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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

... to expect people who use parent & baby car parking spaces to have children with them?

465 replies

fryalot · 05/02/2007 15:11

Or am I the only who gets fed up of waiting for a space because they are all filled with lazy b***ds who can't be bothered to walk an extra yard?

OP posts:
fruitful · 05/02/2007 18:52

Can't be bothered to read the whole scrap ...

My local Tescos has a sign by the P&B spaces that reads:

*
Parent & Toddler Parking
It's so much easier to shop online
*

In other words, we want your money but we don't want your screaming brats in the shop; sod off and shop from home. Fantastic. Makes me laugh every time, even when I'm driving past all the spaces filled by the childless.

Can I put notes on their cars that read "Do you want my kids as well as my parking space?". Going free to a good home, especially on the way out of the supermarket!

tinkerbellie · 05/02/2007 18:55

yes it REALLY annoys me!!

it also really pisses me off when you see someone diasbled aprk in a disabled space whilst their ableboddied friend partner goes into shop whilst they wait in the car

onlyjoking9329 · 05/02/2007 19:00

i do object to misuse of the P&c and BB spaces, if i am on my own with my 3 kids i cannot hold all the doors at the same time, my 3 have autism and no awareness of the car parked next to us, we just need a wide space that is all, we do have 3 blue badges, i also own a teflon overcoat, this is useful for deflecting the filthy looks when using the disabled parking spaces.

LittleBoSheep · 05/02/2007 19:03

Tesco obviously dont have a standard policy regarding disable spaces because ours has somewhere around 30 all by the front door. My issue with their lack of P & T spaces is during the peak times of the day PARENTS are the main group in store and, as major customers, our needs should be taken into account.

I think those of us who worry about parking in P & T spaces arent princesses but spaces have got smaller and smaller & cars have got larger and larger. I only have an average sized car but when I was parked next to a 4 x 4 and the children were still small it was IMPOSSIBLE to have enough space to get my (by no means enormous) arse into the space BOTH SIDES of the car to get a child out of its seat. Yes I COULD use a "normal" space but, call me old fashioned, I would rather not damage the next cars paintwork whilst getting my child out.

I have to confess when I have seen a someone running into the store from the disabled spaces I have left my trolley horizontally across the back of their car to piss them off when they get back.

Oh yes I COULD go in the evening when the kids are in bed (after my work at home day, school/playgroup runs, after school clubs, cooking tea and doing homework) but why the hell should I. Plus a lot of people dont have anyone to look after their children so dont have the luxury of choice.

LittleBoSheep · 05/02/2007 19:08

Oh and 20 of the 30 disabled spaces are empty 99.9% of the time.

Bobalina · 05/02/2007 19:11

I am amazed at this thread. Only recently discovered p&t bays but never use them. I've only recently started driving to the shops. For many years I carried 5 bags of shopping and a baby on the buses to get home. To think that it pisses some of you off that you cannot get into your designated bay because (god forbid) a disabled person has parked there beggars belief.

I do not use p&t bays (with my 3 children) because I feel they are of better use to the elderly and disabled. Wouldn't dream of pulling them up for parking in them.

gingermonkey · 05/02/2007 19:13

I agree, Bo, in fact you have just said everything I have been ranting about to DH for years!!! And why are there so many disabled spaces and so few parent and baby spaces? I'm presuming it has something do with the percentage of disabled people in the country and having to apply that percentage to available parking spaces thanks to some EU Law, but it really pees me off. I was at the supermarket today and I only have a little car with 2 doors so I need a bit of space to reach in to the back to get the monkey out. I was driving around for ages trying to find a space, whilst perfectly able people trotted off into the supermarket, childless and without any need for parking in either the parent spaces or the disabled spaces.

Oh, and it's not so much easier online because they never have what you have bloody ordered!!!!! Instead of peas they bring you a butternut squash, or something! You need to go to the supermarket after they've delivered just to get the basic ingredients for a meal!!!!

coppertop · 05/02/2007 19:17

I can't believe people are complaining that there are too many spaces for the disabled. I'm even more that people think it's okay to block cars in a disabled space with a trolley because they have decided that the person isn't disabled enough.

FioFio · 05/02/2007 19:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

misdee · 05/02/2007 19:18

but do you need a p+t space?

PeachyClair · 05/02/2007 19:19

I think its just a mtter of tolerance. I parked in P&T a couple of times when I was pg with ds1- I was supposed to be ebdbound with pre-eclampsia and wanted to walk the most minimal distance I could manage. Nobody seemed to mind that, I guess because it was visual. I get lots of comments with ds1 though (he's 7), thogh I can actually use them 'properly' with ds3 (3.5).

Funnily enough, anyone who sees ds1 in the shop doesn't seem to worry about the space. Is that because he crawlsa round yapping and barking, d'ya think? Is that a clue for them perhaps?

I don't like the 2 seater sports car able bodied briage taking the spaces, as its purely down to a lack of consideration. When its elderly, pg, mums of kids (young and / or multiples of) its not an issue to me. If its BB holder, I would expect them to get priority everytime.

Cant believe we might be able to get a badge! So typical that nobody told us

misdee · 05/02/2007 19:19

can i swear yet?

misdee · 05/02/2007 19:21

' By LittleBoSheep on Mon 05-Feb-07 19:08:19
Oh and 20 of the 30 disabled spaces are empty 99.9% of the time. '

where do you live, can i shop there

can hardly ever get a parking space here at tescos.

lockets · 05/02/2007 19:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

gingermonkey · 05/02/2007 19:24

It wouldn't be an issue at all if spaces were the size they are in the U.S. If I need a bigger space in a mini to get the LO out, then it seems to me the spaces are just too damn small in the first place. I don't even bother going shopping if I am in a bigger car, unless it's at the crack of dawn when there's only the mums from the school run and the office workers buying a salad for their lunch.

Jimjams2 · 05/02/2007 19:26

3andnomore you have the weirdest view of disability I have ever come across.

When I talk about using P and T spots at the supermarket and not needing them I am talking about myself- I only have one disabled child - and I very very rarely take him shopping (and then only if there's another adult and no other kids). I often shop with the other 2 though - including the toddler. So I do know all about managing to shop with young children. I've done it for 7y years after all. I'm stunned some of you find it so difficult. I really couldn't care less whether the P and T spots are full or not.

As for "PARENTS are the main group in store and, as major customers, our needs should be taken into account. "

FGS listen to yourselves. And you reckon you're not princesses.

LittleBoSheep · 05/02/2007 19:27

Like I say Misdee they obviously dont have a standard policy I cant imagine there are any less disablede people here!

Coppertop. The guy shot into the disable space at great speed, JUMPED out of the car at great speed and RAN into the shop...didnt have a badge...raced round tescos to get a bottle of wine...dunno was he disabled?

Jimjams2 · 05/02/2007 19:29

Bloody disableds taking all the spaces.

tirnanog · 05/02/2007 19:29

He would have been if I could've got a hold of him!

3andnomore · 05/02/2007 19:29

Peachy, I can honestly say that I would NOT begrudge you a P&T parking space, I honestly don't have a problem with someone using it that needs it more then I do (indeed, now that ys is 2 1/2y and ms is 4 and es is 10, I don't really use the spaces anymore now, as it's much easier now with them and I feel I should leave the space free for people that will need it more, which is why it ticks me off if people misuse them),
Btw, a friend of mine has a lil one with aspergers and she got a blue badge recently, but at that time she was still battling to get his statement, so, worht a try, i'd say, you sound to me to be in a situation where you really should be able to get a blue badge due to circumstances, alone.

Mellow, lol...well, I do have a life, well of sorts, but I have had it several times happening to me, that when I actually got a P&T space someone might pull up wiht a carseat in their car but not KId....now, I know the arguments maybe they pick the Kid up, but really how often is that going to be the reason?
So, you think it's o.k. because you are cold to park tehre without having your Kid wiht you, but it is o.k. for some other poor bugger with their Kid in tow, to have to take a further away spot, therefore not just parent getting cold but also lil one...nice....

Locket, I would thing the rage comes in when one is struggling and sees people misuse them...like I said before, I have no problem if the spaces are full but all the people using them actually doing so rightly.

rofl fruitful, that would make me chuckle, too

Tinkerbelle, lol, yeah, or people parking in parent and Tot parking and leaving their Kids in the car, errrm, doh....

not for people that have Kids that are able to safely walk with their parents...!

TBH, I really don't understand why people get pissed off at people for getting pissed off at people that misuse P&T spaces, lol, surely we have a right to get pissed of about somehting like that,lol.

misdee · 05/02/2007 19:30

tsk how dare they.

jj, why am i on this thread?

IntergalacticWalrus · 05/02/2007 19:30

Farking hell, I go and give the DSs a bath and do their dinner and this is still going on, and still going round in circles!

LittleBoSheep · 05/02/2007 19:31

JIM JAMS....the door hubbys new car was damaged when someone in a 4 x 4 opened their door into it (of course didnt leave us any insurance details)

SORRY I would rather NOT do that to someone else...call me a bitch if you want - WEIRD I thought that made me a considerate person.

Mercy · 05/02/2007 19:32

Haven't read the thread but get the gist.

How on earth do you think people coped before P&T places were invented - which was pretty recently afaik.

Jimjams2 · 05/02/2007 19:33

"Oh yes I COULD go in the evening when the kids are in bed (after my work at home day, school/playgroup runs, after school clubs, cooking tea and doing homework) but why the hell should I."

P

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