AIBU to expect people to respect parent & child car spaces?

[Holly129]

This is something that has bugged me for a long time. I am constantly seeing men in vans in parent and child spaces amongst others. I would never park in a disabled space or a parent and child space if my dc were not with me!

Today I waited for a space at the GPs and when the person left a clearly signposted parent and child space someone cut me up and sped into the space. She then got out WITHOUT A CHILD. I wound my window down and said excuse me, I was waiting for that space and you don't have a child with you. Did she have the decency to back down or apologise? No, she gave me a tirade of abuse! There should be passes or something for those spaces, (like the disabled ones) to fine people who don't use them correctly.

[Eyesunderarock]

I find it weird that P&C places are for those with children under 12.

12?

5 makes sense.

[arabesque]

I've never seen a P&C space at a doctor's surgery and find it a bizaare idea. Presumably a lot of people going to the doctor would have injuries or be quite elderly. Why shoud a parent take precedence for a parking space?

At supermarkets, as I said on another thread recently, they're a marketing device to attract the lucarative family market into the store, but a lot of parents now see them as some kind of 'need' or 'right' and become quite OTT about anyone else parking in them.

I agree with other posters. Just abolish them, it's all getting very silly.

[Sirzy]

She shouldn't have cut you up but if the only free space in a car park was a p and c space I wouldn't think twice about using it even if DS wasn't with me

[Sparklingbrook]

Exactly arabesque. Disabled spaces for adults and children are all that are required. P&C spaces are a nonsense.

Can't believe people wait for them either.

[LuisSuarezTeeth]

Oh! Nice to see new topics discussed on MN.

[Sparklingbrook]

Isn't it just Luis.

[ifyourehoppyandyouknowit]

In the time that you waited for that space, and then had a go at the woman who cut you up, couldn't you have just saved yourself the bother and gone and parked somewhere else?

[valiumredhead]

Disabled spaces are NOTHING like P and C spaces, nothing at all.

There is no need for P and C spaces at all imo - they just need to be got rid of. They weren't even around as far as I remember when my ds was little.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

People wait hours for them sparkling

If none are available they just go home

We didnt have theses spaces when dd and ds1 were little, I dont know how I managed to leave the house tbh

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

We have large vehicles spaces, v handy. When I was heavily pregnant I got boxed in a couple of times and couldnt squeeze in the gap

[Sparklingbrook]

Nooo Tantrums. Go home?. Really? Just bloomin' park and get on with stuff.

Or get the bus? As long as it stops at the door of where you are going obviously. No walking from the bus stop to the store.

[arabesque]

Are you MAD Sparkling. The kids could get rained on standing at the bus stop, or run out onto the road

[ChunkyPickle]

Hear me out here a bit, but, I have a being with me, who cannot walk very far, has poor extremely poor impulse control and understanding of both the world around him and how to follow instructions or communicate his needs. He is incontinent, doesn't deal well with loud noises, or change and must have a carer with him at all times.

Now I could be talking about someone with a severe disability, or I could be talking about a 2 year-old.

I'm absolutely not saying that means that I should be able to park in an accessible slot because I have a toddler, but I do think that people who do have to deal with such a person aren't being unreasonable to request that people who don't, don't take up those spaces which the shops have provided for them.

A supermarket that policed them properly would be much more likely to get my (fairly substantial) monthly shop than one that's more of a pain for me to use.

[arabesque]

Chunky, you can carry a two year old or put them in the seat of the trolley. It really isn't the same thing at all.

[ChunkyPickle]

I've got to laugh at the idea of doing a weekly shop for a family of 6, with 3 kids in tow, on the twice a day (improved service) that went through the village when I was growing up... mum would have been crippled by the milk and bread alone! It really isn't very feasible if you live some places.

Of course back then they'd park at the back of the carpark and leave us in the car while they did the shop, and I don't remember any of us ever having the enormous seats that DS has had since he was born (in fact they were considered weird by my friends for having 5 point harnesses), so wider P&C spaces weren't needed at all.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

The bus is a whole other thread sparkling

You might have to fold the buggy
Or move out of the way.

Having small children is a lot more difficult now apparently.

I remember when dd was born, you wasn't allowed to bring the pushchair on the bus unless it was folded, there was no space.

[DeepRedBetty]

Been all of three days since the last P&C space thread.

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes Tantrums I am old and not up to date with modern parenting. Maybe I need a refresher course.

[ChunkyPickle]

I'm not saying it's the same - I'm saying there are a lot of similarities, and that a bit of consideration from all sides would be nice.

Oh, and not the point - but my 2 year old is >15kg so no seat, and trying to shop while carrying him is hardly feasible (so I commit the terrible sin of putting him in the trolly itself, or worse let him run around and help)

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Babies and toddlers now dissolve in the rain sparkling
It is also too dangerous to park anywhere else in case your DCs run into the car park.

God only knows how we prevented our DCs from running into the car park. Or how we used to get out of our cars.

[Sparklingbrook]

We must have managed somehow Tantrums. I wish there was P&C spaces in my town and I could study what happens.

Our Doctors doesn't even have a car park. It's £1 an hour in the local Pay and Display.

[Fairydogmother]

o for gods sake!

p&c spaces are a PRIVILEGE and not a right

go and park elsewhere and dont fret about it

[ballinacup]

I never understand the vitriol leveled at P&C spaces on Mumsnet. Most of us are parents, why wouldn't you leave the spaces free for other parents and make their lives a bit easier?

Yes, I know that newborns don't melt. I also know that P&C spots are not the same as disabled spots, but do you know what? When I was childfree, I wouldn't have ever considered parking in either because I didn't need them. Why should a childless adult park in a P&C space just because they can?

Does doing so seriously not smack of utter, total asshattery? There is a car park outside my office, one bay is marked out for use by disabled people. However, it's a private car park so there is a large sign in front of it saying that people without a blue badge can park in it. Would I? No! Because I'm not a douche so, even though I could why would I choose to make someone else's life that bit more difficult?

[Sparklingbrook]

Fairy sums it up nicely.

[Eyesunderarock]

Sparkling, Arabesque, Tantrums, There ought to be a clique.

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