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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think parent and child parking....

110 replies

Maursh · 03/10/2011 22:35

Should be for parents of young children only.

For the second week running, every parent and child space at my local supermarket has been taken and I have been pipped to the post for one space by someone with school aged children. It really gets my goat. I have one 7mth child and really need the extra width to navigate the car seat and baby. This afternoon I had to park miles away at a spot that was clear from other cars and carry the carseat through carpark traffic all the way in. Another lady with a child in a buggy had to do the same.

The supermarkets policy is children up to the age of 12 but I can't see why someone with a 7 and 10 year old needs that extra space. I think that its particularly rude given that they were also, presumably, were once struggling with a small child too.

AIBU

OP posts:
MissPenteuth · 03/10/2011 23:01

"Another Mother who feels she is entitled to a p&c parking space just because she gave birth."

Well, giving birth makes her a parent with a child, so who else are parent and child spaces for? Confused People do seem to see them as a right rather than a privilege though, which isn't the case.

I agree OP that in the 'P&C hierarchy' a parent with a small baby needs a bigger parking space than a parent with older children. But they're just a bonus really, not worth getting too worked up over.

emma0134 · 03/10/2011 23:02

Keep you fit parking miles away, I do too

ShellyBoobs · 03/10/2011 23:05

Worra, I was with you until you said you park with your horses back legs in a disabled bay. YABU.

Personally, I park my unicorn wherever-the-fuck-I-like, so long as it's not encroaching on a disabled bay.

chocoroo · 03/10/2011 23:07

I wouldn't carry my 7 month old more than ten yards in her car seat. She weighs a bloody tonne.

I wish they'd put all the p&c spaces miles away then lazy people with no children wouldn't use them. I don't think they're a right, disabled space should be prioritised etc etc but the extra space is useful and a nice touch.

howtocalmachild · 03/10/2011 23:07

As soon as mine are old enough to click themselves into a seat then I will stop using them as I will no longer need to worry about having enough room to actually click them in. It's frustrating when you need a space and someone rocks up with a 9 year old and you are then forced to park further away and negotiate car parks with younger children and a toddler who doesn't really want to enter a supermarket. That's life though and it's not the first or last time. I've made comments before but the bit that annoys me more is that it's the message they are giving to their older child (basically bugger rules and don't give a stuff about others)

worraliberty · 03/10/2011 23:10

Shelly His legs are a bit lame

And he won a blue rosette once

howtocalmachild · 03/10/2011 23:10

P.s I know I gave up parking in parent bays after number 2 was about 3.5 and could listen enough to walk across a car park safely so I guess it will be before number 3 can click himself him if that trend follows.

SingingSands · 03/10/2011 23:10

Worra... Grin

Can I have a go of your horsey Mrs? Can I? Can I?

MissPenteuth · 03/10/2011 23:11

I agree that it's the extra space rather than proxomity to the store that's important for P&C parking. If they put them further away they'd be less attratcive to other shoppers.

A Waitrose near me has combined disabled and P&C spaces. I can't get my head round that; someone with a disability comes along and the spaces are probably all taken up by families.

MissPenteuth · 03/10/2011 23:11

proxomity? That's not a word. proximity, obviously.

GypsyMoth · 03/10/2011 23:11

It's nit giving any message to an older child tho, as many places say these are for parents with dc up to age 12!!

What message about rules??Confused

skybluepearl · 03/10/2011 23:11

I've seen parents with teenage children in the P and C spaces!! I think they should really be for reception aged children and younger - so under 5's? Infant aged kids that are likely to dart about and also toddlers and babies.

CauldronsTrulyReign · 03/10/2011 23:12

You lot have scared off the OP.

middleagedPeteDohertyfan · 03/10/2011 23:13

What rules? Parent and child means what it says, there's no hierarchy.

ShellyBoobs · 03/10/2011 23:14

Hmmm, ok Worra, I concede that you're possibly 'entitled' in light of the rosette.

Still, Most of the horses I see parked in disabled spaces are perfectly able bodied. Bloody cheats.

Dawndonna · 03/10/2011 23:15

It was me, with my 3 aspies, and I don't give a shit!

lesley33 · 03/10/2011 23:15

Went to morrisons today. Watched a mum get out of a parent space with a 7 or 8 year old. At the same time saw women get out a car with her elderly mother (?) who was bent over and walked very slowly. These 2 women had parked in the disabled parking spaces and had further to walk than the parent and child.

Totally, totally wrong imo. The 7/8 year old had no problem walking, whereas the elderly women looked like walking was a struggle.

I really think our society elevates the needs of children and totally downgrades the needs of elderly people.

worraliberty · 03/10/2011 23:16

Can I have a go of your horsey Mrs? Can I? Can I?

G'wan then but I don't want to come out and find he's been clamped again

Cost me 50 quid last time Hmm

RumourOfAHurricane · 03/10/2011 23:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ScaryFairy28 · 03/10/2011 23:19

Yanbu tesco have a limit of age 3 for the spaces don't suppose its enforceable though. Someone might already have said this though couldn't be bothered to read it all.

Oggy · 03/10/2011 23:20

I never park in P&C because there is more space at the back where it's empty.

Also, why is navigating through the car park with a baby in a car seat so difficult?? I'm not sure I have ever heard of a mum carrying a car seat being mowed down in a supermarket car park while making her way between the store and her car.

TidyDancer · 03/10/2011 23:21

Totally agree with putting P&C spaces in the corner of the car park. If it's really the space that is needed, then it shouldn't matter where the bloody spaces are.

I would personally prefer to see the back of P&C parking anyway, they are not a legal right, but they are treated as such anyway.

OP, obviously, YABU.

TidyDancer · 03/10/2011 23:22

Oggy, you turn to glass and your PFB turns to paper the minute you enter a supermarket car park, didn't you know?

ShellyBoobs · 03/10/2011 23:23

Also, why is navigating through the car park with a baby in a car seat so difficult?? I'm not sure I have ever heard of a mum carrying a car seat being mowed down in a supermarket car park while making her way between the store and her car.

Have you not heard of soluble/melting PFB syndrome? Hmm

Honeydragon · 03/10/2011 23:26

Worra

I think Shiney just walked through that space you parked your horse in

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