Rhianna Benson
A first-time mum was left in floods of tears after being subjected to savage fat-shaming remarks when she rightfully left her car in an allocated parent and child space.
After rushing back to her vehicle in the midst of a shopping trip with her three-month-old son to retrieve his water bottle - leaving the toddler with her in-laws - Paige Murray discovered a vile note wedged under her window wiper branding her a 'lazy fat b*****d'.
The scribe first of all took aim at the fact that the 27-year-old financial team leader appeared to have 'no children' with her before she parked her black BMW in the space designated primarily for parents of young kids.
Advert
"It wasn't really a busy time being Wednesday morning," she recalled, following the altercation.
"I was being assisted by my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to get him out. We were there for a good ten minutes trying to get ourselves out. I didn't have a pram with me, I had a harness instead."
Looking back at the tear-jerking attack, Paige believes that whoever placed the note on her vehicle in Eastgate Shopping Centre in Basildon, must have entirely missed the 10 minutes to took to take her toddler Daniel out of the car and strap him into his harness.
Paige confessed that she initially believed the note was left there to inform her that someone had hit her car, admitting she 'immediately thought the worst'.
"When I got closer I read it. I remember thinking 'oh there definitely was a child in this car because I birthed him'," she told press.
"I don't have a baby-on-board sign up in the car but there's a sun visor and the car seat was in there so you can physically see that it's occupied by a child.
"At first I was really embarrassed. I was like 'oh no should I have parked here?' and then when I thought about it I was like 'no I have a right, I'm a parent and I have a child so I can use a parent and child spot.'"
Pouring her heart out, Paige went on: "I hope whoever wrote this note is ashamed of themselves. It's a cheap, low blow to call someone fat.
"Had it been someone who wasn't having a good day or perhaps someone that suffered from post-natal depression - maybe that would ruin their day."
After making her discovery, the self-professed 'thick-skinned mama bear' went to Nandos inside the shopping centre, where'd she'd been enjoying lunch with her in-laws, later telling press that she broke down in front of them upon her return.
"It cast a dampener on the day because I was irritated," she admitted.
"I'm quite thick-skinned and mama bear did come out, I felt like they should have said it to my face.
"It was very upsetting to the point where I was really angry and I was nearly crying because I was so frustrated.
"I definitely think that whoever it is is quite judgemental. I understand it's frustrating when people use parent and child spaces when they're not able to use them but I would never go out of my way to use derogatory terms because that could really ruin their day.
"I think it was a lapse of judgement clearly but at the end of the day I hope that whoever it was sees this and thinks in future."
Eastgate Shopping Centre said the carpark is operated and managed by Asda.
Asda was contacted for comment.