Car seats and car parks

[Planeticket]

We went to get some groceries and the parking was very narrow. There are parent and child spaces but these were full, many with people who do not have kids but that's fine, maybe they need to be closer to the front of the car park.

We chose to go to the back of the car park because we have twins in car seats who need to be carried and placed in (one of our twins is physically sn). The area we chose to park in had no one else in either of the spaces around us. Anyways, when we came back out of the store we were packed in. There were still spaces around the car park.

I go to put my son in the car but the gap is too narrow to get him in, so I open the door wider and it touches the car next to us. In the car was a lady who was just waiting in the drivers seat, and she came out very upset and confrontational.

She said she would appreciate if I didn't touch her car or whatever. I told her that we specifically chose this space because of our situation and I needed to get my son in the car and she could have chose to park somewhere else without being so close to another car with car seats in it. Nothing happened to her car.

AIBU to think she was being a drama llama for getting so confrontational about it? She didn't have to park so close to our car and this was particularly unwise if you see it has car seats in it!

YABU, and hypocritical. You expected her to look into the car next to her for car seats (nobody does that btw, nor should they, and they wouldn’t be able to without parking first even if they wanted to), yet didn’t bother looking to see if there was anyone in the car next to you.

I’m not buying that you were rushing considering your husband was still shopping. I think you’re trying to cover up the fact that you didn’t care if you hit her car, either because you were angry she parked there or you just weren’t bothered.

Exactly.

It would never in a million years occur to me to look in a neighbouring car, or a car already in a spot as I was driving past, in case they had car seats, nor have I ever come across anyone in real life who would do so. How utterly ridiculous. What if the car seats aren't even being used that day? And so what if they are? I certainly wouldn't be moving my car in any event.

So long as each car is parked legally within the painted lines then it's up to each driver/passenger to manage getting in and out responsibly without damaging other people's property. If you can't manage that then perhaps you shouldn't be travelling in a private car and should stick to the bus.

If you have a sn son, I'd consider asking for a blue badge, especially as he is physically sn.

As long as you can get into the driver seat then you can get one child in. Put the other child in the passenger seat reverse car out then move the child.

Another idea is park across 2 spaces so you can't be blocked in. People will either realise you have two children or think you can't park which if it makes your life easier does it matter

Parking spaces are tight. But if people are within the lines painted then you have no reason to complain. Everybody else deals with this situation to the best of their ability.
I will also say the whole resting the door against another car never causing damage is BS, which many people have came on here to talk about.
If it needs to be open that far it means you are pushing against the door, which can leave dents and scratches, otherwise a few centimetres so that you're not touching their car wouldn't be a problem.
We brought a new (to us car) a few weeks ago, a massive £500, DH works in a supermarket and its already got a scratch and some dents 🙄
He also parks on the end, so no clue how he went to get in it yesterday and theres a massive white scratch and scuff all along the side, hopefully the bastards ruined their car more than ours.
People aren't precious about their cars just because they don't want something they have spent money on ruined through other peoples carelessness.
Some prick keyed my car when I used to work in a supermarket and I tried selling it for less than half its value if it had decent paint work and still no one would buy it. Theres dents and scratches make a lot of difference during the resale process. We're stuck scrapping it for FA now.

Some prick keying your car is very different to someone touching it with their door. There is no way I would shout at a mum and her baby for touching my car. A car is just a car.