People who park in child and parent spaces when they don't have kids.

personally don't care about the distance from the shop but I need the room to get my kids out of the car.

So why not park at the back of the car park? There’s always room to open car doors widely at in our very busy supermarkets, if you head to the back.

I always wonder why people are trudging to walk around a supermarket if they don’t have the ability to walk from the parking space to the door.
Wouldn’t an online shop or someone going for him be a much better solution for someone so ill?

Interesting, thanks for clarifying. In any case, I think we are hoping (praying??) that she can make a full recovery. No one wants to do anything too permanent if you get me...she would hit the roof at the suggestion!

I don’t judge as you don’t know the full story.

i had some lunatic woman waiting at the car park outside markies once, when i parked uo she came rushing over angrily telling me I couldn’t park there It was parent and child only.

I was parked there as I was walking down to get my child from nursery, and then going into markies on the way back. It was a nice day and I was happy to do the walk. I also had a child seat in the back, that if she’d been less intent on her fury she’d have spotted.

I think people need to stop policing these spaces. Yes it’s annoying if it’s abused by someone, but no one is entitled snd before they existed we all managed to get our shopping done.

@MindYourUsage just an aside she should apply for pip, it’s not related to income just how your illness or disability affects you

They are entitled to the spaces because the spaces have been provided for their use. Hope that helps!

@Pumpkinmagic you are being very very nasty: "Disabled with out a badge? Bollocks. I have seen it so many times, whilst there are disabled spaces. Just selfish morons."

I am caring for my mum at the moment, we don't know what is wrong with her but she suddenly lost the use of her legs and started having painful muscle spasms. She can sort of walk again now, but her bones are shattering for seemingly no reason and her nerves are still being weird, the bumps in the road are excruiciating for her despite her high doses of morphine and anti-spasmatic drugs. Whatever is going on, whether it is forever or not, she won't qualify for PIP because we are not on the breadline, and she owns a house that she lives in. Why is that relevant you ask? Because blue badges are linked to PIP where we are. Not on a PIP = no blue badge. Means testing is expensive, so they just tied to to something that is already means tested. Easier to administer the whole thing that way, you see.

She doesn't want to go out of the house very much, she has become a shell of herself in the space of six months. I have nearly convinced her to come to the garden centre for a cup of tea. I will absolutely park in one of the P&C spots which are closer to the door. To hell with nasty folk like you not really understanding what life is like for people like this. I hope you never have to understand first-hand, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, but I do hope you can discover some empathy. You should be ashamed of yourself.

My husband used to park in them when having treatment for cancer and was struggling to walk.

I did this before getting my blue badge, I needed closeness and space which p&c provides

How long were you there to see 6 lots ofpeople all
without children, leaving the p&c of only 12 spaces?

Having children is a lifestyle choice, why parents think they should be entitled to their own car park spaces is mind boggling. Disabled car park spaces are different, nobody chooses to be disabled.

I have a bad back - for me it is absolutely necessary to have enough space to open the door fully to let ds climb up into his car seat himself. If I can't do that then I need to lift him in and that's extremely painful for me some days. Not bb worthy obviously, but necessary. I also wouldn't want to have my car door dented by a child kicking their door trying to get into their seat or similar which is also easily done.

A lot of this could be alleviated by decent car park design.

At my local Sainsbury's a lot of spaces are connected to a pedestrian walkway and a pretty generous size anyway.

At Tesco on the other hand most spaces put pedestrians in the way of cars as you walk to the store. So there I'd feel I wanted to be with the P&C spaces more than at Sainsbury's when DDs were small, as the biggest hazard to me was walking across the car park holding a toddler's hand as they can't be seen easily by drivers, and only the P&C spaces were next to a walkway (and the blue badge ones were right near the store, as is appropriate).

So it was more for me that there was a safe walking route rather than lots of space round the vehicle - that was more of a factor when actually heavily pregnant or when baby was in portable car seat. I had some uncomfortable squeezes into the driver's seat when pregnant due to people parking too close.

I went to our local supermarket a couple of days ago and there are a limited amount of disabled and parent and child parking spaces - its not the best car park. But I'd say 6 of the 12 parent and child spaces had people I saw leaving their cars and dandering in with no kids in tow. There were disabled bays available and they had no badges (I have zero issue with someone with a badge using a space if the accessible ones aren't free). It absolutely boils my blood because its not a great car park, and the spaces are tight so trying to get a toddler out of a car seat and then through to the door of the shop is a nightmare. People really are so lazy sometimes.

Totally agree.

I just use the p and c spaces with the BB when things the case - although I tend not to shop in these establishments unless necessary. I won’t go out of my way to give my hard earned cash to a company who disadvantages disabled people over parents.

my ds is disabled. He can’t walk far and uses a wheelchair most of the time.

if the choice is a BB space 3 rows away or a P and C space right outside the door I will use the p and c space.

I was joking a little about making a point but I’m not going to feel guilty for making my son’s life safer and easier. Being disabled isn’t a choice. The cat you buy and using a travel system is.

Parked in them when I was having chemo, they’re closer to the shop. You can’t get a BB for chemo.

But that's not the point. It's not for an entitled childless person to look at them and think "I believe they are unnecessary, so therefore I can use them." They've been provided for parents, so that's who they're for. If any parent decides they are unnecessary they can feel free to not use them, as they wish.

What is more annoying to me is how nowadays a lot of supermarkets (Tesco and Sainsbury’s are two I’ve personally seen this) have their P&C spaces right by the front door, and their disabled spaces further out. I have a small child but also drive my disabled father around all the time. It would make more sense to me to have the disabled spaces right at the front! I can walk across the road with my pram, my father would benefit more from less steps to the door!

I think people use them because they seem such an unnecessary thing.

Go to any retail park or council carpark and there's no such thing as p&c spaces so people manage fine to get their kids in and out in every other carpark yet in a supermarket they become incapable. Why?

The only time I would park in them was with my parents when they couldn't walk far, before they got their actual blue badge. My dad had poor mobility when he was waiting for his hip to be redone. This didn't necessarily mean he was eligible for a BB at the time. When his heart started to fail though we did get a BB for him.

I'm pretty sure it's a way to encourage families to use their stores. Families spend a lot of £.
I would have thought the age of the children for whom P&C spaces are really designed for are not that high a risk for being hit by a car. If they are very small, you get the trolley or pram set up and put them straight in it.

The key difference as I understand, is that blue badge spaces are enforceable by law (or through traffic orders), while parent-and-child bays are usually provided voluntarily by private retailers. Therefore, misuse of a parent-and-child space can lead to a private parking charge at worst, not a fixed penalty ticket.