To think about standing in the Tesco car park...

[ElphabaTheGreen]

...wearing a sandwich board saying:

PARENT AND CHILD SPACES ARE NOT FOR LARDY-ARSES WITH TEENAGERS.

I literally cannot get my baby out of the car if I don't have the extra space. Unlike Miss Thang going to the ATM who looks vacuous when I give her a filthy look for taking a space which is rightfully mine. Or the family with FULLY AMBULANT under-10s-but-over-3s.

Can you tell it was pissing it down when I went to do a top-up shop today?

Thanks Elphaba. I enjoyed it too. And those are my first ever flowers.

I'm also in a position to rant about disabled spaces too, BTW (mum in wheelchair lives with us). The amount of piss-taking with those is equally outrageous, mainly by those who got a blue badge thanks to a recurring hangnail. Or those instances where the disabled individual is the driver and they park then WAIT in the car, in a disabled space, while their able bodied companion goes into the shop.

No you're not because you have no idea why anyone has a blue badge or who the owner is.

I don't care where the spaces are as long as they are flat. Trying to get 2 children out of a trolley that will roll away down the hill as soon as you let get defiantly tested me. Or maybe I should just move some where flat

OP - you ought to change your name to Elpha the Entitled.

Oh if only the major supermarkets offered a service where you could order the shopping from the comfort of your sofa and have it delivered to your door for a small charge....

Seriously, if parking a car and getting your children into a shop is so horribly stressful, why just not do it?

I was ready to feel sorry for you as I hate Tesco's. Though it's the nearest supermarket. Can't get your baby in and out of the car. Get a smaller car would be my advice. YABU.

I do find it odd that on Mumsnet, people seem to have a go at posters who complain about selfish people misusing parking spaces. Seems rather a valid moan compared with some of the threads on here, though I don't like the way it was expressed.

Sainsbury's clearly think it's serious enough to fine people £60 for misuse of disabled OR P&C spaces...

"Sainsbury's clearly think it's serious enough to fine people £60 for misuse of disabled OR P&C spaces.."

again, they can only issue tickets! they cannot enforce it if you don't pay, its not at all legally binding but some people just pay up because they assume they have to! you don't!

Nope, sorry. Disabled person should have the decency to not use a disabled space to enable able-bodied companion to nip into the shops. That's taking advantage completely of the system and stops me from being able to get mum and wheelchair out of the car if no other spaces are available. OK, maybe I was being a bit blasé about suggesting the requirements for blue badges are sometimes only loosely met, but why am I being a madam to not want people to abuse conveniences and/or necessary adaptations available?

Oooo. A parking thread!

stinkin is that true? < plans to park all over the place now>

OP, I feel your pain. But it's definitely worse to come back to an ordinary sized space to find the car next to you has changed and you can no longer get your sleeping baby & seat back into the car...... Anyone ever seen a new, hormonal mum have a melt down in a car park??

Can we (ie the power of MN) start a campaign for supermarkets to move the P&C spaces away from the doors? Really don't mind walking as long as we can get safely in & out of the car. And it would put an end to all these P&C threads.

Evening all

don't do that ledkr, council and transport for london etc tickets are very enforcable!. It's only private ones that are not, supermarket ones are private

Oops. We're being watched. Act casual.

The fact is OP that you are making assumptions about people's situations.

My mum is registered disabled. She can walk but only a very short distance.

I don't drive.

When mum wants to do her shopping, she drives. I go with her to help her walk. She only manages a few steps around the supermarket but it is important to her that she manages this. She then goes back to sit in the car whilst I finish her shopping.

On the surface, that could look like the situation you described but you would be totally wrong.

That means we've not broken guidelines yet but we're getting close.

I think when it ends up with the comparison between Disabled Spaces (needed and essential to allow people to live their everyday lives) and P&C Spaces (there to entice parents to shop and not needed) it's time for me to hide the thread.

If you haven't got a baby/small child, then don't park in a P&C space. It's not rocket science. It's common courtesy.

I have a toddler, and it makes life easier for me (and her) to have a wider gap to open her door fully to get her in and out.

If you don't have kids, then don't park there. It's not difficult, really.

YANBU OP.