To be annoyed at everyone who uses the parent and toddler parking who shouldn't?

[sunshinemeg]

I am prepared to be told I am being a twat, but it's really bugging me.

So many people get angry (quite rightly so) at people who are not disabled using disabled parking spaces. However it seems so many more people use the parent and toddler spaces who really shouldn't.

The signs variously state
-for parents with children under 5
-for parents with children in pushchairs etc

Why do I see people park with their children who then jump out and walk off without a pushchair, it drives me mad, especially when I am struggling with a 6 month old and limited space to open her car door or get a pushchair remotely close enough!

Well that makes sense pearpotter. It's having them right at the door that annoys other shoppers, causes people without children to park in them and also seems to build this idea up in some parents' minds that they're the equivalent of BB spaces and that parents shouldn't be asked to walk a few feet with their children. I think extra wide spaces should be provided, but not only for people lifting car seats and toddlers out of the car, but also for elderly people who find it difficult to get out of low car seats without the door being wide open and having something to hold onto. Or also for occasions when people might need to get a large box or package out of the car. By placing these spaces at the back of the car park there is a much reduced chance of non needy people using them.

Tesco near us have p and c spaces working away from the shop up a walk way. You can rarely park in the ones near the store yet the ones which are at the back of the car park are easy to park in. You often see parents driving up and down the bottom of the rows looking for the close p and c space rather than parking in the empty p and c spaces at the pack!

I use p&c spaces when they're available. For me it's nothing to do with not wanting to walk to the shop, just that the extra space alongside the car is helpful. If one isn't available I park further away where there is a double space so I have more room and don't need to worry about the car next to me. However, as I often come back to find someone has parked next to me, despite there being spaces available closer to the shop, this isn't always a solution either.

Our Tescos has them near the front but also round a corner where it still isn't safe to walk which seems totally pointless as a) the safe ones are always filled by some twat who doesn't need them and the other spaces that are much further away are in a rather unsafe part of the car park! The Sainsburys has them further away and with a safe walk to the store. Much better :) shame DH prefers it at Tesco and is less anally retentive than I am about the parking issue

Crossed post, but I like the idea raised by previous posters of having some wider parking spaces available for people to use, whatever the reason for their need.

YANBU. I normally use DS2's blue badge but if I go out when he's at school I can't. I have to get my 3 year old, 15 month old and 3 month old out of car seats and I need the space. My 15 month old is severely disabled and is a dead weight but he's too young for a blue badge. I've tried parking in a normal space further away but someone always parks next to me and then I'm stuck.

The Sainsbury 's I go to is better because the spaces are not right by the store and funnily enough they're much easier to get a free one and I've rarely seen people without DC in tow using them (unlike Tesco's, which actually aren't that much nearer then a lot of the normal spaces, you just don't have to cross the car park and they look nearer IFYSWIM)
Whoever suggested I shouldn't be driving if I can't manage to park in a normal space with enough room to get a baby in and out on both sides, you are talking crap!
And as someone up thread pointed out, where do you safely put the trolley with the other baby in whilst your struggling to get the first one in when using a normal bay? I don't mind leaving my groceries at the end of the car where other vehicles are manouvering but I am a bit precious about doing so with my babies.
There are good reasons for P&C parking spaces, there are no good reasons for able bodied adults without children present to use them.

See Ellie's post above., People infer its just lazy feckless mothers demanding privileges for having 'dropped a sprog', it's a really unfair way of looking at it and that is why it makes my blood boil that people are so blase about it.

But then should people with just one child not need it because obviously other people have greater need?

If anything all Ellie's post is highlight that not everyone with disabilities has a blue badge and the current system of not giving a blue badge until a child is 3 is rediculous.

It is ridiculous, but then maybe they think that is covered by P&C spaces? Which is still ridiculous as as you said they aren't everywhere.
I think it comes down to simple common sense and thought for others. If I'm out with 1 baby, or my eldest 2 who are 4 and 5 I don't use them, I leave them for those that actually need them. Unfortunately not everyone is willing or able to use simple common sense of give any thought to others.

For me there are two distinct issues,

FIRST There are more and more uncaring and unthinking people only too ready to start a row or a fight as they believe they are in the right. It has been said by earlier posters that people who unthinkingly or purposely break society's rules just make life a little shittier for the rest of us. It seems to me every day there are more and more people who want to hinder rather than help their fellow citizen.

SECOND The giant supermarkets have used these mother and babby/toddler spaces as marketing tools. Not for the benefit of Mothers (or mothers to be) but for their own gain. This cynical approach to their customers is now beginning to hurt them as more of us "think" about our shopping rather than continue being led by the nose by these giant retailers. If those spaces had been created with the interest of the customer the primary concern they would be further from the door with very safe walkways to the door of the store. They might even be different versions ie Mother, baby, toddler, temporarily disabled, old person etc, etc.

Gosh. This thread is still going on!

Lots of entitled people here that seem to be regarding P&C spaces as highly as disability ones. It's all taken far too seriously.

This daft marketing tool has made demons out of some people. The silly few that take it so far as to rage and confront people really need to take a step back and wonder why parking has them so upset. Anyone has a right to park in those spaces. Regardless of individual opinions on their usage, no one has a right to act as the parking police. Silently seethe if it bothers you that much, but don't make yourself a laughing stock by actually confronting anyone!

How can you get the rage at something so trivial. You must have a lovely life!

I've never been laughed at when I've confronted someone over this. It may be a daft marketing tool to you but when I had 2 babies and a toddler to get out the car, into a trolley and vice versa it wasn't just a marketing tool to me, and frankly even if it was I wouldn't give a damn. Are baby seats in trolleys a market tool? Is providing trolleys with 2 instead of just one a marketing tool? I hoped it was when my local supermarket didn't have any 2 seater ones and I asked if they could get some I admit. Not because I'm precious about my darling children either. I just needed to get my shopping!
I don't think anyone has insinuated they should be as 'highly regarded' as BB bays, but a bit of empathy for the people that actually do need to use them wouldn't go amiss. I don't see why its lazy for mothers with babies and toddlers to use them but quite OK for other people to use them to drag their lazy arses a few less metres to the shop.
My life is lovely thank you I find it helps not to 'just silently seethe' and and to try and be considerate of others. Try it!

Delphiniumblue, the same Tesco has several disabled spaces, I have seen often seen abled bodied people park in them and walk away. Some people don't care, they just do what they want no matter who it affects.

Vintagejazz, I never said anything about who should use the spaces, I was pointing out to another poster who said there was no specification as to what age the child should be. Nor did I say that I have ever park in a disabled space or that disabled people shouldn't use p&c spaces so I presume you were not aiming that Some people are incredibly thick and unable to use their own judgment because 'the sign says it's for parents so......' comment at me.

My children are grown up now but I use these spaces when I take my elderly mother to Tesco.

They're nearer the shop entrance and she doesn't have great mobility and finds it a bother getting in and out of the car.

We're still parent and child so I don't see the problem. There were none of these spaces when my sons were young and I still managed the weekly shop with them.

If parents with babies are annoyed that's too bad.

It would be more dishonest if I tried to get a blue badge for her when she's only in the car once a week at most.

And there we go again. 'I did it so suck it up', how about you try having a thought for someone beyond your own hemisphere. If your mum needs a blue badge get her one, the frequency of the trips don't matter, its the need that counts. Things change, what was relevant to you when you had young DC isn't necessarily the same as parents with young DC today, it's ridiculous to think so, things change.

How is it dishonest to have a BB for your disabled mother 'because she only needs it once a week'? You can only use it when they are with you so I don't see the dishonesty in that, and as someone else pointed out there are more BB bays generally then P&C which only tend to be in supermarkets, so it might be worth looking into.

YANBU OP.

Of course, on mn anyone who dares to suggest P&C spaces are most useful to, you know...a parent with a child...is deemed completely ur.

Anyway, I think that anyone who uses them unnecessarily is being a selfish cunt.

I agree with a pp downthread. It's not just about being precious or wanting extra rights. They really are a huge help to some. When mine were small I would wait for a P&C Space rather than parking in a normal one, because parking a trolley at the end of the car, on the road, whilst trying to get 3 month old dts and a 2 year old out was bloody dangerous.

It would be more dishonest if I tried to get a blue badge for her when she's only in the car once a week at most.

Huh? Whats dishonest about that? Either she needs it or she doesn't

I assume that chocolatemademefat thinks that the badge goes with the car, not the disabled badge holder. Which of course it doesn't - you're only entitled to use the badge when the badge holder is in the car.

" Message poster Thumbwitch
I assume that chocolatemademefat thinks that the badge goes with the car, not the disabled badge holder. Which of course it doesn't - you're only entitled to use the badge when the badge holder is in the car."

Does that mean the disabled person need not have a car but when with someone who drives they can take the BB with them to enable the car to be parked in a BB bay?

They = them

Exactly that, Gfplux. Not everyone who has a BB can drive, after all.

Yep, what Cokefan said. The badge goes with the badgeholder and can be used in any car that they are in. :)