Told off for using P&C space in a van

[MaryJonesSpaceDetective]

It's a work van with a set of seats in the back. Would be lovely to run a second car with windows for the kids but we can't justify the expense. We hire a car for long hot journeys.

We parked in a nice convenient space in Sainsbury's car park and started to get out. A man drove past and challenged DH quite rudely saying 'So what, you've got kids in the back have you?' and drove off. Um, yes, yes we do, a 3yo and a 1yo, in the seats you can't see. We couldn't get them out quickly enough to wave at his retreating vehicle and are now smarting impotently as only two docile etiquette-following queuers can when wrongly accused on a matter of courtesy.

So aibu to worry that you've all been judging me for the last 3 years every time you've seen me parked in a P&C space?

P&cNISD spaces.
(Parent and child not including sliding doors)
Maybe add a VA in there somewhere to mean 'Vans allowed'
VAWCS (I quite like that): Vans Allowed With Car Seats.

When I see a van in a p&c space I assume they took the baby seat in with them. I wouldn't be bothered if I had seen someone without a child though. We use a van often. We have a noticeable car seat but when we had a very young baby we would take it in with us in case we needed to put baby down (he was usually in a sling) which means people would have see the van and wonder why we parked there. I wonder how many we pissed off!

It's an urban myth.
Sometimes the baby has been thrown out of the car and is in a ditch and no-one bothers to look.
If we had stick on notices for every scenario we thought the emergency services were not trained in, no-one would be able to see out of the back window.

Child on board signs

I knew a woman who had a child on board sign when she had a fatal car accident. The fire service spent time searching for a child thrown from the car until the police clarified she had been alone in the car. Apparently they will always assume a child is on board if the sign is there so it is important to take it down if they are not I suppose.

This was almost 20 years ago though so I don't know if the proliferation of the signs means they don't consider them a reliable indicator?

DoJo we used to have a van with no back windows and I felt so sorry for our kids in the back. I would be gaily pointing out interesting things on the trip and they'd have to glumly remind me they could only see a small bit straight ahead. We've now got a Citan which has windows in the back - it's a long wheel base Mercedes van, not very well known, but I think it's based on a Kangoo long wheel base. I am something of a van nerd :-S Definitely recommend it. Plus air con! Luxury!
And stupid P&C hollering bloke should mind his own beeswax and stop being a knob.

I had this once, but it ended quite brilliantly.

XP and I were on the way to hospital. I was booked in for an induction but had gone into spontaneous labour so had been asked to come straight in. We decided to take his Smart car (2 seater) instead of my corsa because we knew once DS arrived we'd be using the corsa more.

On the way I wanted snacks (lol) and dairy free milk for my post birth cuppa so we stopped at Tesco. I told XP to park in P&C because we had DS with us after all, and who would begrudge a woman in labour using the spot?

As we got out of the car a guy pulled up in a flashy sports car and yelled "Oi mate, you got kids in that thing?" To XP. From the back I didn't look pregnant, but I turned around showing my huge bump and said "If you keep us here talking there just might be!" [Tinkly laugh]

He floored it. Arsehole couldn't even apologise.

XP then had to walk round Tesco with me stopping every few minutes to have a contraction.

If there hadn't been that ending I'd probably have felt the same as you though. Try not to let it upset you. Some people are just dicks.