In thinking Mother and Baby car parking spots....

[Writerwannabe83]

....are actually for parents with babies/toddlers?

It was always my understanding that the wide spaces are for parents who have car seats and pushchairs to contend with, not for parents of 10 year olds who just want to park nearer to the shop, like a family that I saw today?!

I'm only moaning because I've just twisted and scraped my back trying to remove my car seat from my half closed back door door, in a very tight parking space whilst trying not to scratch the car I'm parked next to.

I was secretly fuming at those in the Mother and Baby spaces who surely shouldn't have been there, like the one I mentioned above.

And breathe

[Missunreasonable]

If the breathing problem is asthma them actually a little bit of walking gently is probably a good thing.

Unless they have very severe Asthma and keep a nebuliser and oxygen in the car and have to be close by in case it is needed in an emergency

[Writerwannabe83]

No offence taken at all missunreasonable - I didn't take your post negatively at all

[dawndonnaagain]

So i think the p&c are only really necessary up to 1-2yrs or even a year.

I think they are better by the entrance so you can easily grab the trolly and may not need a raincover.
Yeah, babies need to stay dry.
If the P&C spaces are by the door then where should the blue badge spaces be?

[naty1]

Surely if the asthma is that severe it would be a blue badge.

I have always been told excercise is good for asthma as it strengthens the lungs (uncle rowing), i did swimming etc.

Also the distance around the supermarket is surely similar to crossing a bit of the car park?

[Sirzy]

It has to be very severe to get a blue badge, we are just at the point with DS where we are considering having to apply but putting it off for as long as possible.

Its like most other chronic conditions and there is a large scale of what is 'normal' so you can't judge based on your own experiences you have to accept that what works for you doesn't work for everyone.

As I said earlier our pharmacy is in the supermarket, so when he is bad we have no option but to go there to get his medication. If parking in a P and C space makes life easier for him then I will and sod who I piss off because their precious baby may get wet!

[MilkandCereal]

Not asthma but my late Grandmother had COPD. She had a blue badge,and often had to stop literally every minute when in a supermarket or shopping centre because breathing was so difficult. She definitely needed her blue badge.

[sr123]

Naty, there are lots of disabled people without blue badges who cannot be left on their own and not having a blue badge doesn't mean slightly disabled. You can be profoundly disabled and not have one.

[HaroldLloyd]

Writer I was going to suggest that.

Or have you a sling?

[HaroldLloyd]

Ah, sorry sling probably bad idea.

[dawndonnaagain]

Naty My dd has brittle asthma. Exercise exacerbates it due to the make up of her lungs (poor tone, floppy), so no, exercise isn't always the answer, it is in fact rather an old fashioned theory now.

[HaroldLloyd]

Rights or wrongs about parking in them set aside, I find parking at the back loads quieter, lots easier to get in and out etc. And it means I don't get caught up in the angst.

I agree makes more sense to do disabled at front & P&T at rear.

[Deverethemuzzler]

naty exercise is not necessarily good or possible if you have brittle asthma.

If the walk across the car Park is equivalent to a walk around the supermarket which of the two do you think would be of most use to the person with asthma?

A walk across a car park and going home or being able to do a bit of shopping and then going home?

[HaroldLloyd]

Noticed they are vanishing from
A lot of places, really only see them in supermarkets now.

[MilkandCereal]

Excellent point MrsDevere. It really does mean going home without one's shopping if there are no accessible spaces available.

[naty1]

Those people using the bays other than as they are intended will just have to accept a possible telling off by parents with young kids and security guards.
Maybe it highlights a need for disabled non blue badge spaces.

[Sirzy]

Or maybe it just highlights the need for people to think before they decide to tell a stranger off and realise that actually they may have a pretty shit life, not just a baby who means for a couple of years things are going to be tougher, and they may just have a need for the space.

[Pipbin]

I don't have children and I do all my shopping through ocado.
I might turn my drive into a P&C parking space and park in it.

[MoominKoalaAndMiniMoom]

I thought the whole point anyway was that they're a courtesy; they're intended for parents with small children, but there's no law or rule to stop non-parents parking there, like there is with disabled bays?

[HaroldLloyd]

I can't be arsed with them, they are feral.

If I see one I will use it but not worth the hassle.

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

Given that a person with a bb can park pretty much fucking anywhere (curb line and loading bays out) it does not bloody matter where any wide bloody bay is because they can use any of them regardless even if the sign says "reserved for pet frogs" anyone who even so much as glances at a bb holder in a negative way for legally parking in a space they are entitled (correct usage not bullshit MN use) to use is a wanker who needs to get a grip.

Disabled people using p&c spaces always come up on these threads,it shouldn't because they are allowed to use them.

[MyFairyKing]

"reserved for pet frogs"

[maddening]

But why should someone have to take all these other actions to get their baby out in a non p&c space safely when a space would've been available had some twat not taken a space that was not intended for them and who has a lot less to contend with? Surely the problems are the people parking without dc or bb in a p&c spot and the size of the normal spaces which are small in comparison to modern cars coupled with busier and larger car parks than those that were around in years gone past.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I haven't read the thread ( I don't use P&C spaces now) but I do know from experience the "Park well away , make sure there's a space beside you" just doesn't work.
The number of times I have parked in a completely empty area and found a car parked so close (either behind or beside) that I can't get my door or boot open
And yes people say "Park with your boot at the outside"
Well, I like to drive out not reverse out. I have trouble with my nexk and back.
A car shouldn't park into my space (especially if I've left 18" clear space behind me ) so their car stops by boot opening.

A couple of days ago, I parked well away from the door, there were 20+ spaces. A van was squeezed right beside me.
I said out loud "You haven't left me much room" (didn't realise the driver was there, but at least I didn't swear)
"You've got loads of room" he said and walked off.

But ( I disagree, I didn't have loads ) he didn't know who I was or what difficulties I might have. I deliberately parked well back, he didn't need to park next to me.

If he didn't have DC with him and I didn't have my DD, I would've yelled "Well you don't fucking know that do you? I might have a dodgy hip or need my door right open. I might've been 8 months pg"

I was so tempted to whack my door into his van, I was