If you buy a massive 4×4 SUV...

A lot of people around here (suburbs) have new Defenders as a status symbol. They're bloody massive things that are totally unnecessary for the school run/commute to the station/Waitrose shop.

I'm not jealous. I could afford one but it's completely ridiculous for my life and the life of almost everyone who's bought one.

Thankfully most modern cars have sensors and/or a reversing camera so it is not so much an issue. I have SUV's and all of them have had a reversing camera.

Also sort out your stupid LED lights that dazzle the rest of us...

Usually these huge cars have them and it's like they have their full beams on.

I have a blue badge. My suv was the only vehicle on the motability scheme that would fit my adaptations and equipment without having to get another Wav which would mean an even bigger vehicle. I have to be able to get my vehicle on the driveway to charge and a wav doesn't fit without sticking out and blocking the pavement

Disabled spaces are the best option, no worries getting in or out or dings from other car doors.

Just to turn your post the other way around... I own a big 4×4 and reverse parked perfectly the other day at a very busy supermarket in a space probably the furthest away from the entrance... came back to my car and found I could not get in as the cars either side of me had parked in what looked like an arrow shape. If they had parked sensibly I would have been able to get in. It's the driver NOT the car!!!

At Meadowhall if you don’t park within the lines you get fined. You also have to be registered to use the parent and child spaces

Whats the road clearance and air intake for them?

But so would vans and lorries - you just have to wait a bit if you can’t see your way clearly.

This. We have an estate as we travel with large canvas tents and the associated poles for our hobby. I find it laughable when people say they buy SUVs for space then they have roof boxes.

You aren’t buying an SUV for boot space, stop lying to yourself.

I have an SUV. I park on my drive and don’t inconvenience anyone. I park in one space when out and make sure I am in the middle so plenty of room. We have it for numerous hobbies that need a bigger vehicle…..so shouldn’t be a problem really.

You can be a dick even in a small car. I have seen fiat 500 over two spaces, people park diagonally, people without kids in parent spaces etc.

its not always the car but the driver…..

My answer for that is a van. Like the Ford Tourneo.

Yes, if they make spaces bigger, capacity will be smaller and they’ll want to recoup their losses somehow.

I have beautiful very sticky stickers to deal with that. 😉😉

No, please keep multi-storey car parks tight, and keep the giant cars out. Reward those of us who don't squeeze other road users into hedges.

Our site vehicles are big 4x4’s. We tow trailers, cabins, generators etc across all sorts of off road sites and need space for 3-4 adults plus kit in the back. It’s 100x the most appropriate vehicle for this. Sometimes we also have to get fuel, or lunch, or supplies and have to park somewhere.

That said, if they were limited to commercial use there would be a lot less of them and so a handful (in the same way you get the odd LWB van at the supermarket as well) parked at the far end of the car park isn’t the end of the world.

The beginning of the removal of the estate is troubling on a personal level though. I don’t want to have to get a Defender or similar to get the old capacity I currently get in a car as wide as a golf (as let’s be honest, it’s the width rather than length or height that’s an issue in these car parks)

The taller ones make it harder for normal cars to see properly at junctions though

I find the blue badge spaces are better

Whenever I see a Chelsea tractor parked over a line I take great pleasure in parking really really close to them, so they can’t get in, and have to climb over the passenger seat. I don’t care if they open their door into my car, because I drive an old banger, and their car costs more than a house, so they won’t want to risk chipping the paint. I was once sitting in the car waiting for DS, when the owner of the adjacent big SUV returned. He at least had the humility to just climb over the passenger seat, rather than ask me to move. I would have refused anyway.

Most car parks were designed many years ago before said big cars became ‘the norm’.

Ofc they could remark all spaces to make spaces bigger. Except prices to go up accordingly because they’re not going to lose money because some townies think they need a big 4x4

Honda crv has an amazing boot space. I think it’s more of a compact suv because it’s no wider or longer than my Mazda 3. But it’s taller and I like it to see over the hedges on the single track roads. The 4x4 is helpful in allowing us to get out of our home and to town too. We get a lot of snow. Rural north Scotland here. Our track is 1/4 mile long and all uphill and exposed. The crv does as well as the big truck. I’m quite impressed.

Not all SUV’s are huge. Mine is fully electric and the same size as a normal saloon car, but higher off the ground, which makes it easier to get in and out. I never use a multi storey car park, but it fits fine in a normal bay, and in my garage.

If your car is so big that it takes more than one parking space or makes the space next to it unusable then you should pay double the parking fee.

Yep done that. If a car parks over the line. I park right next to it with my passenger side right next to their drivers side.
However, round here you get a ticket for parking a few millimetres over the line.
I once went to a pub for lunch. The car park was nearly taken up with cars of a certain kind parked 2 in every 3 spaces. I squeezed in and the owner came out. I told him he could get one of his slimmer friends to get over from the passenger side.

Say what?