To think some busy car parks have an excessive amount of disabled spaces?

[coffeeforone]

Every time I go to my local Sainsbury's, i very rarely find a free Parent & Child space, or any space that is not at the very far end of the car park. I've noticed this more recently as I'm heavily pregnant and have a 2 year old so would love a P&C space. There are only 12 parent & child bays, but there are 18 disabled spaces, the vast majority of them are always free. Given the ratio of parents with young children to blue badge holders in a supermarket at any one time, would it not be more sensible to have, say 12 disabled and 18 P&C bays, or even half & half? I've noticed this in places like IKEA and other big supermarkets too (but haven't actually counted the bays!)

So proffesors post is deleted, yet the op gets away with goading.
Never gets better on mn

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Mumsnet is one of the most ableist places on the internet and they seem perfectly happy to let people be ableist despite it saying it's against their Talk Guidelines.

I'd get rid of all P&C spaces personally. They seem to create more problems than they solve. Either turn them over to disabled spaces, 'pop in' spaces with a limit of 10 minutes or just wide bays for anyone's use.

The blue badge spaces at our Asda, Aldi and Tesco are always full.
I do think it is a question of demographic.
I certainly don't think the P and C spaces should be near the front door which quite often they are.
What really exasperates me are the number of large ( often white) van drivers who park in the BB spaces. They could go to the far end of the car park and use 2 spaces and if in a hurry jog to the store instead of jogging from the disabled spaces!

Advocating to take away/reduce essential provision for disabled people in favour of abled people is disablist

Absolutely!

OP, you don’t need a special path. Just hold your child’s hand or carry them, like everyone else has to.

Our Sainsburys have just changed the signs for P&C parking to P&C and Blue Badge holders

Go shopping during the school run and those spaces are empty. BB spaces are always full in the weekend and Fridays.

That’s brilliant HiHoToffee and should be typical in all car parks. It’ll stop some entitled parents from abusing the disabled people who use them when they are unable to use the disabled parking.

Head to Morrison's then OP. Apparently their P and C spaces are nearer the entrance than the disabled ones.

ODFOD

????

I'm going to put my head above the parapet and defend what I believe the OP is actually trying to say.

Having a young child is a choice and causes some difficulties for a relatively short time; whereas being disabled is NOT a choice, usually lasts for the rest of your life and is very, very much more deserving of consideration than parents with young children. Ideally, no blue badge holder should EVER find themselves with no available disabled space and the number available should always be several more than are ever likely to be needed by BB holders, to ensure that they are never unable to get one.

However, IF it should happen to be the case (and the OP obviously only has snapshots of the situation and can't possibly know this) that, upon monitoring the situation permanently, it is found beyond any doubt that there, say, 50 spaces for BB holders and at no time of any day over a six-month period are more than 20 of them ever occupied, it is not unreasonable to suggest that there are far more than are needed.

Disabled people should have access to a designated BB bay wherever and whenever they need one; but what purpose would it serve, IF it were definitively discovered, that there were two or three BB spaces available for every one vehicle that could possibly need one.

No right-thinking person could disagree with a plentiful provision of spaces for disabled people: if it's a choice between a car being used by a disabled person or any non-disabled person, the disabled person should ALWAYS have priority; but if it's a choice between any person needing/wanting to use a space or that space being permanently empty, then surely somebody should have the chance to use it?

*if it's a choice between a car

if it's a choice between a SPACE

Try being a parent with a young child with disabilities! I can use either P&C or B.B spaces and I get abuse from busybodies regardless of which I'm using! So most of the time I don't bother!

Powerless, I posted similar on the other thread about the importance of p and c spaces tonight, makes trips out great fun doesn’t it!

You are temporarily incapacitated with a pregnancy and a toddler. Disabled people do not have that luxury. Perhaps a bit of compassion and understanding once your head is not fogged with pregnancy brain.

I love my local Aldi, it’s a few years old, but all the parking spaces are as wide as the parent and child spaces.

No, but there are too many parent & child parking spaces.

Having children is a lifestyle choice. Having a disability is not.

I agree with what you are saying WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll.

However, my local Sainsbury sounds similar to OP's. Huge supply of disabled spaces - the store publishes that it is quite a bit in excess of the legislative requirement. Difficult to get a p and c space, BB spaces usually less than half full. However, OP is being unreasonable in thinking that she is a good judge of whether this is really the case at all times. I kind of trust that if Sainsbury's have decided that level of disabled parking is required then it must be for the reason that there are times when it is required, even if they don't happen to be the times when I choose to shop there. They aren't doing it to infuriate other customers and if the other parking provision is inadequate (which it is) then the answer is more parking for everyone.

I wish our local supermarket always had BB spaces available. I take a disabled neighbour to do her grocery shopping, and I can't remember the last time I haven't had to drive round the car park several times, until a space is available.

Would this plan involve a safe pathway to the store for toddlers to walk?

Jesus Christ. The next time I see my parents, I'll have to commend them on their incredible ability to somehow take all six of their children grocery shopping (including when the two youngest were toddlers), at a time when P&C spaces were not a thing, and somehow walk us through the car park safely with no need for a 'safe pathway'. I mean seriously, parents back then had to cope, I'm sure parents today could bloody well cope without such luxuries too!

Young mums and dads just don’t need a safe pathway that’s ridiculous. I saw a tv report a while ago ago where the reporters lay in wait for able bodied people parking in disabled spaces and everyone they ‘caught’ was - ahem - ‘unfit’ looking. Just saying. Walking is really good for you

The number of blue badge holders is going to increase since they're going to be offered to people with hidden disabilities as well.

This will likely mean less disabled spaces free for use so less whining by overly entitled people who choose to get pregnant vs disabled people who didn't choose to disabled.

HTH.

I'm a blue badge holder and I have a 7 month old baby.

It's hard enough getting out and about on my own. Let alone with a baby and a car seat and a pram etc.

Yabu. Massively. I would rather park at the complete opposite end of the car park and get the baby out the car seat and then the pram out of the boot every single time than need a reason for a blue badge.

You're insensitive and entitled. Being disabled is not a choice. Having a child is a choice

BB spaces are always empty at our shopping centre.

One of my local supermarkets has many many disabled spaces and a huge car park. The car park is never full, I've always been able to get a disabled space and often there are parent and spaces as well although these are fewer and fill up faster.

The other store has a tiny car park, badly designed and few accessible spaces. I don't even attempt to go there, ever.

Being able to always get a disabled space takes off a massive amount of stress from shopping. The car park is huge, it may seem "a waste" but it's huge peace of mind that even in busy times spaces are available. Don't underestimate how valuable that is.

There are always free Blue Badges spaces at my local supermarket.
Great, says I, that means that anyone who really NEEDS a space will be able to park

You can have my blue badge and all that goes with it.

Or you can thank your lucky stars that you don't need to even think about how far you can mobilise.

Or for how long.

Or how much it will take out of you.

Or how much your young children cry because they miss out on a Mum who has legs that work how a Mum's legs should work.