About 'mother & baby' parking spaces...

[toohardtothinkofaname]

And that those without kids who park in them should get bollocked?

I can never get parked in one & today a woman trying to park in the space next to me BEEPED at me struggling to attach the car seat to the pram because she couldn't get in beside me. The baby spaces were opposite, no spaces for me, and of the 4 people In them I saw get in or out of their cars, absolutely none had children

The bloody spaces aren't even closer to the doors so no idea why they insist of taking up space.

I'm sure there's been threads on this before but need to rage & OH sick of my driving stories haha

[DownstairsMixUp]

Don't really care tbh and have a young son and an elder son. Our daily driver is a big van at the moment for DH work and we can't afford another smaller car to run. Our supermarkets are a bit different. Tesco Has them starting from the front going right to the back (so we can always get a back p&c spot as no fucker uses them) Lidl only has about four but they are close to the front. We always get a space there to so i have nothing to moan about anyway! As i say, doesn't bother me anyway. Kids won't be littleuns forever.

[NickiFury]

I'm l calm thanks . Just a bit fed up with the fairly constant ridiculing of posters if the subject matter is deemed to have been Done To Death. They'd never do it to people they didn't know, in RL I imagine. Twatty.

[unimaginative13]

Lamu, are you one of those people who uses a disabled toilet too so you don't have to que??

Also where is this magical car park that is full and people are queuing to get into but nobody has parking in the parent and child space

[Spudlet]

If car park spaces weren't so stupidly tight, we wouldn't need special spaces... I drive a small car and I can park it, but sometimes getting the door open wide enough to extract DS is... Interesting. To say the least!

Bigger spaces for a happier Britain!

[Crwban]

Agreed Nikky.

[unimaginative13]

The other day i drove round a multi-storey and saw many people parked in the parent bays so parked on the next level - not a problem- only then to realise it was stair access so had to push my pram down the car ramp.

[iwantbrewstersmillions]

Hate them. Need to get rid of them and more disabled spots. Would have no issue using them with my nana who has a blue badge if we couldn't find a disabled spot.

[imwithspud]

Can't you just put the carseat on the trolley?!

See I could and have done this in the past but at just under 5ft tall I can't see over the bloody thing.

The most logical solution would be to make all spaces wider, not as wide as p&c spaces but wide enough to get a car seat out of either side (there's a car park near me which has p&c spaces which are slightly smaller than usual, but there's still enough room to get a car seat out) it probably won't ever happen though.

[honkinghaddock]

It is not always obvious why people need the extra space. At a good moment you wouldn't see why my son needed it. At other times when he is in full meltdown and I am trying to get his specialist harness fastened, you would.

[hazeyjane]

I apologise. I really didn't think I was ridiculing, I just thought it was amusing. I am actually not a twat, so sorry if I came across as such.

In real life if a friend started a similar conversation, I would probably say, 'jesus don't go there, rants about parent and child parking spaces is how wars start'

[lampygirl]

I parked in one yesterday in tescos. I have no kids but I do have a non weight bearing fractured ankle, crutches, needed to request to use the wheelchair trolley and need to be able to fully open the door. Temporary disabilities are unable to get a blue badge, along with many permanent disabilities where the government don't seem you disabled enough. Is give anyone a wallop with my crutches if they tried to tell me to do otherwise.

[Lamu]

Unimaginative very apt name.

Yes I have actually and have happily
let others go in front of me. Clearly I'd have no need to use a disabled loo if places didn't put the baby change facilities in there! But that a whole other thread.

This particular car park is not a out of town 300 spaces type place. It's town centre supermarket with limited space. There's no room to let other cars pass, so once at the front of the que you either have to park or exit the car park, turn round and go to the back of the que! So yes I will continue using P&C space available in this instance.

[seafoodeatit]

YANBU, it's very rude to be honking at other cars when they're doing something that they can't avoid doing i.e taking a child out of the car. We don't have the car seat problem because ours is a big type that is tethered to the car and can't be taken out but you still need some room to get baby out.

In an ideal world people wouldn't park in P & C spaces without kids but what can you do? supermarkets are doing their bit by providing them they're hardly going to splash out on patrols to make sure it's enforced.

I would recommend online shopping (for those who are able to use it), not always the best quality in the fruit and veg department but beats parking and queuing problems.

[Amummyatlast]

As others have said, I wouldn't mind if they were further away, as it's the space I need, rather than the proximity to the shops. Spaces are certainly getting smaller - a local shop recently had the lines repainted so that there were more, thinner, parking spaces.

Our local sainsburys has three times the number of disabled spaces as they do P&C spaces (no difference in proximity to the shop). The P&C spaces are usually full. The disabled spaces are usually no more than a third full, if that.

[MOB247]

I feel your pain OP.

Went to a well known supermarket with a 3 old and new born.

I luckily managed to get a parent child space - but at least 4 other cars had no children at all! I saw them all get out with disbelief ! One a group of teenagers, one a big Land Rover thingy and one a two seater convertible which pulled up next to me.

When they got out it was a man and a. Woman in their forties! Whilst I was struggling to get everyone sorted the man said to me what are you looking at. I just rolled my eyes and then he clearly said dumb bitch I can park where ever I want - what you going to do about it and I was like !! I was so angry that he had spoken to me like that especially in front of my kids! But he left before I got a good reply in.... Sigh ....

[WaitrosePigeon]

Agree Nicki.

I reported someone like you once Lamu. They got a £70 fine. Hope it happens to you one day.

[RapunzelStyle]

I haven't RTFT as I have read the eleventy billion previous FThreads on this.

Disabled spaces in supermarkets are not legally enforceable. No need to display blue badge. So you can be the sole judge of whether you are "disabled enough" to use one.

Personally I'd never park in disabled. Because I'm not disabled and being disabled is generally not a choice.

Parent and child spaces though - nice and wide a near the door? Yes to that! Especially when it's late and pfb should be in bed.

[DontCareHowIWantItNow]

Nothing quite like a sense of solidarity for fellow women, is there

Just because people may also be women, it doesn't mean they always have to agree.

Freedom of speech and all that...

[Shutthatdoor]

they are rarely any closer to the doors

In my major city they often are. In fact even closer than the disabled spaces. Which is quite frankly, ridiculous.

[ImportantSpanielBusiness]

All this angst could be avoided along with the judgemental strangers, weird conversations from checkout staff, tantrumming children, getting asked for i.d., bringing your own bags along etc. etc. by shopping online.

[Lamu]

Report away. People sure do have a lot of time on their hands.

I have a 21 month old and 4yr old 95% of the time, if on the odd occasion I need to nip in and the only available space is a P&C in this particular car park I will park there.

I get the frustration of not being able to park three steps away from the front door of a supermarket. Really I do. But that's life. I can't say I've had sleepless nights over it. Even when my youngest was in a bucket seat...You just get on with it, park some place else!

[CharlieSierra]

I would never park in one but it really annoys me that in my local sainsbuys the spaces are for either disabled or p/c, like the two things are interchangeable. And the p/c spaces are for children up to 12. I would not get a blue badge but at times I can't get out of my car unless I open the door wide. I think there should be disabled spaces nearer the doors and wide spaces for anyone who needs them further away. Having children is not a disability.

[BuggerLumpsAnnoyed]

Well I was fucked off today. In our local, small M&S and was held up for bloody ages by this woman doing her bloody weekly shop when everyone knows a small M&S is just for your "bits" chatting with the sales assistant. She appeared to have no mobility issues. Obviously by this point I was already fucked off as she wasn't even packing her back as if there was a massive queue behind her. Then I get to the car park (where the parent and child spaces arn't the closest) and of course she's parked her fucking stupid range rover there. She really fucked me off by existing she did.

[zeezeek]

Every time I see a p&c parking thread on here I make a point of parking in these spaces next time I'm at the supermarket without kids, or any sign of kids.....

Just a small rebellion against the entitled twats who think the world revolves around them and their pfb.