To think that parent and child car parking spaced should have an age limit of 5 years.

[buntingbingo]

Or be put at the back of the car park?

I have 3 dcs eldest is 9. Youngest is 2 months. Going to the supermarket is now a massive pain in the arse as there are never and p&c spaces.
I see people with giant kids who are perfectly able to walk, why do they need them? It's not the closeness to the shop that's useful, it's the extra width I need.
I end up struggling to get the baby seat out.
I think if they were at the back of the car park then people wouldn't bother with them unless they need the extra space. Or enforcing a lower age limit might stop the lazy people with big kids taking up all the spaces.
Rant over.
(Disclaimer. Obviously I'm not talking about anyone with special needs or disability, just kids capable of walking and perhaps shock helping to carry a bag or two)

My local tesco has a sign up asking people to not use them if their child is over 5.

OMgoodG, please can we have a complete ban on P&C parking threads?

WTF else can ther be left to say on the subject?

there ^

Thanks for the info Fanjo, will be interesting to see if we can get one for DS2 as he doesn't meet current criteria in my area (need to get hrm)

We park in P&C spaces, DS2 has autism, is a giant 10 year old and we often get tuts from parents with younger children. I'd rather be tutted at though than for DS2 to get injured by a car.

I think I should be able to use them for my 90 year father. Getting him out of the car and to the shop is a lot more difficult then getting the kids out the car ever was! T

Hope it helps people..and gets extended to rest of UK soon too.

Ds is 6 and until the blue badge criteria become sensible enough that he gets one I will carry on using p and c spaces for him if that is the best available space.

To look at him you wouldn't be able to tell he is disabled but that doesn't mean he isn't.

When he was a baby I hardly bothered with p and c spaces, he was easy to get around then!

You do realise there are kids over 5 who may need help with seatbelts, etc don't you? There's no way I could help my DCs with seatbelts when needed, without being able to open the door fully.

I hope it is extended, somehow I doubt anyone in power cares enough to actually extend it though! I wonder how they will measure of the trail has been a success?

I have an adult son (21) who, due to his Tourettes cannot walk across a car park. He so far hasn't qualified for a blue badge, despite the amount of scars and stitches he has on his arms and legs from falling. If he's with me, I'll park where I damn well please.

Loads of people need larger spaces nearer the shops who do not qualify for a blue badge, being elderly and unsteady on your feet does not qualify you for one! They should just be larger spaces all over.

Parent and Child parking spaces didn't exist when my DCs were little - and out of town shops with their own car park didn't exist either. So, the supermarket was in the high street and the car park (a multi storey) was about 300m from the shop.

Car seats for babies didn't exist either, so we had to transport in a carry cot (basically the top half of the pram) almost filling the back seat. Upon parking, baby had to be removed from carry cot and manoeuvred into a sling, then carried down 4 flights of stairs (or wait ages for the lift that smelt of wee and vomit) and 300m along the pavement to the shop, lugged around the shop, then back to car park with the shopping. Then the trolley had to be taken back to the shop.

By the time we returned to the car for the 2nd time (minus the trolley) baby had often filled his nappy and needed changing. No toilets in any shops in those days, let alone changing areas (though we were campaigning hard for Mothercare to install changing/feeding areas, they hadn't yet materialised). So baby had to be changed in the car, on the front seat. No disposable nappies in those days, so we always had to have some spare terry squares and a plastic bag to put soiled nappies in (which were of course taken home to be sterilised and washed).

So, that's how it was not so very long ago! Things are so much better now for parents with young children.

But I do take the OP's point. Parent and child spaces are surely not intended for any age of child, but only babies?

If it's any age child that can use them, I could take DS (who's 36) with me next time I go to Tesco and park in a P&C space. We are a parent and child, after all!

P&C spaces ought to be reserved for parebts whose DC still use a car seat.

I don't understand why, if people know their child is at risk of knocking the car next to them, they allow them to open their car door in the first place? Why don't you open the door to let them out?

I agree with you OP! I have a 10 month old and I've lost count the number of times I can't get in a P&C space and like you I only want the space for the extra room not because I'm too lazy to walk. On one occasion I had cars on either side park so close I had to go back in Sainsbury and get them to put a call out for the car owners to move their cars as I could barely squeeze down the side let alone get a baby seat in. Needless to say neither car owners come out so I asked a random elderly couple if they would keep an eye on baby in trolley whilst I reversed car out.

Like you I would expect people with older children to leave these spaces for those with younger children but I find people so selfish these days that I think we're in a minority to think this way.

So that's up to 11 then bobo?

80'smum It's only since becoming a parent myself that I've wondered how mums in years gone by managed, especially war time mums with big families, men gone and none of the modern day conveniences. I think they were remarkable.

Some supermarkets here do say up to age 11, others age 8
Like I said, its up to the supermarkets. Write to them

I'm 25 and my mum still parks in P&C when I'm with her

fairy because children are impulsive ...and especially ones with ADHD
So at home or whatever by the age of 12 of course they open the door to get in and out themselves and do their own belts.
But if you are on car park with tiny spaces and you have to remember to remind them not to - or at least be careful ...so far I've never forgotten but I could. They do get better with age - as do all children- but DP (also has ADHD) as an adult threw open my car door thankfully just into a wall the other week - because we were in a hurry, he wasn't driving so it was a bit different and he just didn't think...

For children if they can't be trusted to not open their door too wide I would have child locks on still though, as much to protect my car as anything else!

They aren't a legally mandated thing so they won't ever be policed anyway. It's just a courtesy that they are provided really and so they rely on honesty by their users.

I would imagine that they tend to be near the disabled spaces so that if all of the disabled spaces are full and the P+C ones aren't, blue badge holders might have a chance to use them since they also offer the extra space.

I still need to do up my 5yos seatbelt. Even the 7yo needs help as the buckle is very hard to reach. On that basis I use P and child spaces so I can reach in the side door. I also have a 2yo so I guess I pass muster anyway
The other day an elderly couple had parked right across TWO PC spaces in the local shopping centre. That was impressively entitled I thought.

I would imagine that they tend to be near the disabled spaces so that if all of the disabled spaces are full and the P+C ones aren't, blue badge holders might have a chance to use them since they also offer the extra space.
I know of at least one Tesco store where the P&C spaces are nearer than the blue badge spaces. When I have dds with me (19, both blue badge holders) I park in the P&C spaces. Having said that, it's rare I use it, as a matter of principle.

Ds 9 who has only recently got a bb (and not automatically, we had to push for It) is more difficult to get in and out of the car and has less understanding of safety, than an average toddler. So yabu.