To take park over the lines?

[dollarstodonuts]

We went to Tescos today to pick up a few things and all the child/parent parking was taken as it almost always is. If I park within the lines I literally can't get my car door open wide enough to get the infant car seat out. We have a seven seater SUV because we have four kids. Looking back I would have bought something with sliding doors but I can't just swap it now. So I parked as far away from the door as I could where there were several empty spaces. When I came back a man had parked his car so close to mine I could have only fit my body between the cars. He began shouting abuse about how entitled and ignorant I was. I explained over his shouting that I needed to be able to open the door to get the car seat in. 5 year old DS is now crying because the man is now shouting even louder. I ended up crawling through the boot and over the seats with DS and the infant carrier just to get away. What do people do if you have an infant seat? I'm not a Brit and part of the abuse yelled was to go back where I came from which was particularly nice for DS.

Spaces are small but if you park at the far side of a supermarket car park you should be ok as long as someone doesn't decide to park right next to you - sometimes they do. I was once in a car park with about 3 other cars in it (early morning) and someone came and parked right next to me. Yes, I did move and park somewhere else to make a point.

Spaces are too small for all but the smallest cars so you haven't chosen a particularly unsuitable car - although I do find Chelsea tractors pretty annoying especially if there are two of them with a tiny space inbetween. Previously I would not have parked there, but now, if I can get myself in and out of the car with a tiny gap, I will and I don't worry whether the person coming back to their car will be able to get in or not.

However, his "get back to where you came from" puts him squarely in the wrong. Vile racist [enter expletive of your choice].

Just to be clear motability cars are not free. I paid several thousand deposit to lease a car for my disabled kids.
You lease the car for 3 or 5 yrs and do not get deposit back and you give up your mobility benefit to cover the rest.
But if you still feel that is unfair perhaps you would like to do a swap. You are welcome to the car and you are also welcome to my childrens life limiting, life threatening disabilities to go with it!!
.

YWBU. You have no right to take up two spaces because you chose the wrong car.

OP YANBU. You parked right at the back and car parking spaces are far too small. I think the idiot that made the nasty comment was BVU picking on a woman in front of her small children. I would seriously consider reporting him, if only to stop him being so vile to others. I hope you and your poor children were not too traumatised. And just so you know, I always park in exactly the same way you did, not because I have my children with me (although I sometimes do), but because I care far more about my car than I do about the opinion of anyone who might not like it

I saw some spectacularly shit parking of late.

Car park near a Central Line Underground had a car straddling two spaces

In one Sainsburys (that I sometimes go to) no-one parks straight/in the lines and I've even been while someone parked >< close to me. I did tell her to watch my car as she opened her door against mine. She tutted , eyerolled and walked off.
I loaded my DC (other side) and shouted at her that Thank Goodness I was thin enough to get in eh?

Last week (parked near the back because I wanted to dump some bottles) , came back with my trolley to find some twat parked at an angle next to me , their rear bumper an inch from mine.
In my imagination I wanted to open my door and slam it repeatedly into theirs till their door feckin bled.

I settled for one opening of my door and squeezed myself in.
I am far too old to go in the passenger side.
I give zero shits if my door marked theirs.

I am a Twat Magnet

Oh and BTW, I hired a Seat Alambra (7 seater) and managed to park it in a regular space though the arse of it hung over the end a bit.

It was mainly to use taking DParents about (DM has a Blue Badge) but if she wasn't with us , we used regular spaces. I just parked well away and hoped no-one tried to steal my space .

Yes. You need to park properly. Obviously, ffs.

I really think the man should not have had a go at her regardless of whether she was reasonable or not in her parking.

That's never justified. People with kids are vulnerable, although theres no justification for screaming and shouting at anyone for their parking.

Ok, you cant take up two spaces. BUT it's only parking and didnt justify his response.

I really think the man should not have had a go at her regardless of whether she was reasonable or not in her parking.

That's never justified. People with kids are vulnerable, although theres no justification for screaming and shouting at anyone for their parking.

Ok, you cant take up two spaces. BUT it's only parking and didnt justify his response.

Bad parking does not excuse racism, I'm sorry someone spoke to you like that OP. That said, you don't need to take a car seat out, you can get a trolley with a baby bit, definitely suitable for a four month old.

I realise I'm foreign so my perspective is different but I suppose I find it baffling that the parking spaces are so small as to it accommodate opening the door of normal car wide enough to get a car seat in and out. Surely lots of people need more than a few inches to get in and out of the car even without a car seat? I also didn't get how aggressive it would make people to park over the line. I've never parked over the line before but I've never had a car seat to wrangle. I didn't expect someone to park right up next to me to purposefully block me in and then wait for me to return just to shout at me.

I won't leave the baby in the boot or on the ground as neither seems safe. I'm going to just have to carry my sling and exit out the boot with the baby/kids if we can't find anywhere close. I do most of my shopping online but today DS really wanted to make a cake and I was missing ingredients so I stopped to get them. He had no interest in cake making by the end of it all so clearly not worth it! The man was just so awful. DS is British and was born here. It was fun explaining to him why the man wanted me to go away. I had no idea I would inspire such rage.

FWIW our car is neither new nor fancy but it does have 7 seats.

I did at first try to wait for a child and parent spot but was honked at repeatedly for taking up the isle waiting. I thought parking as far as I could from the door was the best solution I could come up with. There were plenty of spaces scattered around so I thought I'd be ok to get butter and eggs but clearly not! Anyway I appreciate the insight.

OP it's a hang over from when cars were much much smaller. Also they can squeeze more spaces in that way. Same with the 'road' bits not actually being wide enough to manoeuvre in and out of the spaces properly.

The multi-storey in my nearest city has totally missed the point of P&C spaces, they aren't any bigger, they just have a 'safe' path to the lift. Plus most of them are next to structural supports so you can open some of the doors at all! Luckily they have 'SUV' spaces on the top level.

I presume all the people who bemoan people paying a lot of money for a nice car parking over 2 space are the same people who think it is fine to open their car doors into neighbouring vehicles and dont give a shit about their own bodywork. I bet the majority are leased or at least financed and the charges for scuffs and damages are sometimes horrific. I parked centrally in a space and a neighbouring car caused nearly £1k damage to my car smacking their door into it. I sat and waited for them to return and their insurer paid out but it was still hassle. I drive a large-scale estate and can pretty much always get it in a normal space even with passengers both sides needing to get out. I will squeeze in between people who sit parked on the lines because otherwise you are wasting a space.

I also drive a long wheelbase sprinter van for work and not found a supermarket i cant park that in a space in yet either.

Yeah spaces could be bigger (Costco is lovely) but if a van can fit within the white lines and get out without smacking the car next door (and you have to climb down a step out of a van, not just swivel out) then I'm pretty sure your average family car should also fit central in the space.

University...Seriously ? If you cant see why parking right next to the line, next to the only car in a car park is twatty then you really are challenged.

This happened to me, although i was parked in the lines, came back to find a car parked on the line meaning I couldn't open the door enough to get the baby seat it. There was no way I was going to put the baby seat on the ground while manoeuvring a vehicle around it. So I put the shopping in and went back to the customer service desk. They took my license plate (in case of parking charges) and I went and had a coffee. They did offer to page the driver if I was due somewhere, but i felt a bit embarrassed (no idea why).

Parking spaces in public car parks are too small for modern, good cars. If I have to use one I always park over 2 spaces. Saves my cars from being bumped by accident or incompetence. I can park, I just choose to use 2 spaces. Sometimes it annoys people but I couldn't give a shit. People do stuff that annoys me all the time- they'd find it more annoying to get a great bill for denting my door 😂

When i got back to the car there was a woman packing her car, who then proceeded to moan at me as though I'd parked there after her. I pointed out that the car was full of shopping as I wasn't able to leave since I couldn't get baby in the car so she'd obviously parked after me. She then told me I should learn to drive before speeding off, leaving her trolley parked behind. She was a grumpy cow. I just came away glad that I didn't have to deal with her on a daily basis

It's hard with a baby. I think they should have more parent parking spaces then they do.

I'd say just park how you need to, bugger everyone else, they will get over it., it's not the end of the world. I certainly wouldn't judge anyone who did what you did, but then I understand there is more important things to worry about then parking !!

It's funny how all these people with mobility problems etc that need to park like this all drive fancy cars. Curious

Define 'fancy'. I have a bigger than average car as it's the only one I can comfortably get in and out of. Most cars are too low or require too much twisting. There's all sorts of things disbled people have to take into account that don't ever come up on able people's radar.

For example the contouring of the seats. VWs are a nightmare because they come up quite high and rigid at the sides. If, like me, you have to turn through 90 degrees and put both feet on the ground before attempting to stand, it compresses the sciatic nerves and is excruciating.

There are people on this thread saying that they park across two spaces solely because they think the specialness of their car entitles them to.

Those are the twats.

Baby would be fine in the boot in the car seat while you move the car back a bit to get the doors in a position to open