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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Parent and child parking spaces

68 replies

Curiouslygrumpycola · 08/10/2014 14:06

I have just seen a smart car using a parent and child parking place. No child, no blue badge, a stream of people passing by tutting. Aibu to think they wanted to be featured on mumsnet?

OP posts:

MrsHathaway · 08/10/2014 18:13

Koala - not a P&C space, a BB space. With her BB.

She was so upset, she really thought she'd done something wrong and it took quite a lot to convince her otherwise.

KoalaDownUnder · 08/10/2014 18:15

Oh, that's even worse!

KnackeredMuchly · 08/10/2014 18:35

MrsHatherway -why so grumpy about a baby going round the supermarket in a car seat??

CoolCat2014 · 08/10/2014 18:39

I wonder how our mothers ever coped without P&C parking bays...

LuisSuarezTeeth · 08/10/2014 18:53

WTF is a smart car doing, daring to park in any space at all?

Don't you just fold them up and put them in your handbag?

P&C spaces are there for one reason only: To make people feel special.

DaisyFlowerChain · 08/10/2014 19:23

Hate them with a passion, God forbid little Johnny get wet if it rains

We managed without them for years so could again. If they were right at the back of the car park, people wouldn't use them. It's pure laziness on most parts as they are close to the store.

makeminea6x · 08/10/2014 19:31

Some car parks have very small spaces and it can be very difficult to get small children out of the car without risking damaging the adjacent cars.

The p&c spaces in my supermarket are fairly far away from the entrance but do have an (uncovered) walkway making it a bit safer to walk.

Why does everyone have to be so churlish. Some of us suck at parking and need the room.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 08/10/2014 21:30

Koala-it was the super market,I was unpacking shopping, not a kid in sight but I really couldn't have parked further away that day, it was all I could do to manage my shopping.

BeanSpr0ut · 08/10/2014 21:33

People without children always park in the Parent and Child spaces where I am. It's really frustrating! When I see someone park in the last space and they have no kids it makes my wee boil!!

Original poster

Curiouslygrumpycola · 08/10/2014 21:46

Luis, my thoughts exactly. I'm sure it was a mumsnetter trying to get a rise. No pombears in sight though.

OP posts:

LuisSuarezTeeth · 08/10/2014 22:30

Curiously I do believe we have a conclusion

Ledkr · 08/10/2014 22:42

Op you should have phoned the police on 999 it's a criminal offence punishable by a long prison sentence.

nocoolnamesleft · 09/10/2014 22:50

Well...I'm not disabled enough for a blue badge. And even when I was hobbling round on a pair of sticks wouldn't use a blue badge space on the principle of "their need is greater" (and there was no way to get a temporary blue badge). My mobility is, however, limited. Some supermarkets seem to allocate all spaces any where near the entrance as either disabled (fair play!) or P&C. So, yes, there have been times when I have, with neither a BB nor a child on board parked in a P&C slot. And if a busy body shouted at me, they might find me tempted to irately brandish my stick at them! :-p

Some people parking in P&C slots might just be pains. But others may well have health or mobility problems that are either not bad enough or too short term for a BB, but mean they can't trek from the far end of a large carpark...especially if they're only there to pick up their prescription meds from a pharmacy just inside the store...

One friend told the tale of having a woman shouting and swearing at him and his wife when they used a P&C slot as the only way to park near the entrance. Sadly, it didn't stop when she got out of the car on crutches...

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 10/10/2014 01:02

I can park in an empty part of a car-park, no other cars around me, away from the shops/P&C/Blue Badge and I can guarentee that some prick will park so close to my car that I can't get my boot open. I have to start my car , drive a bit then open.

I once left a good 2-3 feet behind me, a huge 4x4 still managed to get so close I couldn't open the boot (and as it was a high vehicle the tailgate would've caught their bumper)
How tempted am I to scrape their car with my boot door,

And I've had cars park so near (and they've folded my mirror, cheeky gets) that I had to climb over the passenger side. Once I couldn't even get my head in the gap

As you were.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 10/10/2014 01:12

^^ was for everyone who says "we didn't have P&C spaces and we managed"

Yes, I managed in days gone by too.
But I also remember the days when other drivers weren't so bloody minded as to practically park in your boot.

Though I did have one time in a motorway service station - a van parked so close I couldn't get in so had to go across the other side. My DD was a baby (so carseat) my DS was a toddler (so huge carseat) they couldn't have missed them.

There was no way I could open the door wide enough to get the DC in. DH had to hold the baby while I reversed (not easy in one of those carparks ).
If I'd been alone, I'd have had to wait till they came out.

Leela5 · 10/10/2014 04:01

Do parents lose use of their legs when they have a child? Don't understand the need for P&C spaces. Unless parent or child is disabled in any way they should park with the rest of the world and more disabled bays provided for those who need them. Better still - shop online and get it delivered, then there'll be less people in the shop and you can sit with feet up waiting for delivery. Win win.

Ledkr · 10/10/2014 07:43

Dunno, why? Do people lose the use of their legs when they arrive at the supermarket and park in a space marked for someone with a child when they don't have one with them?

Ledkr · 10/10/2014 07:46

I managed without them quite happily when I had the older chikdren but with the younger ones they are available so I use them, that doesn't make me lazy or entitled, it makes me a person who makes good use of a facility. No big deal.

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