branded ‘selfish’ and ‘fat,’ for parking in a family space at Tesco Extra in Coventry on Sunday
The father returned to his BMW in Coventry where he discovered the note on Sunday afternoon
Mr Patel said: ‘I was only in the store for five minutes shopping for gifts and things like that and he was still waiting in his car by the time I got back so I went over to him and told him through his window that I had every right to use that parking space.
‘He wouldn’t respond at first and he only apologised after security guards came over, even though they didn’t get involved.
‘He saw my wife get out of the car and tapped me on the shoulder as if to say sorry, totally ignoring social distancing. I was furious.’
Mr Patel, from Dudley, believes the man who wrote the offensive note had been waiting to see what happened when he returned to the vehicle but had been oblivious that his wife and one-year-old daughter were sat in the back seats of the BMW.
Mr Patel was able to confront the driver of the note after his wife saw them walk back to their Land Rover Discovery
The former Coventry University student said: ‘I think he was waiting to see my reaction when I came back and didn’t realise my wife was in the car and had spotted him going back to his own vehicle.
‘He must have felt a right idiot. I was totally shocked someone could take the time to write a note like that in the first place with everything else going on the world, let alone without getting their facts right.’
Mr Patel said he feels as though the incident may have been racially motivated.
‘People should think twice before they start making baseless accusations against others.’