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.

Reporting ChelleDawg too. I can't believe people pike that actually exist.

I have a four year old and a two year old...we never park in a parent & child space, we just park where there is a bit of space and walk a bit, it's not that difficult!

When I can’t get a disabled or p and c space I use a normal space. I can wrestle a lanky 8 year old into the car and collapse his chair and get it into the boot without damaging any other cars. It’s tough but it’s doable.

Now I am far from a superwoman, and before now I have had to lean across the car to strap him in because of space being tight but I manage. Because I have no choice to manage. To many parents are led to believe they can’t manage and become reliant on what is really no more than a marketing ploy and far from actually making their lives easier it’s making them more stressful as it’s providing a false sense of need.

Bishop - I know it's not ideal to have wider spaces further away from the door. However in practice people who need the extra space who don't have a BB badge will get aggro if they use the disabled spaces or PP spaces anyway, so this leaves them no worse off. Until we can come up with some scheme to help them they will always be disadvantaged in this sorry situation. You only need to read here how nasty people can be if they see someone using the PP spaces, even though there is no legal reason why they can't.

I find it’s usually older people who do this (no I’m not being ageist) as they’ve probably never had to try and squeeze a sleeping baby in a car seat through a half open door.

Hilarious! How do you think people managed before P&C spaces became available? Sheesh.

As an aside, at what age do people think parents should stop using P&C spaces? I often see people using them with around 6 year olds up.

I get the point that disability isn't usually a choice and is often a lifelong problem

WTF? What circumstances could ever make disability a choice then? To think, you've got the vote.

OP, your second post makes me wonder who's more of a child, you or your 'coming up for 7 weeks' baby that you could, contraversially, put in a buggy and walk to the supermarket with. Or park a bit further away and walk a few extra steps. It can be done!

@Sirzy do you have a BB badge?

@Fintress I don't think stopping using P&C spaces should be age based, I think it should be ability based - something like once the child can get into and out of a child seat without assistance (so the extra room isn't needed for the parent to lift a child out).
🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes fly finally got one about 2 months back which has made life so much easier

@Foxyloxy1plus1 I doubt the supermarkets do research on their demographic etc before allocating B.B. spaces. My nearest supermarket is near a hospital and they only have about 1.5 rows of B.B. spaces. They will do the minimum work possible to get planning permission I think.

I would think, the older people who use the P&C spaces never even used baby seats for their own children, years ago the baby sat on the mothers knee not in a separate seat.

One of the shopping centres I use has disabled parking and P&C spaces but also have spaces where either disabled or P&C can use I have never had a problem getting a space even at Christmas I think its a really good system.

@melonscoffer - If there is no disabled bay then I park in a parent and child bay

Where I live, the rules are that if there is no free disabled bay, you are entitled to use the nearest suitable space, which is most likely a p&c if you're in a car park.

I have told my mother that she is perfectly entitled to park in p&c if there is no free disabled spot. However, she's concerned that she'll get abuse from entitled parents who don't understand parking regulations.

My local tesco seems to have removed some disabled spots and replaced with pictures, which really passes me off. I have complained.

*pisses me off not passes me off. I have a polite autocorrect.

@Gizzymum - I doubt the supermarkets do research on their demographic etc before allocating B.B. spaces.

Where I live, there are rules regarding ratios of BB spaces to total spaces so they simply follow the rule and provide the minimum.

@Sirzy, I bet that was a relief!

I find the use of the word “entitled” as a negative quite odd. It’s chucked about a lot on this thread - “you sound very entitled”, “some entitled parent” etc.

They ARE parent and child spaces. That is what they are called and that is what they are for. That demographic is therefore LITERALLY entitled to use them. Since when did entitlement become a negative?

It was, I got a phone call from them asking for confirmation of something st which point she told it it was a successful application but I didn’t believe it until I had the badge in my hand!

Theymademejoin

You can use a P&C space in any area if you have a blue badge. They're not legally enforceable and they are provided only as a courtesy.

* "To many parents are led to believe they can’t manage and become reliant on what is really no more than a marketing ploy and far from actually making their lives easier it’s making them more stressful as it’s providing a false sense of need*"

Absolutely this!

I have benefitted massively from P&C spaces, especially when I had baby twins, a 2yo and a 4yo to juggle. But I managed just as well in regular parking spaces.

But of course there are many who feel entitled to those extra few centimetres of width and proximity to the entrance by virtue of having a child, or even just a child seat, in the car.

Our Asda has recently made their p&c spaxes narrower, so they could get an extra one in on the two rows. Still wider than an ordinary space but not as wide as a disabled space. I think they realised many people don't put a pram or pushchair up the side of the car as p&c spaces originally intended. And rightly so they have more disabled spaces.

Society as a whole needs to stop take, take, taking from those less fortunate just because they can. There are many groups within society who have had to fight to have the same recognition as (a poor example) the heterosexual white male. Just because they finally have had some successes, doesn't give us the right to 'borrow' or take it away because we find it useful as well.

Of course p&c spaces shouldn't be scrapped! Jeezo! Do you really begrudge a woman shopping with two children in car seats the extra space to get her children out the car safely?

Also I was at my local B&Q yesterday and there are around 20 disabled spaces and 6 p&c. So I totally get where OP is coming from.

@PaddyF0dder when parents believe their lived experience is equal to disability.

@PaddyF0dder, entitled became negative when people assumed they had the right to utilise something another group fought hard for, eg wheelchair spaces on buses. I don't think pram users stood up and demanded a pram space. They simply slipped in to the one someone else gained.

When my dsis and I go out it’s often hard to find a disabled parking bay.
When parked I get her wheelchair out of the boot, open her door (passenger side) wide open. I assist her to slide around in her chair, then lift her up. Steady her for a few secs, than do the shuffle dance around to her wheelchair and position her in her chair.

No way could I do that in a normal space.

Yabtu. And people can throw stones at me, but if there are no disabled spaces we use P&C space.

yanbu to want more p and c spaces generally.
these do not need to be at expense of disabled spaces.
our local sains recently had the car park resurfaced and increased the parent and child parking massively and indeed the disabled parking.
you dont need badges. all you need is a car seat in the car.
and parents need to stop using them( if they are scarce) once their child can climb down out of their seat and get out of the car without help.
and supermarkets need to improve pedestrain safety in the car parks.
local tescos has no safe pedestrian route through car park.

@Morgan12 is the perfect example. Because of a marketing ploy she thinks she's just as entitled to concessions as a blue badge holder now. This also causes problems with loos (I'm not talking about the ones that have change tables in, just the ones that are just there for disability) and trains and buses. Because parents now genuinely think hard won provision for disabled people can be piggy backed by parents. They can't.

I'm another of the p&c should be abolished tbh because of these attitudes.