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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get infuriated by people mis using parent and child spaces?

632 replies

nothingbyhalves · 23/11/2013 15:45

It's all in the title really. A woman just told me she had parked in one because she had a dog in her car. Aibu to think she is inconsiderate?

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 23/11/2013 17:03

Yes the P&C spaces would be better at the back of the car park.

loopdaloo · 23/11/2013 17:06

People are saying they managed before the spaces were available - surely there is an endless list of things that people have managed over the centuries but are now made easier by modern conveniences?! Plus it's just nice to leave something available for people whose lives are made easier?

It's not the law to give up a seat for someone who needs it more but it's a nice thing to do, is this not a similar scenario?

saintlyjimjams · 23/11/2013 17:06

Getting into the house from the street was like that cat dog chicken boat problem. Could never work out what to do with ds1 - he couldn't be left alone in the car or the house and needed holding onto outside - also needed a hand for ds2 & ds3 needed carrying. God knows what I did. From memory I think I just never ever went out alone with the three if them for years (now the younger ones help me with ds1)

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 23/11/2013 17:08

My DC are older so it's many years since I've had need to use these but when I did there was always someone who got the last one (either with no child or a secondary school aged child) in tow .
So I just and parked elsewhere. Then after a while I didn't bother looking for one.

But now, the number of times I come back to my car and think "WTF" at how someone has parked next to me.
They don't leave enough space for me to get in . I'd have no chance with a baby seat or trying to get a child in and strapped in.

So though personally I'm not bother either way, I DO think it's well out of order for them to be mis-used.

MrsDeVere · 23/11/2013 17:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GuernseyTeddy · 23/11/2013 17:10

Try again.... Wriggly DS on lap protesting that he needs winding but won't give up the bottle to be winded..

Was going to say those of you saying p&c spaces have obviously never struggled at the supermarket. I'm 5'2 and can barely lift my son's car seat carrier with him in it and he's not even 6 kilos yet. I can just about make it to the trolley area from the p&c spaces. Then I have to struggle around the supermarket with a runaway trolley. So not too happy when spaces are taken by people who don't really need them.

LionelRichieAndTheTardis · 23/11/2013 17:11

The dog was obviously her furbaby.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 23/11/2013 17:14

People managed years ago true,
But I;ve been driving since I was 18 (I'm now 47) and I've seen the level of wankery parking increase dramatically over the years.

Tesco and Lakeside are the worst car-parks I find.
Lakeside parking spaces are huge but people still insist on parking so close that I can only open the car a couple of inches (not big enough to get my head in sometimes) and have to get in the passenger side.
Which isn't easy. with my back

ipswichwitch · 23/11/2013 17:17

Just make ALL spaces bigger. Then when I park at the back of the car park with nothing either side of me so I can get toddler DS and my hugely pregnant arse out the car, I can also get back in it again when I return to the car and find some arse has parked his 4x4/chieftain tank far too close to my car and I can even get the doors open never mind shoehorning toddler and hugely pregnant arse back in the car.

Better yet, sod p&c spaces just teach people to park in regular spars better

GobblersKnob · 23/11/2013 17:17

Why not chuck the kids in the car boot, then when you arrive at the supermarket and are forced to park in a small unsitable space, you can simply open up and throw then straight in the trolley, dog shit encrusted shoes and all.

I parked in a P&c the other day, came back and a motorbike was parked in the extra wide gap between my car and the next, I thought it was quite enterprising..... Grin

ipswichwitch · 23/11/2013 17:18

Way too many arses in that post.
Shit parking annoys me way more than "inappropriate" use of p&c spaces.

optimusic · 23/11/2013 17:18

SO you are the only one who ever struggled in a supermarket, do you really believe this? You think you are the only short person out in the supermarket. Don't be so daft. Your height, btw has nothing to do with how much you can lift. I am the same height, but lift more than 6 kilos. You think you are the only person with a baby and a toddler, think again.
P&C spaces are not necessary.

If you struggle that much then shop online.

MaryZygon · 23/11/2013 17:20

You know Guernsey, I don't mean to start picking on people, but that post is just bizarre Confused

I mean, how can you only just manage to lift your child? How come you struggle with a trolley?

Pre-cars and pre-supermarkets, people your size managed to get dozens of children around town. Saying you can't do it doesn't make me sympathise, it makes me thing you may be a tad, erm, pathetic [baffled]

Sparklingbrook · 23/11/2013 17:20

If at all possible leave children with someone and go shopping on your own.

VodkaRevelation · 23/11/2013 17:21

P and c spaces are not the same as blue badge spaces and they aren't enforced by law BUT if there are other spaces people without young children should park elsewhere.

I only park in them when I have my toddler with me. If I don't have my toddler with me, even if I am in a rush, I park elsewhere.

I know, from experience, that it is bloody difficult in some car parks to get a car seat out of a car in a normal space. It's also pretty tricky to get a toddler in and out of a toddler seat when you can't open your door very wide.

You'd have to be a bit of an arse hole to park in one when you don't need to and you have another option. Just because it's not illegal bit to doesn't make it ok to do it.

chocoluvva · 23/11/2013 17:21

I sometimes park in disabled spaces if there's loads of them and I'm nipping in and out of the shop confident that they won't be needed in the ten minutes I'm in the shop.

As for P+C spaces [rolls eyes]. Sometimes I park in those too. The alternative is to drive round and round creating more congestion. Nip in and out is my motto.

My bugbear is enormous cars which reduce the amount of space available to the cars beside them. Perhaps the supermarkets could mark out spaces for them at the furthest point from the shop.

And while we're on the subject. Please keep your children from wandering aimlessly round the aisles, bumping into me then staring at me with a disgusted expression or ramming my ankles while needlessly pushing the trolley or just generally getting in the way.

Many thanks. Grin

MaryZygon · 23/11/2013 17:22

Yes, 70s. People are much more wanky. And carparks are pretty shit.

But my biggest beef is the "I'm entitled to a P&C space" attitude, because it leads to the "there isn't a P&C space, so I neeeeeeeeeeed the wider space and there are dooooooooozzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeennnns of disabled spaces and I'm only going to be there a minute and most of the people with blue badges are acting anyway" attitude Angry

MaryZygon · 23/11/2013 17:23

See cocoluvva's post for a great example of feeling entitled.

chocoluvva · 23/11/2013 17:23

Grin at the 3 previous x-posts.

If there had been supermarket deliveries for £2 when my DC were little they'd rarely ever have been in a supermarket.

chocoluvva · 23/11/2013 17:28

On the other hand, I'm usually the one stepping to one side to let fifty people past. And often forty-nine of them don't say thank you. And I never barge in front of other customers to get at things.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 23/11/2013 17:29

Making all spaces bigger wouldn't really solve it though.
I parked miles away from the doors in Tesco, came back and someone had backed up to my boot with just enough room to open my boot.
I could've started my car, moved a bit, switched off, but why should I?
And there were no other cars round about. They picked the space behind mine and took half my space too.

And I saw one car right in the middle of four spaces.........how BIG a space did they need?

Shenanagins · 23/11/2013 17:31

I really don't get why some people think it is ok to park in these spaces if they don't have young children with them, imo that is being entitled.

i know that they are a marketing ploy but it is just common courtesy not to park in them if you don't have young children.

i park in them if i have the kids with me as its easier to get in and out and there is space to safely park one child whilst i get the other out.

the last time i went to somewhere without them i parked away at the back only for someone to park next to me (car park was relatively quiet) making it very difficult to get my child back into the car without banging their car.

Tiredmumno1 · 23/11/2013 17:32

Just because you may be polite on one hand choco, but use a disabled space cos you're gonna be quick, doesn't quite make up for it.

You just don't do it, end of.

pianodoodle · 23/11/2013 17:33

I've had to take the baby out of her car seat from the boot before. It's funny looking to passers by as it looks like that's where you were keeping the baby Grin

Probably only works in a small car though :)

ipswichwitch · 23/11/2013 17:35

Why do people feel the need to park right next to your car when there's tons of empty spaces all over the place though? It's like when you're on an empty bus and a passenger gets on a sits next to you. Proper gets my goat.