A mum was left horrified after an elderly woman scrawled 'selfish cow' on her car window in lipstick - while she was sat inside.
Business owner Alx Chibouni was waiting to pick up her delivery in a loading bay in Devon on Wednesday at around 10.30am with her two-year-old child when she was approached by an elderly woman.
Alx, who has owned Arthurs Butchers and Delicatessen in Fore Street, Topsham, for the past seven years, claims she was confronted by the woman who angrily knocked on the passenger window before unleashing a torrent of abuse.
When the woman had gone, Alx says she was horrified to see that she had scribbled the words 'selfish cow' in pink lipstick on the vehicle's window, Devon Live reports.
She said: "I was sat in the car by the shop because I was picking up deliveries to take to East Budleigh and other places we deliver to.
"Normally I park directly outside the butchers but on that particular day a removal van was parked there so I parked in the loading bay and didn't leave my car.
"Another removal van was parked in front of me and the driver said to be careful as a woman who lived nearby was not happy.
"I then had a knock on the passenger window so I wound down the window and a woman in her 70s asked if I was parked there a minute ago and called me a 'selfish cow' and said she had tried to get her car up there. It can't have been me because no cars were waiting when I parked up.
"She was very, very aggressive and started a torrent of abuse and was shouting so I shut the window because I won't have that.
"She kept knocking on the window but I didn't look at her and just sat there. She left and that's when I noticed she had written 'selfish cow' on the car.
"I was not obstructing anything and she didn't me a chance to explain what I was doing there. I was angry and upset by what happened.
"I often get odd looks when I am parked up but I didn't expect to get a reaction like that, especially with my two-year-old in the back of the car.
"Topsham is protective of its elderly which I love and everybody looks out for everybody else, but you can't have people no matter what their age being verbally abusive and vandalising things.
"If this woman had done what she did to someone else she might have got a very different reaction. I don't hold any anger towards her but I am concerned people think it's okay to act like that and could be met with resistance at some point."
Alx says the incident highlights how frustrations are running high over a lack of parking places in Topsham high street and how difficult it is for businesses to operate because business permits are not issued.
She said: "It is so difficult to park in Topsham. I would say nine times out of 10 I can't park outside my shop and they don't give business permits at all in Topsham, only permits for residents, so we can't even get permission for our van to load and unload so it's really difficult. The situation is ridiculous.
"You do get some people using the loading bays when they shouldn't but I was within my right to be using it.
"The parking situation in Topsham is pushing people out of town to shop in other places."
