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 still used them when DS was 11! He's a bit dozey and I'd crap myself ever time he opened the door in case he dinged my car or someone else's. Meh, it's just a space.

YANBU, 5 years is way long enough for any one to do even the largest of weekly shops

YABU. I think P&C spaces shouldn't be there at all. Whatever did people do when they didn't exist? Plenty of countries don't have them and people get by.

100% agree with ex

I think they should be used by people who have children that need strapping into the car still. My eldest is in a seat where they still need help strapping themselves in but my youngest doesn't.

Oh good, Pink 21 year old ds still needs strapping in, he has to sit on his hands so he doesn't hit me!

Exactly Dawn, those with dc's with additional needs that aren't able to sort themselves out ought to be able to use a space that is wide enough to be able to allow a parent to reach in and buckle their child in.

When my parents had small children, there weren't any supermarkets. They managed fine. We should get rid of all supermarkets.

Just park at the back of the carpark. My son is almost 2 and I very rarely park in the P&C, I just park at the back of the carpark where there is always loads of room because people are generally lazy.

You must be bloody old Hairy, Sainsbos opened in 1869!

And it was a bloody nightmare getting your horse and cart into those little spaces......

My frustration. Is people using them who don't have children with them at all. FFS just park in a normal space. I have a 13 week old baby and I need to get her car seat out. If you've parked in a space without a child, and there are none left, you've taken a space that I or another parent with a child genuinely needs.

The worst offenders are parents with car seats in the cars with no children with them. They should know better!!!!!

I used to use them when I was pregnant. I needed to open my car door wide to get in and out.

I don't always use them now the baby's here - if there's one available I'll use it, but to be honest I found I needed it more when I was pregnant than I do now!

Live and let live though

No Brummie. My children are adults. I have a blue badge for two of them. The third doesn't qualify as he can walk. He can't walk without damaging himself, but he can walk. As I have stated, I will keep using the space when he's in the car. He's an adult. I will use that space. You don't genuinely need it. You would genuinely like it, but you and baby don't actually need it. My adult son does.

Yes elinor we all have someone at home to the watch the kids when we go shopping...

To the poster who uses the spaces with her 21 year old son... That's hilarious. You must look so pathetic.

Wouldn't it be lovely if the people who genuinely don't really need them would just stop being such selfish lazy bastards and start thinking about someone else for once?! In fact if everyone have a little more of a shit about other people - I'm sure we'd all feel a lot better. Humph! 😳

Oops! That was supposed to say "give" not "have a shit"😬

Umbongo - how about thinking why you might still need the spaces with a 21 year old.

Yeah I know sorry. I just realised that most spaces are at the entrance so it's easier for disabilities. My local store the spaces are at the back of the car park so the only people who park there who don't need the extra space are just wankers.

80s Mum

The last time I went shopping with my DD we parked in the parent and child parking.
Whats unusual about that you say, well my DD was 36 years old and driving. In our defence the 500 space car park had only two other cars in it.

"Or be put at the back of the car park?"

Why don't you try the back of the car park anyway, bunting?

In my nearest supermarkets the back of the car parks are almost always empty. I generally park there and end up with several empty spaces all round me. I very rarely encounter parents who would otherwise be 'entitled' to P & C spaces ... I usually see them when I walk to the store ... they are the ones driving round and round and round the P & C section, waiting for a parking space.

You can't always tell who needs the extra space. Our main reason for wanting a bb for ds was extra space not distance.

Scrap the whole idea of P&C spaces. Bloody daft modern invention.

DP and I use them with a 4 year old. It's far easier to strap her in and out of her car seat with the extra width. But then she's still in one with a built in harness as she's really small for her age. I guess if she could strap herself in we'd have no need to use them. Would prefer them to be at the back of the store tbh since in our local supermarket the staff use them as they're close :/

Really Umbongo?
Really?

Meh, they were handy initially for me (3 under 4 and a bolter) but because my car is big, I just generally used to not even look for one and find a space at the arse end of the car park.

It's the group 0 seats that are the real needers of the extra space, but these are an option not a right.

I would far rather see the blue badge spaces increased massively, a burly teen with additional needs is priority to get safely to the door imo.

Then the rest of the car parks overhauled to fit our ginormous cars in better so we wouldn't need P& C anymore.

Even at Christmas they are rarely full to the brim so could well afford to lose spaces.