Parent and child parking

[spiderbear]

It winds me up so much when people without children park in 'parent and child' parking. Is it just me that has a go?? I just can't help it. I find them so ignorant and selfish. Just had to say something to someone at Tesco- she was with her (I'm guessing 20yr old) daughter.. and wouldn't even look me in the face.. I'm heavily pregs and also with a 2 yr old. But her daughter piped up saying they'd just dropped her dad and sister off at the entrance - which was rubbish as we'd been behind them coming into the car park!!
Am I out of order having a go ?? Should I just let it be? Or should supermarkets do more to stop this themselves??

There was loads of disabled spaces free ... just for the record.
But yes - my pregnancy hormones have got me rather 'cray cray' recently so that probably didn't help things.
People will always be ignorant and selfish .. including myself (having a go)..
I think it's for the best that I stick to online shopping for the time being

I yelled at a gas man parked in one the other day... no blue badge on his sign written van. He made it worse by saying "sorry love" - FO calling me love asshole!

not my own style to shout at people, but still better than being a doormat

You’re not the only one but MN isn’t like real life. You get everyone on their high horse saying they aren’t legally enforceable, hidden disabilities etc. The same people who say you shouldn’t change your babies nappy in a disabled toilet despite that being where the changing table is! Threads like this don’t end well but it doesn’t mean you’re wrong.

I was in waitrose carpark the other week (with child) - how I laughed when person who pulled into child space next to me was asked to move because they didn't have child with them. The look on their face was priceless. Thank you Waitrose car park attendant for enforcing the bays.

I have my dp park in p&c spaces even when no kids with us. But I am disabled and waiting on my blue badge so...

A couple of times we have been yelled at when parking in a disabled space. The fact that my husband looks like a big strapping bloke of over 6ft doesn't mean he isn't crippled by pain and barely able to walk from the front door to the car. He ignores it but I was so annoyed on one occasion that I jumped out of the car and waved his blue badge in the know it alls face. He hurried away without acknowledging me. A couple of years later I was trying to think where I knew someone from, I was interviewing him for a job. I think he recognised me before I recognised him.

It's frustrating but equally if they were all full you'd have no idea who was driving the cars or whether they had kids.

I think it's a bit to easy to assume the space should be yours because the person you've seen in the car doesn't deserve/"qualify" for it so you become overwhelmed with the feeling of being robbed.

I recently had to park in a regular space (my car is enormous so the P&C spaces are wonderfully helpful if I can get one) and just as I'd parked up and got my pushchair out, someone clearly without children left the space. If I'd arrived 5 minutes earlier I'd have known no different. Just suck it up and be grateful when you get to park in one.

forkinmypurse your post had me laughing out loud!

Another vote for it being a non issue. I have a small baby and see the spaces as a perk and if there isn't one available then so what. I sometimes forget to be honest.

It's completely beyond me why the P&C spaces aren't furthest away from the store where nobody else would want them.

Lovemusic not only physical disabilities are eligible for blue badges, may be worth pursuing further.

Baby yes, I need to try again, they are changing their guidelines for people with ASD which is brilliant.

Maybe you should stick to online shopping.

The spaces have just created a lazy entitled generation who can't seem to walk across a car park or think their child will melt in the rain etc.

Someone had a go at me once for using one with 8 year old ds - I was getting him out of his wheelchair at the time

Some people simply can’t see beyond the end of their own nose

@YellowMakesMeSmile you've totally missed the point. Car seats are a fucking beast and I can't fit mine out of the car without the door open to its widest setting. My child is also really, really heavy for her age. So all in, I'm trying to wrestle 2 and a half stone of baby, metal and plastic out of a gap that it just about fits out of so I really need the P&C space! Couldn't give a shit where it's located in the car park!

Around here, there's a Tesco with standard parking sizes, so you should be able to fit a car seat fairly easily if everyone is parked properly.
There's an Aldi with the narrowest space, where a standard size adult can barely squeeze, and any pregnant woman or woman with car seat has no chance.

I find it amazing that posters like YellowMakesMeSmile can't see further than their own nose and are so bitter about supermarkets trying to make their shop more attractive to shoppers. Interesting way of thinking.

lisajane29 You’ve just made me giggle by calling your car seat a beast!

I would like them to be regarded as wider spaces. Lots of reasons why people loke them. Vans, people carriers, SUVs. All paying customers. It's just a spectacular marketing ploy. The cost of a tin if paint to create a warm cosy image.

I’ve got twin babies and a toddler.

Feck the ambiguities. I need one of those spaces.

So what do you do when you go to one of the many places which doesn’t have p and c spaces?

People forget that the parent/child spaces aren't actually handy because they are near the door it's because they are bigger so you have room for car seats, pushchairs etc.
As someone with a 3 month old who has struggled to get her in and out of the car because I was parked in a normal parking space (no other options at doctors surgery)I would say YANBU but I would say don't have a go, if they are willing to park there they clearly don't give a shit.

Sirzy, in the case of people like me and Paddy with twins and a small child the reality is we probably won’t go.

I am with Lovemusic33, when mine were little I waited until my partner was home or shopped online. Why drag children around the supermarket unless it is totally unavoidable.

Aldi doesn't offer online shopping, and it still is the cheapest supermarket.