Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parent and Child Parking

220 replies

Faerie87 · 20/07/2018 02:28

After being a FTM for a coming up 7 weeks I have found that in most car parks the parent and child spaces are nearly always full, where as the disabled parking spaces are nearly always empty.

Would it be unreasonable of me to want more parent and child spaces as opposed to disabled as there seems to be a supply and demand issue?

I also think that the amount of spaces is not necessarily the issue. I would never begrudge someone with a disability a space however to park in a disabled bay you need a blue badge. Would it not be easier for parents of children under let’s say 5 be given a similar badge when the child is born in order for them to park in the P&C bays? That way you stop Betty aged 70 and her son Gerald aged 40 parking in the bay stating that they are parent and child! That way more spaces would open up as fewer people would be able to legally park there, similar to the system the have to get a blue badge?

What do you think?

Just for the record I would like to state again, that I don’t begrudge a person with a disability a space, I just feel a better system needs to be in Place for parents and young children as there seems to be more of them.

OP posts:
DuggeeHugs · 20/07/2018 05:01

Generally I think things are fine as they are. Yes, it would be nice to have a few extra P&C spaces sometimes but a badging system is going too far. It would need to be administered and regulated and, given P&C spaces are a nice to have rather than a necessity, it seems a waste of resources.

Disabled spaces are legally required (10% of spaces I think I once read) and essential. They are solely for the use of BB holders but, given the number of CFs out there who will park in them as they want more space because they don't want their car dinged/are too lazy to walk further/don't see why disabled people should get all the good spaces when half of them don't look disabled anyway, etc., they need to be more protected not less.

Since not having a disabled space available is a far bigger problem than not having a P&C space, I'd suggest having the legally required number of disabled bays and then a section of Accessible bays. This would give BB drivers more options, give those with temporary mobility issues somewhere to park and also give P&C space options. I doubt there's much that could be done to stop the abuse of those spaces though.

MidniteScribbler · 20/07/2018 05:02

I like one centre near me that put heaps of nice wide P&C spaces up the back of the carpark, with a nice safe covered walkway to the shop entrance. They are rarely used, with the mummies preferring to try and park a lot closer. That says to me that they aren't any sort of necessity, and just a good excuse for precious parents to get a park closer to the door.

melonscoffer · 20/07/2018 05:05

BlueBug45 Fri 20-Jul-18 04:40:28
@melonscoffer I hope the bay is wide enough for you.

I've only done it a couple of times.
However.
Where I shop the parent and child bays are pretty generous and and have the chevrons either side pretty similar to the disabled bays.

callywag
and you also get idiots parking in the disabled bays too, they don't care, but at least they get fined
This is a good thing.
Who fines them?
Which supermarket issues fines? I have never known any supermarket policy to fine someone for parking in their disabled bays without a badge.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 20/07/2018 05:08

It is absolutely right that a BB holder should use a P&C space if no disabled spaces are available

twoheaped · 20/07/2018 05:11

There are always spaces further away from the store.
If you require more space to get baby in/out, park in those.

callywags · 20/07/2018 05:13

The local council fine them, ours has an app that you can snap, send and solve. I think it's a great tool, might stop people from abusing the spaces.

callywags · 20/07/2018 05:18

$300 to $500 depending on the state and one demerit point sometimes, depending on the ranger

melonscoffer · 20/07/2018 05:26

callywags Fri 20-Jul-18 05:18:01
$300 to $500 depending on the state and one demerit point sometimes, depending on the ranger

What a shame they don't do this in the UK.
Such a good deterrent.

melonscoffer · 20/07/2018 05:27

BlueBug45 Fri 20-Jul-18 04:40:28
@melonscoffer I hope the bay is wide enough for you.

Thank you.

rotavixsucks · 20/07/2018 05:39

I posted a similar thread last year after being blocked in a P&C space by a BB user who parked over the chevrons hard against my car and I had a wall the other side and the badge holder remained in the car whilst her son went to do his shopping (confirmed by the person in the car)

The thread was deleted as it ended up going further than to suggest I was BU and ended up with me being criticised for my choice of car, parking in a space near a wall, for not being able to access my car through the boot, for speaking to the lady in the car and asking if they'd be long. I was apparently an entitled bully who was putting my baby at risk.

I hope you come out of this better than I did, I understand what you are saying but it seems mentioning a BB is like a red flag to a bull on here.

CoraMulberry · 20/07/2018 05:51

“Being a FTM”
Grin

MercenaryMum · 20/07/2018 05:52

You are comparing two things that aren't comparable: disabled bays and P&C bays. As others have said, many people using disabled bays can't use other parking spaces for a variety of accessibility reasons. Those using P&C bays can use other spaces - it just may not be as convenient. It might make more sense to compare the number of disabled bays with the total number of parking bays available.

So, a shop that has an empty disabled bay or two actually has the balance right because it means that when a BB holder arrives they are able to park in the only place that allows them to access the shop.

And as for why we're all so angry... I can only speak for myself, but as a BB holder thanks to my severely disabled DD, it is a constant and relentless fight for my DD to be able to leave the house in her wheelchair. Having to defend (yet again) why she/we have just as much right to go to a shop as someone with a baby is frustrating and demoralising.

CoraMulberry · 20/07/2018 05:55

Also ‘Betty’ being 70 might need a space near the store...
She might not be able to qualify for a badge however.
So, many variables when shopping with, or without children.
My advice would be to just chill~ it honestly isn’t worth the stress.

Sockwomble · 20/07/2018 05:56

Betty aged 70 and Gerald aged 40 might need the space more than you do and if you begrudge them parking there then you do indeed begrudge disabled people having somewhere to park.
You are also naive if you think all parking difficulties encountered with children disappear when a child is 5. For some parents it is getting more difficult.

MistakenHoliday · 20/07/2018 06:08

It's - quite rightly - a legal requirement that a certain percentage of parking spaces in supermarkets are put aside as bays for users with disabilities. Like others have said, PC places are just a supermarket gimmick to get people in store.

Does FTM mean full time mum?

HoppingPavlova · 20/07/2018 06:10

Nope, don't think parents parking should cannibalise disability parking.

As for the parents badge, also nope, actually I don't even believe in parents parking. It didn't exist as a thing when I had my kids and we were able to get them in and out of the car as babies/toddlers/kids. All it's achieved is angst and fights in car parks, get rid of them.

Sirzy · 20/07/2018 06:12

Ds (8) recently got a blue badge. It has made life so much easier. Before having that if a p and c space was free we used it, otherwise we parked elsewhere and we managed.

Personally I would scrap “p and c” increase the number of designated disabled spaces and then encourage companies to have some wider “accessible” spaces for anyone who needs them (I think a lot of sainsburies have done just that)

There isn’t only parents who will find that extra space handy

ADastardlyThing · 20/07/2018 06:20

Don't stress about this op, realistically, only dickheads would begrudge an older person in a p&c space if it makes things easier for them, so a scheme of badges for kids wouldn't work and just makes a big deal out of not much.

MyBreadIsEggy · 20/07/2018 06:22

Fuck sake 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

  1. Parent and child spaces are a nicety, not a right.
  2. These threads never go down well because you sound like an entitled child whinging that it’s not fair
  3. Why does the baby need to come out of the car while still in the car seat - 2 kids 17 months apart here and never did this?

Personally I think P&C spaces should be scrapped and they should all be Blue Badge spaces or signage changed to state they are for people with mobility issues who don’t qualify for a blue badge. Choosing to have a baby doesn’t make you immobile Hmm

EssentialHummus · 20/07/2018 06:26

Why does the baby need to come out of the car while still in the car seat - 2 kids 17 months apart here and never did this?

Particularly with little babies there are a lot of “travel systems” where you attach the car seat to the pram frame and wheel baby around in that.

Bibesia · 20/07/2018 06:26

YABU. As you have pointed out yourself, parents have the choice to park at the end of rows and in the less popular areas a long way from the entrance, the disabled don't have that choice so need more spaces close to the store.

Bibesia · 20/07/2018 06:29

Particularly with little babies there are a lot of “travel systems” where you attach the car seat to the pram frame and wheel baby around in that.

That's a purely self-imposed problem. You can simply take a cheap and cheerful umbrella fold pushchair or a sling for shopping, and many supermarkets offer trolleys with child seats.

barleyfive · 20/07/2018 06:29

They should make all parking spaces bigger, and car park 'walkways' safer. I guess it depends what time you go as well, I have never seen parent and child spaces all full. Out of interest, what do people think of pregnant ladies using the spaces? Mainly as getting the bump out a normal sized space without denting the next car is nigh on impossible?

SharronNeedles · 20/07/2018 06:29

The reason people get so frustrated about this is because disabled people have had to fight for these things, where as new parents rarely do. It takes time for change to happen, a disabled person often isn't getting less disabled but a parent to a new baby won't always have a new baby and they forget to persue these battles once they are no longer relevant to them.
Im both disabled and have a small child. For me I have a prosthetic so I need the extra space for balance. Yes that sounds silly but I cant elegantly squeeze in the back as well as I once would have so need the door wide open. I don't have BB and can never get parked in the P&C bays but I manage. Have had to ask a shop assistant to reverse my car out for me before so I could load baby and me in in the middle of the car park thanks to idiots parking too close.

You can say you want more PC spaces and for them to be policed with badges, however that means the shop will be losing none disabled and none parent customers as they won't be able to get parked now.

It's fine how it is. In a few years you won't even remember you had a problem with it

MyBreadIsEggy · 20/07/2018 06:33

EssentialHummus
Yeah, never understood that.
We are told from the start that car seats should be used for minimal amounts of time, due to the pressure of the lungs of tiny babies in the kind of curled position.
And those trolleys with frames for a car seat are death traps - unless your 6’4” its impossible to see over them, and it’s like a game of total wipeout with other shoppers Confused My sister used to use them all the time and I would be cringing as she rammed yet another set of unsuspecting ankles because she couldn’t see where she was going Blush