AIBU to tell people off who park in parent & child spaces but have no children with them?

[Ameybee]

This does my head in when I'm struggling to get 2 kids out the car in a normal space yet some idiot without kids is parked in the child space!!

I told a lady off today! I said 'do you know this is a parent & child space?' She said 'yeah' I replied 'so you're just being inconsiderate then?' She thought about it then made up some bullshit about her child being 'down there, in that shop!!' - she had just driven in!!! Clearly lying. So, would you say something to someone!???

[CheeseandPickledOnion]

YABU.

I parked in one the other day with no child.

I wanted to use the cash point, but all the space at the 'drop off' spot were taken by people who had parked there and gone in the store. There was a space right there so I pulled in quickly.

I hop out of the car and the man walking towards me with his child huffs 'oh, you must be locking your child in the car' sarcastically to me. I said I'm just grabbing some cash, besides which it isn't illegal to park in these without a child you know!!

[whiteflame]

The OP could do those things Missy. But on the other hand people without DC could just stop parking in spaces designated for others.

[ScarlettInSpace]

Hehe these threads always remind me of when OH pulled into a P&C space right outside Boots cos I had to run in to get something [can't remember what, it was something critical like false eyelashes], as I was gettting out of the car a woman in a Chelsea tractor pulled up behind him, got out of the car and started screaming at him about it being a P&C space and how he shouldn't park there without children. He just wound down the tinted rear window and the 2 kids sat in the back [aged 6 & 3 then] waved at her.

Funnily enough she didn't have anything else to say then.

All very silly.

[ChairmanWow]

I thought the whole point of them is the space either side which makes it easier to get the kids out rather proximity to the store. I'm not normally massively arsed as we manage even with a squeeze, but at 37 weeks pregnant with a massive bump, pelvic girdle pain and a pretty hefty 23 month old I'm buggered without them so it is galling to see lazy arseholes using them sans kids.

[Olgathebrickshed]

Illegal, no. Selfish, yes.

[CloudsAndTrees]

No,mi wouldn't say anything. But I would park in them without a child with me if I felt inclined to.

It's just a parking space. Get over yourself.

[Slainte]

YANBU

[EverythingIsTicketyBoo]

Has anyone started up a game of P & C bingo yet?? Op you are very brave starting a parking thread AND putting it in AIBU :)

Yes it is annoying, but the spaces are a courtesy, yes they are very handy with kids but you could park further away and have plenty of space. Now for the disabled space debate to start, and has anyone mentioned bus travel and kids melting in the rain yet??

[gallifrey]

I used to have a really small 2 door car and getting dd out of her seat in the back was really difficult anyway and if I parked in a normal space then the car door wouldn't open enough to get her out!! So there, that's my excuse for parking in one!
However I do have a blue badge too so that's a double whammy being disabled and having children...I can park where I like!!

[LaalRatty]

DPotter lovey, you need a hobby. Does your life completely revolve around parking? Become a traffic warden and at least get paid. Don't give it away free.

[FlorenceMattell]

I have done this myself in the past. Had an operation of my hips, and couldnt get out of car in small spaces. I am only young (well in thirties) so dont have a blue badge or look elderly (hopefully).

I know it must be annoying for parents with babies if they saw me, as they wouldnt have been aware.

[EthelredOnAGoodDay]

I do actually think that having them is very helpful because of the extra space they allow and that they give you the ability to open your door fully in order to fasten your child into their seat.
However, to avoid this seemingly constant battle about their use, I think they should be located away from the building and therefore they would become less tempting for other people to use.

[OutsideOverThere]

I'm not sure wh ythe OP is getting such a bashing.

Plenty of supermarkets are fining people fpr misuse of these spaces and I think rightly.

In a lot of car parks it is hard to get a car seat out of the side of your car because the spaces are generally so small. I've had times when it was impossible to remove the baby seat from the car. What's so hard to understand about that? a P&T space is wider for a reason.

Also they are great for preventing damage to the other cars when your child decides to run ahead slightly and open their door with some force, on the way back.

(and you're 9 months pregnant and can't run after them)

I had a go at a young chap parking there once, after school one day. He squared up to me ready for an actual fight and so I backed off. He was a right cunt IIRC.

Cheese, I think you were pretty thoughtless using a P&T space without children and am wondering if the other people on this thread would defend your actions. I mean it's hardly crime of the century but when you have tiny children and are completely knackered with a baby as well, you really do appreciate having these spaces.

[curiousgeorgie]

I really don't understand the animosity towards threads like this.

Maybe you need them, maybe you don't... But the fact is that they are there for drivers with children to use and it's very frustrating when someone with no children parks in them.

Good on all the people who have no problem trying to park in normal sized spaces next to giant cars and getting their children out with ease... But some of us are pregnant with SPD and have 2.5 year olds with hypermobility who have not long started to walk and having to squeeze down the tiny space next to the car to try and get her out, or manoeuvre her across the backseat, injuring myself, while I watch a lone person walk casually back to the p&c space is ever so slightly f**king annoying.


And here come the army of people who did it with six kids under 1 whilst in a wheelchair...

[worldgonecrazy]

We were glared at the other day for parking in a P&C space. I was sat in the back with DD and OH was driving. As we have blacked out windows, everyone thought he was a lone man and gave him some stick.

[Sirzy]

Unfortunately spaces for parent & child are not enforceable unlike spaces for disabled people

Not unfortunate enough. P and C spaces are a marketing ploy added bonus. Disabled spaces are needed. There is a big difference

[Sirzy]

Plenty of supermarkets are fining people fpr misuse of these spaces and I think rightly.

It won't be a legally enforceable fine though.

[Sirzy]

Also they are great for preventing damage to the other cars when your child decides to run ahead slightly and open their door with some force, on the way back.

Ahh so they are great for parents who can't control their children!

[curiousgeorgie]

And for those who proudly proclaim they park in them with no children.. While in the same breath say they are useless (??)... there is a £60 penalty if you are caught in all the supermarkets round here now.

[Wheresmygalaxy]

Maybe there not essential for toddler age children but when i used to have to get the car seat in and out daily and onto the frame of the pram the spaces were a godsend, if i couldnt find 1 id always park miles away from the door making sure that i had enough space to come back, 9 times out of 10 i would come back to find someone had parked right along side me so id have to leave ds in his pram go and move the car round just so i could get him back in, and yes it was a pain when i kept on happeneing.

I dont think this would even be an issue if they moved these spaces to the back of the car park though!

[PleasePudding]

YANBU. It's not a big deal and they are only a courtesy but they make life easier and I don't really get why you'd park there unless you need to. I agree that they should be away from the shop to make them less tempting.

I don't see why people should park in a space not intended for them - P&C parking, disabled parking, double yellow lines, across people's driveways; the full gamut of parking rage.

[CoolaSchmoola]

We bought a car with sliding back doors when we had DD... Can get her in and out in pretty much any space. Problem avoided.

Sliding doors on a car? Best thing ever!

[Tailtwister]

I do think people who do this are very selfish, as are the ones who have children with them but have no intention of getting them out of the car (adult runs into shop, whilst other adult and kids stay in car). IME other parents are usually the worst offenders. Apparently, having a car seat in your car with no child qualifies you nowadays. Also, some people don't seem to realise that teenagers aren't really the equivalent of babies/toddlers either.

Selfish parents, who usually have had the use of these spaces with their own young children seem to have very short memories.

[LaalRatty]

They are essential. I have a fat arse and they give me enough space to heave my gazunking bootie without scraping the car next door. Strangely enough though I manage just fine at home on a normal road with passing cars though...

[OutsideOverThere]

They are provided as a courtesy, yes, but a courtesy for parents with children.

How does anyone justify using them without? I don't understand. If I go to the shops without my children in tow, I blooming well park in a normal space, further away from the doors and with less space around the car.

Isn't that what you do? I mean, I like to think the parents with their kids will appreciate my leaving their spaces alone.

People sometimes just park there to avoid their sparkly expensive car being scratched.