... to expect people who use parent & baby car parking spaces to have children with them?

It wouldn't be an issue at all if spaces were the size they are in the U.S. If I need a bigger space in a mini to get the LO out, then it seems to me the spaces are just too damn small in the first place. I don't even bother going shopping if I am in a bigger car, unless it's at the crack of dawn when there's only the mums from the school run and the office workers buying a salad for their lunch.

' By LittleBoSheep on Mon 05-Feb-07 19:08:19
Oh and 20 of the 30 disabled spaces are empty 99.9% of the time. '

where do you live, can i shop there

can hardly ever get a parking space here at tescos.

can i swear yet?

I think its just a mtter of tolerance. I parked in P&T a couple of times when I was pg with ds1- I was supposed to be ebdbound with pre-eclampsia and wanted to walk the most minimal distance I could manage. Nobody seemed to mind that, I guess because it was visual. I get lots of comments with ds1 though (he's 7), thogh I can actually use them 'properly' with ds3 (3.5).

Funnily enough, anyone who sees ds1 in the shop doesn't seem to worry about the space. Is that because he crawlsa round yapping and barking, d'ya think? Is that a clue for them perhaps?

I don't like the 2 seater sports car able bodied briage taking the spaces, as its purely down to a lack of consideration. When its elderly, pg, mums of kids (young and / or multiples of) its not an issue to me. If its BB holder, I would expect them to get priority everytime.

Cant believe we might be able to get a badge! So typical that nobody told us

but do you need a p+t space?

I can't believe people are complaining that there are too many spaces for the disabled. I'm even more that people think it's okay to block cars in a disabled space with a trolley because they have decided that the person isn't disabled enough.

I agree, Bo, in fact you have just said everything I have been ranting about to DH for years!!! And why are there so many disabled spaces and so few parent and baby spaces? I'm presuming it has something do with the percentage of disabled people in the country and having to apply that percentage to available parking spaces thanks to some EU Law, but it really pees me off. I was at the supermarket today and I only have a little car with 2 doors so I need a bit of space to reach in to the back to get the monkey out. I was driving around for ages trying to find a space, whilst perfectly able people trotted off into the supermarket, childless and without any need for parking in either the parent spaces or the disabled spaces.

Oh, and it's not so much easier online because they never have what you have bloody ordered!!!!! Instead of peas they bring you a butternut squash, or something! You need to go to the supermarket after they've delivered just to get the basic ingredients for a meal!!!!

I am amazed at this thread. Only recently discovered p&t bays but never use them. I've only recently started driving to the shops. For many years I carried 5 bags of shopping and a baby on the buses to get home. To think that it pisses some of you off that you cannot get into your designated bay because (god forbid) a disabled person has parked there beggars belief.

I do not use p&t bays (with my 3 children) because I feel they are of better use to the elderly and disabled. Wouldn't dream of pulling them up for parking in them.

Oh and 20 of the 30 disabled spaces are empty 99.9% of the time.

Tesco obviously dont have a standard policy regarding disable spaces because ours has somewhere around 30 all by the front door. My issue with their lack of P & T spaces is during the peak times of the day PARENTS are the main group in store and, as major customers, our needs should be taken into account.

I think those of us who worry about parking in P & T spaces arent princesses but spaces have got smaller and smaller & cars have got larger and larger. I only have an average sized car but when I was parked next to a 4 x 4 and the children were still small it was IMPOSSIBLE to have enough space to get my (by no means enormous) arse into the space BOTH SIDES of the car to get a child out of its seat. Yes I COULD use a "normal" space but, call me old fashioned, I would rather not damage the next cars paintwork whilst getting my child out.

I have to confess when I have seen a someone running into the store from the disabled spaces I have left my trolley horizontally across the back of their car to piss them off when they get back.

Oh yes I COULD go in the evening when the kids are in bed (after my work at home day, school/playgroup runs, after school clubs, cooking tea and doing homework) but why the hell should I. Plus a lot of people dont have anyone to look after their children so dont have the luxury of choice.

i do object to misuse of the P&c and BB spaces, if i am on my own with my 3 kids i cannot hold all the doors at the same time, my 3 have autism and no awareness of the car parked next to us, we just need a wide space that is all, we do have 3 blue badges, i also own a teflon overcoat, this is useful for deflecting the filthy looks when using the disabled parking spaces.

yes it REALLY annoys me!!

it also really pisses me off when you see someone diasbled aprk in a disabled space whilst their ableboddied friend partner goes into shop whilst they wait in the car

Can't be bothered to read the whole scrap ...

My local Tescos has a sign by the P&B spaces that reads:

*
Parent & Toddler Parking
It's so much easier to shop online
*

In other words, we want your money but we don't want your screaming brats in the shop; sod off and shop from home. Fantastic. Makes me laugh every time, even when I'm driving past all the spaces filled by the childless.

Can I put notes on their cars that read "Do you want my kids as well as my parking space?". Going free to a good home, especially on the way out of the supermarket!

I have been with son who was bb holder, and I would park in disabled if he was having trouble with mobility and p&t if he was not. I would Never mind someone with bb parking in p&t spots.

btw - I can confirm that you don't need to be getting higher rate to get bb in all circs - we got one when DS2 was on crutches (though I suspect that some of the docs who do the assessments are more impressed with obvious phisical problems (please don't take offence if I have put that very badly - it is not meant in ANY negative way)). And we were getting nothing from DLA

No life, not life...

3andnomore

The point is....if I am cold I park in the space closest to the store, it is a quiet store as I stay in a village and the point of having a car seat in the back is that if anyone were to drive past and see me in the PT space, how are they going to know I have no child with me? So why would it bother them?

Unless of course they had life....and came looking!

fio, thats awful

I hate people who park in them when they dont have kids, but i have no objection to bb holders parking in them if all their spaces are taken.

Fio - that really is something to complain about. It's like some kind of sick joke.