To park in parent and child spaces if there are no disabled ones free?

[immortalbeloved]

I know I know, I'm sorry for another P&C space thread

I'm really really not trying to start the whole debate up again, I know it's been done to death

Genuine question though, AIBU to park in one if there isn't a disabled space free? Normally I use a disbled space (I have a blue badge) or sometimes P&C space if I've got one or more of the children with me. But today I needed to go somewhere and didn't have any children with me, when I got there the only space free close enough for me was P&C so I used it.

But I was given several dirty looks by mums with toddlers and one was going to approach me to 'set me straight' but her friend stopped her

So was I really out of order? Or is it an ok thing to do?

I hate this martyr attitude that all able bodied people should be eternally fucking grateful and never ever complain about anything.
If I turn up at a shop and can't park while excessive numbers of disabled spaces lie empty then I am entitled to feel pissed off! I wouldn't want to deprive any disabled person a space- but FFS!!! Able bodied have rights too and disabled folks don't have any priority needs to get to the Next sale than me! they could go elsewhere as well to buy their clothes.
Being disabled means you probably need a larger parking space, within easy access to the shops etc, not that you need never have to wait, queue or that you are more important than anyone else.
I think that when no other spaces are available then other customers should be making use of disabled spaces- wherever I go there are always way too many as most of them are empty...

But what happens when a disabled person arrives after you've parked in the space that you have no right to?

Or, as in the case of Windward, when someone with children arrives after you've taken that space when you didn't need it?

Or do you just say "tough shit"?

Scruffymuff - are you serious?

I hate to point out the fecking obvious but able bodied people DO have it easy as they are able bodied! You should be eternally fucking grateful as you don't have to deal with the day to day realities of being disabled.

I'm actually shocked some people think the world owes them something just because they had children. Whereas for disabled people don't have a choice and small things like bigger spaces next to the shop make it easier on them.

OP - YANBU. Most stores policies allow for disabled parking in PC bays if the disabled are full.

But having a disability makes life harder - ie less equal - for disabled people, scruffymuff - so the disabled parking spaces are part of an attempt to even things up a bit - not a special 'extra' that the rest of us can't have.

1.4% of the population carry a blue badge- 6% of spaces are disabled.

Wow, seriously, wow. Un-fucking-believable, scruffymuff. Bet you use disabled toilets too.

You actually disgust me (and thats pretty hard to do)

Yes I do!

Shocker.

They are usually underused as well- but we've already had that discussion so I am not going down that route!

rocks forward and backward

YANBU

I don't think it is the same reversed at all. Yes, it is nice when you have a toddler to park closer with more space but far from essential. People with blue badges should absolutely be allowed to park in P & C spaces if there are no disabled spaces. Definitely not the other way round though.

I once saw a man give a dirty look and shake his head at two women in their early twenties who used a P&C space (he was just about to park in a P & C and I had just parked) with no child. He then said something to me about how disgusting it was that those women took a spot whilst marching past with his 10/11 year old! I still find that quite funny .

OP- absolutely you should. Being disabled definitely takes priority over having a child in tow. YADNBU.

And also agree not the other way round.

Perhaps you are disabled scruffymuff, a complete lack of empathy, human decency, and any thought for people with harder lives than yourself surely means there is something quite seriously wrong with you.

And I agree that P&C spaces should be further away from the stores than they are at present- all you really need is space to open your car door fully without barking the car next to you, and space to put the trolley alongside rather than behind the car while unpacking. If the P&C spaces were at the far end of the car park, that would solve so many problem situations.

A disabled parking space is a recognition that it is likely the user of that space will have a need for it - be it extra size or location. That need is recognised by law.

A P&C space is (to repeat myself) a convenience, a marketing tool used by supermarkets to entice customers. You have no more "need" of a P&C space than I as a mid fifties woman do which I why I will use them if they're free.

I think a lot of you on here are completly blinkered to anything anyone says that goes against your saintly holier than thou attitudes.

I didn't say there shouldn't be any disabled spaces!

I didn't say I parked in disabled spaces!

I SAID there are too many!!!

And before you go on about never seeing any empty disabled bays empty where you live.....

I never see any empty disabled spaces where I live. Where I live is Devon, which has one of the highest concentrations of elderly/disabled people in the UK, which may explain it. Have your right back.

And when I went to next I had no choice of any spaces!!! A badge holder had a choice of ten! Best not park in them though..ten disabled people might all rush along at once- and god forbid if they can't park the world might just cave in...

But if 10 people thought like you and the very next person to turn up was a disabled person, they would be the ones driving home again- not just parking in the next street and walking to the shop.

I've never understood the attraction of the NEXT sale anyway- it's like a jumble sale.