Parent and Child Parking

[Faerie87]

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.

Gizzy
As a B.B. holder I can already park in a P&C space and would do so if it’s closer to the shops than the B.B. spaces due to not being able to walk far. That sounds tough to get in and out of the car while so heavily pregnant. I think in your position I’d park at the far side of the car park over 2 spaces.

I personally think we should scrap P&C spaces and use their quota of the car park for more BB spaces. Its ridiculous all these precious parents who can't get their kids out of a car without them, I manage to get my three out just fine. Park further away and walk. It really is as simple as that.

@PsychedelicSheep yep, a classic 😀

I guess we'll never understand the mystery of FTMs 😂

😂 the irony in your post asking other posters to cool their tits while you stamp your little foot and have a tantrum.

It always makes me laugh when people claim that there’s hundreds of BB spaces feee in car parks. Try finding one when you want one. They’re usually full of people ‘just nipping to the cash point’, or ‘I was only 5 minutes!’

P&C spaces cause more hassle than they’re worth imo because some people start comparing them to BB spaces and making them equal when they’re not and they cause a sense of helplessness. No one can ever get their kids out of a car in a supermarket car park unless
they’re in a P&C space however they manage just fine at the zoo, Legoland, the cinema, hospitals, soft play, the park...

Where I live, there are never any blue badge spaces because entitled parents use them.

If I can't park in one, I have to go home as its impossible to get my large wheelchair down the side of my car.

I think all the pathetic P&C spaces should be turned into disabled spaces and entitled parents can do one. They can park anywhere they like, they can also walk and they had a child as a choice they made.

I also think blue badge spaces should be properly policed - number plate recognition or extra staff fining those with no badges and making them move.

I'll admit I haven't read the full thread from the off, so apologies if I'm repeating what has already been said.

Disabled people parking in parent and child spaces if no disabled free - no problem with this at all.

P&p spaces being used by non blue badge holders with no children, or with teenage children when there are other spaces empty though is very annoying.

I have twins and when they were tiny and I needed to get the car seats out (as opposed to just the child) I genuinely needed a lager p&c space and on occasion turned round and went home if they weren't available.

Yes having children is a choice, and the p&c spaces are a luxury, but I do sometimes wonder if the people using these spaces 'incorrectly' even give a second thought to the mother who worked up the courage to go out with her grizzly baby or two because she had completely run out of supplies only to get there and not be able to get out the car.

Massively increase the number of blue badge spaces and make it so anyone who is entitled to mobility element of dla/pip can have a blue badge.

Have to say, I didn't read the op thinking she was asking for less disabled spaces, to me it sounded like she was saying there should be equal numbers not to take away what is already there for bb holders.

These threads never seem to go well really, parents always come off looking like lazy entitled idiots who don't want to walk 4feet to a shop. The issue with parent and child bays is that because they're a goodwill enticement every man and his dog see them as a free for all (at least where I live) and will park haphazardly in them with their huge vans or flash cars because why should parents get the easier ride and get to be closer to the shops.

They cause so much angst and bad feeling for people they should just be made into accessible spaces so anyone who needs more room can use them freely (without someone waiting to tell them they're an asshole for taking a p&c space when they clearly don't need it) and have more of them.

My issue is that with a toddler and a baby, if I don't get a p&c space I try to park as close to the p&c area because that's where the trolleys with the baby seat and the toddler seat are. So if I park the other side of the car park where there is more space I can get the doors open but then either have to leave the kids in the car and go trolley hunting, or carry the baby, changing bag, shopping bags and navigate the car park with the toddler to try and find a trolley I can at least put the baby in because there are only a handful of the baby trolleys in the first place 🙄

First World problems for sure!

All parking spaces should be fit for purpose. Make them a uniform - generous - width and then entitled knobheads will stop being jealous of disabled people. Because let’s face it, every thread like this boils down to the fact that the mummy of prince/ss sparklenoo is jealous as fuck of the fact that some poor bugger has a blue badge and they don’t.

Twattery.

OP why would you get so worked up about these spaces? In the vast majority of places there aren't any, yet you still visit them? Why do you need a pc space in a supermarket but not anywhere else???

Why does the app randomly remove paragraphs?!

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?

How can that be read as anything other than wanting to take away from disabled people?

Fucking hell, all these toddlers who can't possible walk safely!

Maybe parent, and think of those who actually can't physically walk?

What @SilverBirchTree said.
I'm a blue badge user and if all the BB spaces are full (often with people not displaying badges) I HAVE to use a p&c. Once Mum was with me so when an entitled parent challenged me I put my badge up and said "she's my parent, I'm her child" - I'm 40 and she's 62. Meh.

Would you prefer I go home?

Our local supermarket has just redone its carpark. The p&c spots as we're are now extra disabled ones and p&c has moved to a double row coming away from the main entrance at 90 degrees, with a walkway between. I just wish they'd moved the trolley store for the various permutations of child trolley rather than leaving it. So we now have to double back to our trolleys and wheelchair users have to do the same in reverse to theirs. Reported till Blue in the face to no fucks given by staff.

I'd just like to mention that despite me thinking there could do with being more P&C spaces, I would never park in a B.B. space if the P&C spaces were taken. We aren't all "entitled" parents.

There should be more of them, but not at the expense of disabled spaces.

I don’t drive but if I did, I’d feel nervous going somewhere without a parent and child space. My son is likely autistic (being assessed) and I have ADHD, this combination means we are both clumsy and uncoordinated and he’s prone to running off.

I don’t drive because I don’t trust myself to drive a car lmao, so it’s not an issue for me, but there are other parents out there in my position so please don’t think everyone who says they’re needed is an asshole.

And yes, I'm sure some grumpy poster will point out the irony of my last post 🤦🏻‍♀️

I guess I read the OPs post as a whole rather than picking each sentence on its own to get my interpretation of their intended meaning

If a toddler can't walk safely in a car park use reins - like I have to with my 13 year old.

If a toddler can't walk safely in a car park use reins - like I have to with my 13 year old.

My DS won’t tolerate reins. He has SN.

OP, are you the woman who shouted at me when I parked in a P&C space cos you sound the type...
Apparently being in a wheelchair, with a 3 month old and all disabled spaces full, still didn't mean I could park in P&C and I should leave it for those who needed it

Our local Sainsbury’s has many disabled and many, many P&C places but has also introduced chevron spacers between every ordinary space . The joy ! The spacer strips aren’t as wide as the P &C but they do a great job of regularising the way people park laterally and you never have to hunt around for a space where you can open a doors on both sides properly - not widely, but reasonably. Visually helps the dim and selfish who otherwise just sling their cars in at any angle.

They haven’t lost spaces overall as the original spaces were a car width plus a bit - your car door went over the next space a bit when you were opening it to get out which was ok if the other person parked properly and weren’t parking hard over to their left to ensure they could get out etc etc . These new spaces are narrower ie just the ( wide car/van) width but with guaranteed space on either side.

They have been a real hit ( actually less hitting !)