To not believe what I just heard.... parent/ child space one sorry!!!!

[Freddiesfling]

Was at my local Aldi lady earlier this week about to drive off when I heard raised voices.... I looked around to see a mother with a child of around 5/6 shouting at an elderly lady who had parked in a parent/ child space ( there were 3/4 other empty p&c spaces free)... the elderly lady calmly told her that she was awaiting a blue badge and all the disabled spaces were full... the mother than shouted " well that's not my fault" and stormed off... the elderly lady then with some difficulty started walking away....
I got out of my car and asked if she was ok.. she said she was but looked upset.. I asked if there was anything I could do/ help with and she said she was ok! I wished her well and went back to my car really shocked that a mother with a school aged child who had already parked on the parent/child spaces would go out of her way to be so vile...

I later heard from a friend that this mother posted what happened on Facebook ... including her shouting at an elderly lady and was practically applauded for it with a lot of likes and even a few comments like she should have scratched the ladies car... my friend reported the status but Facebook said it didn't violate their standards.

I cannot believe that another person could go out of their way to be so argumentative and lack such empathy.

So contact the supermarket to complain about the daft layout!

to anyone who has had difficulty obtaining a blue badge (it really does seem to vary widely from region to region - dc1 has a lifelong disability. I had to renew theirs recently, confirmed that they still have the condition, and the badge was here within a week), and also to anyone who has had an arsehole challenge them on their use of a space.... I have found 'If you think I'm doing anything wrong, report me.' to take the winds right out of their sails. They really don't know what to do next.

Haven't RTFT as it's too much at this time of night and I'm sure this has already been said, but...I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old and I do get annoyed if disabled people park in parent and child spaces when disabled places are available. I also get annoyed when lazy fuckers with teenagers STILL park in parent and child places. I'm sure the disabled lady in OP was genuine but I know of at least two people (one Porsche 911 owner, the other a Merc SLK owner) who's disabled relatives are in care homes but they have a disabled badge on behalf of the relative (who they visit at their convenience on a weekend) reaping the benefits of a disabled badge to prevent their cars getting scratched!
Maybe a resolution would be to put the parent and child spaces away from the store entrance as it's not the proximity to the store but the space to open the doors wide enough to get babies/ toddlers/ kids out. This may help to stop people parking in them who don't actually need them.

I presume you have reported the people you know are abusing the badges?

No I haven't Sirzy - one is a woman I worked with for about 10 years. Her daughter is severely disabled but once her daughter went to the care facility she would see her every other weekend and Christmas/ Easter but still had the disabled badge. She maintained that her daughter's wheelchair would fit in the boot of the 911 - I'm not so sure. The other is a friend of my husband who sees his sister at her care facility maybe once a month but she has no other family so he is her next of kin/ carer, who qualifies for the badge. I probably should report both but it would make me feel like a busybody who's got nothing better to do. I would much rather quietly stew about it and look suspiciously at people who park in spaces I don't feel they should

It's just the aggression people use. She didn't have her badge but she was clearly struggling to walk. It annoys me actually when people of older children use the spaces too. I know they're allowed but I do think it's out of laziness. I like tje room to get the pushchair round tje side of the car but I hate fighting for a space I'd rather just park out of the way

I really cannot understand the rage this idiotic woman was moved to because someone was in a child/parent parking spot.
I'm sure we've all got to car parks and seen people take two spaces because of sloppy parking and the massive Chelsea tractor brigade whose vehicles no longer fit 'normal' car parking spaces - leaving us all to squish out of our cars.

Seriously - no excuse for abuse of other people or designating yourself car park monitor.

My mum parks in them when I'm in the car as she's a parent and I'm her baby 😂

The spaces are useful for getting the pushchair out, the safe space to do so. I get annoyed by people abusing the spaces. I would understand in the OPs example but the likes of Emmakc don't seem to understand or care about the purpose of them. I didn't use them before I had a child and I will stop using them when my child is out of her pushchair. As it is, it's hard enough to find a free space at the best of times!

OMG Asoiaf I was joking!! I actually find it super annoying when people without kids use the spaces or for that matters people with kids that are old enough to unstrap themselves. Lighten up!

Yes the spaces are useful - but not essential. People managed before these spaces 'popped up' and manage where there are none.

It's really a first world bunch of hysterics - and the original mindless woman screaming about it needs a real problem to worry about.

I bet if these spaces were moved to the back of the car park nobody would be fighting over them!

Whilst I agree with what Francis and others are saying in principle, there is a lot of innaccuracy on this thread.

It is not 'illegal' to park in a disabled bag in a private car park without a blue badge. It is purely a matter of contract law. There may be other regulations that come into the actions of the car park owner such as the equalities act etc, but they don't apply to the car owner.

In theory the car park operator could claim for breach of contract against a BB holder who is in a P&C space, just as they claim for staying too long etc. I've never heard of them doing so though, most probably because even the parking companies are not big enough twats to try and charge a disabled person for using a P&C space. Just think about that for a second - if you have a problem with disabled people in P&C spots you are a bigger twat than the parking companies, and they are pretty much the worst sort of such around.

I've actually done the same but the other way round and abuse was hurled at me I parked in a disabled space as there were no child spaces in Aldi aswell! the spaces are so tight I can't get my baby car seat out in the normal spaces, some old lady hurled abuse at me asking if I was thick and can I read there were 2 other disabled parking spaces free . I shrug it off as I'm not going to drive home and not do my shopping because there are no more child spaces left. I'm not bothered people go off and waste their own energy all the time as they have nothing else better to do.

I've also seen a 40 year old man climb out of his audi tt convertible alone with no children in the sort of car no child seat could fit in and not even look back whilst locking his car as I shuffled past with my baby in her car seat, not 1 fuck given by him and yes it's annoying but shit happens, not the end of the world, but it was that moment that I decided I'm not going to care anymore. noone else does so why should I, I go to get my shopping done and that's what happens.

I've actually done the same but the other way round and abuse was hurled at me I parked in a disabled space as there were no child spaces in Aldi aswell! the spaces are so tight I can't get my baby car seat out in the normal spaces, some old lady hurled abuse at me asking if I was thick

Are you? If you're not disabled, don't ever park in one of the spaces. You have to be pretty stupid if you don't know that.

p51642

You are wrong to park in the disabled bay. You can't use them just because there are no p&c spaces left! Wait or park elsewhere not in disabled spaces

I shrug it off as I'm not going to drive home and not do my shopping because there are no more child spaces left. I'm not bothered people go off and waste their own energy all the time as they have nothing else better to do.

Are you always quite so selfish?

HTH

p51642

Use a normal parking space like people used to before p&c spaces existed, that's really entitled to think that because you have a child you're able to park in a disabled spec, I'd never in a million years do that!

But if we parked in a disabled bay we would be fined and school aged children can still use the bays. Its parents with children upto 12. P&c spaces are wider but disabled bays are just nearer the store. Im sure she could have parked in a normal space close to the store?

p51642 what disability do you have? Parking in a blue badge space without a blue badge is morally reprehensible and I hope you get fined.

The more I read these threads the more I think P&C spaces should be abolished as it seems to encourage twatty attitudes.

These parking spaces for parents didn't exist when I had young children. How did we cope?! And we were courteous to elderly people, I hope...

Well, most cars have got bigger whereas parking spaces haven't. if you compared a current Renault Clio with a Renault Clio from 10 - 15 - 20 years ago there would be no comparison, and lets face it increasingly families if they have a choice are choosing to buy SUV type cars rather than hatchbacks.

That coupled with increasing legislation around car seats and I suspect it has actually got a bit harder these days to get children out of the same spaces people were using previously with no problem.

I remember three of us being squeezed into the back of an old banger of a Volvo, all age 7 and below and me and my sister next to the windows with a very simple backless booster seat each and my brother in the middle with a backless soft tray/ table thing. It wasn't hard for us to all pile out at the other end, we just undid our seatbelts and hopped out! These days you would have 3 full car seats to wrestle with.

The same SUVs and 4X4s used by families are also used by more people and it is my view that visibility in them isn't always great, and that people feel more invincible in them than in smaller vehicles. All this combines to make car parks feel slightly more dangerous than they used to, but that may just be my perception.

I find my current and previous car for that matter (both 4x4) very easy to park but like you say Scrowy, cars are getting bigger and bigger. Standard car park spaces are not - in my old 4x4 I even had to check before travelling to certain areas to make sure that it wasn't too tall to fit into some multistorey car parks. Chuck that in with some spectacularly shocking parking in bays either side of mine and it is quite simply sometimes impossible to get my ds in or out of his car seat via the doors. And I always have to park nose first because standard spaces are usually too close together to get the pushchair out of the boot and down between cars. I'm more than happy to park further away from which ever store I'm going to - IF there are spaces. Thank goodness for online shopping and Amazon Prime. I now get the bulk of my groceries/shopping that way and only venture to town in quieter times or when my DM can look after ds so I can go it alone without the protests of a 22mo toddler who doesn't understand why we're stuck in/out of the car or doesn't want to tolerate driving round the car park for the 4th time looking for a space.

P&C spaces certainly aren't a necessity. But they do make one necessary but often quite stressful aspect of life a bit easier. I know that I 'chose' to have a child and have no 'right' to any facilities that could be construed as a convenience but the vitriol about p&c spaces is a bit off. Why does anybody take such offence to things which make life a little easier for someone else?

The vitriol isn't about P&C spaces existing, it's about the entitled behaviour from some parents as a result. As clearly shown on this thread where a number of people think disabled people shouldn't be able to park in them even if the BB bays are full. It is the equating having children with a disability. Does that make it any clearer?

I disagree whatscoming, there's plenty of vitriol on this thread about p&c spaces. Call for abolishing all of them etc and quite a few insults about parents using them. 'They can't park if they need to use them', 'they're just a VIP space for breeders', get a grip p&c wankers. Etc etc.

I'm quite aware that some people have said that BB holders shouldn't park in them (which I don't agree with), and I've never equated having a disability to having a child either - but more to the point, that wasn't what my post was about. My post was simply referring to the hate of p&c spaces. Does that make my post any clearer?