Parent and child spaces - would you sign this petition?

[confuseddazed]

A woman has set up a petition for safeguarding parent and parking spaces for under 5s here

Lean through from the front of the car when the kids have climbed into the seats.

Plenty of people cope!

I've parked right in the middle of an empty row, nowhere near the P&C or BB spaces and found (on several occasions) a huge 4x4 an inch from my car so I can't open the door or my boot.
I've had to move the car forward before I could open doors , leaving my trolley in front (which you wouldn't want to do with a baby)

I;ve been blocked out of my car while heavily pg by someone parking right up to my drivers door

And I've had to climb across the passenger side (not easy with a troublesome back)

Nothing to do with my parking, it's the inconsiderate gits that come along later

In places like Costco, the spaces are huge (because it's an American company and they realsise that 99% of shoppers are loading their cars with bulky items)

I agree with bigger spaces because we wont make people more considerate.
Though it is so tempting to wallop my car door into the side of the vehicle that has taken up half my space.............

Ok I'll just leave an 11-month old unbuckled in the back of the car for a bit, they won't immediately climb out and fall on the floor will they? And I'll reach behind me to do up a rear-facing car seat?

I think for me the point is that different people have different experiences here and some people find the parking issue difficuly due to their own set of circumstances. But lots of that difficuly could be avoided if spaces were bigger, other people didn't park so close, and the bigger spaces were more available even if they were a bit further away.

Just because something isn't personally an issue for you, it doesn't automatically mean anyone who does face an issue with this is stupid. Or incapable.

There is a huge case for wider spaces- there is just no necessity to have them near the shop doors. If they were in a far corner then people who don't need them wouldn't take them.

They also don't need to be only available to people with children within an arbitrary age range (or children at all). Bigger spaces miles away from the shop for people who fancy using them and then walking.

They'll be empty (as in the Aylesbury tesco described up thread) and the special snowflakes will still be whinging that they need permitted spaces right next to the door even though (1) that makes them the most desirable and popular spaces and (2) plenty of other groups have legitimate reasons for parking next to the door.

wanderingcloud

I had three under three as well, we had a Honda Jazz the we all fitted in, I didn't find it difficult at all. Could it be that having such a big car is actually making things harder instead of easier? I always used the p&c spaces but only because they were closer to the door and I was lazy

Given that putting them far from the door requires redesigning all the supermarket car parks, it's probably far better to ensure people don't use them when they don't need them. Hence the petition.

Tesco used to give a P&C sticker for the car (this was years ago, my baby is 13yo now)

So though a permit is a bit , there is a way to identify the proper users .
I stopped using them when my DC could walk (on reins) safely- too much aggro. But I always made sure I was near a trolley park.

Goodness there are a lot of sanctimonious people on here today....I can hardly ever get a p&c parking space with a newborn and a toddler and previously I have had to ask another mum to watch my trolley so I could reverse my car out enough to even open the door to get my son in. Complete nightmare. No I wouldnt sign the petition but anyone who says larger parking bays make no difference when you have young children or a car seat to get in is basically lying!

Why does it require a redesign? Lots of car parks have (long or indirect) pavements and walkways to the spaces at the far edge. I can't think of a single one that couldn't simply move the spaces and expect people to walk further. I do wonder how people manage to take their small children anywhere if they seem to think crossing a supermarket car park with them is an incredible feat akin to crossing the Antarctic.

It is certainly not easier to enforce rules than to make the spaces undesirable to anyone who doesn't desperately want more space to open their doors. The fact is, the people without small children may well have reason to use the spaces near the door (not least because the thresholds for blue badges are very high indeed). And even if they don't, it's just a bloody parking space.

Larger parking pays for the whole car park would be great, but the helplessness they cause for some parents is quite shocking. Especially given most car parks don't have p and c spaces and somehow the vast majority of parents cope!

I disagree with the notion that they don't need to be near the door also. I would prefer young children to be away from the car park as soon as possible, not having to walk all the way through it navigating reversing vehicles all the way.
It drives me potty when people who have no children park in these spaces. I would never dream of using a disabled space or parking in a p and c one without my dc with me. If you don't need to use them then don't use them!

They're not the same as disabled spaces though are they?

How would you be negotiating reversing vehicles if you were walking down a designated pedestrian area at the edge?

Sing, can you understand that some people have equal or more need for the "p and c spaces" than people with under 5s?

They can be in a far corner but on the same side so that you are not crossing and negotiating vehicles. It is a simple solution- the places will be left because they are no longer desirable for those who don't have to get a baby or toddler out.
A wider space is helpful but mothers can walk! We managed fine before there were designated spaces.

I wouldn't sign a petition but I'm buggered if I can understand the MN rage against P&C spaces. I think they're a great idea, and obviously good for business too as families spend heaps in big supermarkets. Life with small kids is often really tough, anything that makes things easier is to be welcomed in my view.

I parked in my local shopping centre last weekend and, because I was meeting a friend for coffee there and was too early I sat in the car with the radio on. A car pulled into the space beside me. I didn't take much notice but after a couple of minutes I realised that the man seemed to be struggling to get out of the car. I checked in my wing mirror and could see I was well within the white line. Then I realised he needed to open the door as widely as possible to lean on it to get out. I was about to roll down my window and tell him to hang on and I'd move my car when he managed to lever himself out.
He was about late sixties but obviously not too steady on his feet. Someone like him would not qualify for a disabled space but could definitely have done with an extra wide space. Either all spaces should be wide enough for people to be able to open their doors properly, or the extra wide spaces should be available to other people besides just those accompanied by young children.
In some car parks the sign specifies children up to 12 years of age, which is absolutely ridiculousl

Lots of things can make life tough Morris. But most people just get on with it. I don't resent the spaces for my own needs, but it bugs me to see my almost 80 year old mother being expected to walk across the car park carrying a bag of shopping because some young mother is more entitled to the space by the door.
Life at 80 years of age can be tough!

They are a great idea- I think people get annoyed because it makes parents so 'entitled' rather than realising it is just a courtesy extra.
I have just never understood why they need to be near the doors of the shop.

I've never taken DS to a supermarket and I don't intend to until he's big enough to carry my bags :) But I can see why they put the parent spaces near the door - for safety and convenience. When negotiating bags of shopping etc it can be hard to stop bolting toddlers from running into danger in car parks.

How do parents manage when they park on the high street? Or in car parks at libraries, hospitals, and other public buildings that don't have P&C spaces?
And what about the convenience of elderly people, people who are not very well etc? If you start picking and choosing who should have the spaces beside the door (apart from disabled people obs) you just start prioritising one deserving group over another, unfairly.
Better to just leave them free to everyone.

No I wouldn't sign it.

Wouldn't sign either, don't agree with her at all.

A wide awake 4 year old is probably less needy of a space than a tired or unwell 6 year old.
Would just create licence to issue further "invoices" masquerading as fines IMO.

Or a tired or unwell 70 year old.