To think this was a complete over reaction on her part and no need for this behaviour , person parking in parent space when disabled.

[fatisnotafeeling]

I am a Personal care assistant and support an elderly lady in her 80s who has had a stroke, struggles to walk and has a disabled badge.

I take her food shopping on a Friday to a small Waitrose, it has a very small car park with 4 disabled bays and 2 parent and child spaces.
When we arrived there were no disabled bays but there was a parent one so I took that one and we proceeded to get out the car.
We were then confronted by a lady with a baby in her car shouting that we didn't have a child and should not be fucking parking there. I responded that we had a disabled badge and could park there, she proceeded to call me a slag and drove off at speed.

When we went into the shop we approached customer services and explained that we had parked in the space and did have a badge that was displayed. This lady then came in the shop and began ranting that she has a baby and we had parked in a parent space and shouldn't have, I just repeated we have a badge and my client cannot walk distances and we are able to legally park in those spaces.
More staff members including the Floor manager and store manager were telling her to calm down and we had every right to park in the space. She called me a skank and stormed off.
She was very aggressive and at the point I was shaking and verging on tears. She then came back again shouting and screaming that I am a fucking bitch and how would I feel if i had a baby (I have 3 DC).

I had the the managers between me and her and another staff member took me to the side away from it, apologised said I had done nothing wrong. I'm ashamed to say I had started crying by this point. Me and my client were both given flowers by the staff.

AIBU to think that there is just no need for behaviour like this and that I did nothing wrong. I know some people have things going on that we don't know about and I always take that in to account when out, I feel on the verge of a panic attack now and this happened nearly 3 hours ago.

Really Dandelion? I have a rough night sleep most nights I have a disabled child that will only sleep with me but I'm not a twat to strangers and shop.assistants because of it

what kind of hateful person screams abuse like that in front of an elderly woman? Skank? Takes one to know one.

for you OP, sounds a nasty experience.

Thank you everyone, my client is the most wonderful, selfless women I know and we have had to park in a parent space before and she checked with customer services that time that we could use those spaces and of course we/she was told that we could.

She was also very shaken like me and it helped that the staff were so amazing reassuring both of us that we had done nothing wrong.

I just don't feel that behaviour like that has any space in a civilised society. I am still very shaken now just trying to take deep breaths and not over think it, even though that's difficult.

Yanbu. It’s nice to be able to park in a parent bay but is no way a necessity.

There are some people who can't ever compute that other people might have it harder, and feel the world should revolve around them.

This woman is one of them. At the moment, she's a parent of a young child, so she thinks P&B spaces are sacrosanct. If she should have the misfortune to lose her mobility later, she'll think her level of disability is the most severe anyone could ever have, and expect other disabled people to put her first.

Some people are just like that.

After all of that you really shouldn't be doubting yourself in the slightest. Of course a blue badge takes priority and I'm glad the store confirmed this, as well as giving you flowers in recognition of your upset even though it wasn't their fault.

However, I do understand why you still feel shaken. Most of us would never dream of behaving so aggressively and unreasonably, regardless of how stressed we were, so when we encounter it in others it's naturally very shocking. The law of averages means you're thankfully unlikely to experience something similar for a long time now so hopefully you won't be put off using that store again. I really do hope she's been banned from that branch at the very least and I hope your elderly client wasn't too distressed by it either.

I Think she needs a Waitrose ASBO!

I'm angry on your behalf OP. That is absolutely disgusting behaviour.

And even more worrying is the fact that someone this unhinged and quick to anger is going to get behind a wheel of car, God knows what problems/accidents she could cause other road users.
Hope you are feeling better soon
Might not be as good as the Waitrose flowers, but

I am surprised the staff didn't get the police, awful experience for you both.

This happened in Waitrose? That means that everything I've heard about Waitrose is a lie!

Wow! What a horrible experience. Of course you should have parked there. They are NOT statutory parking spaces (like disabled ones) - just courtesy ones. Thank goodness the staff at the supermarket supported you.

@DishingOutDone, now I think about it so am I, they didn't ban her I know because she went on to do some shopping and me and my client waited until she left before we carried on with ours.

I was so upset as was my client at the time I didn't insist they make her leave which I should have done thinking about it now. They also had someone escort us back to the car incase she had waited for us.
Now that it's done and we've left I'm not sure I can insist on any further action.
I wish I was thinking more clearly at the time.

I hope the manager banned her from the store.
Pity her poor child being brought up by a parent like that.
op what a horrible experience for you and your lady.

How horrible for you both, huge hugs to you both seeing that Waitrose provided the I’ll do the

Parent car parking spaces are not legally protected - they are a gesture, that is all. Disabled bays do have a special status because they give people who are protected by law access to facilities that they can't otherwise access. You made a perfectly reasonable decision. You could not have guessed that you would be accosted by someone who sounds, frankly, unhinged.

Frankly with her choice of words I'm more shocked she was shopping in Waitrose . OP you did nothing wrong some people have a low threshold and loose sight of the important things I'm glad the supermarket looked after you both - horrible situation. My PFB is 18 months and frankly I couldn't care less where the p&c spaces are ie close to the store I just prefer the width of them to get him and the pushchair out I'd be happy to walk across the whole car park - certainly my view is if a disabled person uses a p&c spot that's entirely right (indeed with the blue badge I believe entirely legal to boot!). Unfortunately not everyone thinks the same or acts appropriately - please try to put this horrible event out of your mind

Vile creature she is, absolute disgrace to humankind, I am sorry you and your patient had to put up with such behaviour, she is a disgrace as a mother....think of that channel 4 programme that used to be on called “Crapston Villas” or even “Shameless”! Hugs to you both xx

As someone who has a young child and a hidden disability I can assure you that getting a child out of the car is wayyyyy easier than walking on one of my bad days. I use the P&C spaces mainly because of my difficulty walking and that I wasn’t successful in getting a blue badge. I don’t get stressed when blue badge holders use them.

This woman sounds horrible, I wonder if she is struggling with having a small child? As the reaction seems way over the top for someone thinking rationally

So she was so delicate she had to park in a normal space but came in to the store twice to throw a temper tantrum?!! That's so ridiculous

It always amuses me when people shout slag at you for weird reasons. Like... Am I really being a slag for parking somewhere? Is that slag behaviour? Explain exactly what's slaggy about where I parked?

Sorry to hear this happened OP, it sounds awful. I would ask for her to be banned but I appreciate you weren't thinking clearly at the time. It must have been very shocking.

I second a Waitrose ASBO. Would that be a WASBO?

What she did was awful but part of me thinks maybe she's had a rough night of no sleep and that was just her tipping point.

Everyone's had a rough night of no sleep at some point! Most people don't behave like this.

I hope she had a reasonable excuse for her behaviour, although I doubt we will ever know.

And what would that be? There is no excuse and I'm surprised by the number of people who seem to think that there is one.

My dad (who the staff would push round the shop in a wheelchair once in there as he is so frail) had the same thing. But as soon as the woman started on him, the car park attendant came flying over to tell her to back off and dad could park wherever he needed. Waitrose have been amazing looking after him all these years

You had every right to park there, hope you and the lady you look after are okay after all that