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)

I do remember on one occasion justifying to myself the use of a 'parent with child' space, on the basis that I was indeed a parent, with 3 children, (all of whom were at home), and was completely knackered, and in need of as short a distance between me and the store as possible. Mind you, it was 7.30 p.m., and only one other of the 10 spaces were taken.

Parent and child spaces ought to be banned, or at the end of the carpark away from the store.

I suggest ALL visitors to stores should use them freely until they are removed.

I use them for an 8 year old, a 3 year old and a baby. Am not really bothered about whether or not I get a p&c space, as the infant carrier never, ever comes out of the car - I tend to cuddle/sling the baby, or occasionally use one of those slanted seat trollies. They can be useful if it's windy and I don't want the door to bang onto the car next to me, but the older two are trained not to get in/our the car without me holding and buffering the doors.
Just can't get worked up about it, or summon the energy to lug a car seat around or try to manoeuvre a trolly with one on top as am too bloody short to peer over.

Our local Tesco has two sections of P&C spaces. Right in front of the doors (not safe at all, cars coming past, fast, all the time) and round the side of the shop with a walkway in. I park in the ones with the walkway. Have two under 4 so rear facing car seats x 2 but can get them out in a normal space if I have to. Would rather that than get them run over so if none round the back find a normal space with a safe route in. Have often seen single people in suits park in the ones near the doors at lunchtime - never round the side though.

I wish they would just make spaces wider. Sciatica and a shed load of stitches under my arm means I struggle to get in and out at the minute, especially when you have to do that door part open and shuffle manoeuvre
I just want to be able to open my car door, but parking space sizes don't let you. Only a small Polo so not a huge car either!

Easy solution would be giving parents a blue badge equivalent to parents with the red book that is valid for say 5 years, if child has a disability and needs it extending can apply the same a blue badges.
Not complicated to execute and would prevent every Tom dick and Harry parking there just because it's closer. Pisses me off no end when j go shopping and can't get dd out of the car seat, if your car got dented by a parent trying to get there child out of the seat you would all be on here up in arms about the damage. If you don't have kids don't fucking park there

The supermarket I use was packed yesterday, queues to get in and out of the car park. I parked right at the back where there were lots of space, no cars next to me and certainly lots of room to get a baby in and out. Just go to the back of the car park.

If you don't have kids don't fucking park there
As I said, ds is 21. I shall continue to park there when he is with me.

The last thing parents need is fucking blue badges.

Give em a badge and they will be EVEN more entitled than they are now.

Everyone should park on the p&c spaces, kids or no kids!

Easy solution would be giving parents a blue badge equivalent to parents

This can't be for real?

I always use them if I can with dc 2 and 4. They are in car seats for a long time and sometimes you can't open the doors wide enough in a normal parking space. Several times, cars on both sides have parked so close I've had to put the kids in the back unrestrained and move the car into a position where I could open the doors wide enough to clip them in.

Also, Children can take a long time to develop road awareness and it makes life less stressful if you can park near the shop.

Fwiw I can nearly always find a p and c space at my local supermarkets.

The Orange badge scheme (now Blue Badge) was introduced in 1970. It was fought for long and hard by many. 46 years later it's still being abused. Parents should not be entitled to a badge of any description unless they have a child with additional needs, or they themselves have additional needs. Park at the back and leg it. Oh, and by the way, the parent and child spaces were fought for initially by a few women on a borough council back in the eighties. If I'd known then, what I know now, I'd have voted against the scheme.

another easy solution would be to stop keeping tiny babies squished in the car seats

I parked in one yesterday - my kids are 13,11 and 7 - I left them in the car while I ran in for bread and coffee - so bite me

Why on earth would parents need a special badge to park somewhere? Out of whose pockets would you like this to be funded?

And the comparisons to blue badges are exactly the problem with parent and child spaces!

I use them if ds3 is with me as he often opens his car door too wide and dings the car next to us.

If I'm in a normal space I have to sprint round to his side and grab the door before he pushes it too far. A wider P&C space means he can get himself out.

I also find that many "normal" spaces are actually too narrow to get out of both sides of the car. I had to climb in through the boot on one occasion, leaving 2 toddlers in a double buggy at the back of the next car, to reverse out far enough to get us all in. Cars on both sides had jammed me in.

Shrewsbury's Raven Meadows is almost impossible to get all 4 doors open due to narrow, 1970s spaces and pillars.

Parents should not be entitled to a badge of any description unless they have a child with additional needs, or they themselves have additional needs.

Absolutely agree with this.

Our local Sainsbury's has a large notice up by the P&C spaces, stating that anyone can use them as long as they have a child aged up to 12 with them or have a blue badge. (Obviously there are dedicated blue badge spaces as well.) 12 seems quite old, if you ask me, but DS1 is 10 and has ASD and no sense of danger, so I use Sainsbury's specifically so that I can park in the P&C spaces with no tutting. (As soon as I can get him a blue badge I will!)

Contrast with Tesco's. When DS2 was 3 years old and had a broken leg, I missed out on the final P&C parking space because someone with a blue badge drove into it. There were loads of free blue badge spaces and they were actually nearer the shop, so who knows why.... anyway I hoiked DS2 plus plastered leg the whole length of the car park to get him into a trolley. I asked at Customer Services what their policy was, and they said that blue badge holders are free to use the P&C spaces whenever they want and it was my hard luck that a blue badge person had chosen to park there instead of in a disabled space. So why even have the P&C spaces in the first place?! See why I now always shop at Sainsbury's!!

At my local store there are 4 PC spaces outside the door and another 10 around the side of the store....a short walk away. They are always empty and local forums are always on about ppl misusing the front of store ones. Every time I ask why the side ones are not used ppl always bleat on about it not being covered and their babies will get wet and they have to walk....so seems to me they are just as lazy as those who park in there without good reason!

Our nearest supermarket specifies that the p&c spaces are for people accompanied by at least one child up to the age of 12. Most carparks display their own definition somewhere. If the sign says it's for children in prams or pushchairs I don't park there but if I qualify I certainly do.

My children can walk and I still use them because they aren't able to buckle their own seatbelt, so I need to be able to open the door wide enough to do it for them! If anyone questioned me they'd get told to do one!

How do they enforce it tho? Bet they don't. There's no resources for this kind of thing

I wonder if it is 12 as that's the age car seats usually go up to?