Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think elderly couple should not have parked in parent and child space?

260 replies

Pelly8 · 08/09/2019 16:40

Local supermarket has loads of disabled bays (which are 90% empty whenever i’ve been) but only 5 parent and child bays. Elderly couple (probs in 70s) parked their car in a parent and child bay just as I was packing away my shopping.

I almost pointed out that there was plenty of other places for them to park (including plenty of other non disabled bays close to the entrance) but bit my tongue.

AIBU to think they should have parked elsewhere?

OP posts:
PumpkinPie2016 · 09/09/2019 21:44

It wouldn't bother me - maybe they struggle to walk a distance/push a full trolley back to the car?

My aunt has MS and was turned down for a blue badge - when we go to the supermarket, it's a godsend being able to use a P&C space (though we do have my 5 year old son with us). She would really struggle otherwise.

If I am alone with my son I quite often don't bother with a P&C space because we are both fully able to walk across the car park (and yes we manage it safely!). I tend to leave the P&C spaces for those in need as I can remember being very grateful of them post c-section!

MildThing · 09/09/2019 22:19

Frankly I'd send all the SUV style vehicles to the back of the car park, they're the biggest pain in the arse in a car park

Yay! I don’t need P&C parking but I am bloody sick of not being able to get into my car or get to the back of my car with my bags to open the boot because some twat in a huge bulbous 4x4 / SUV has parked up so close.

As for older people: oh the horror! Half the P&C spaces I see being used have an adult and a 9 year old who hops into the front seat.
But behind you entitled Senior Citizens!

Grandmi · 09/09/2019 22:53

Am feeling very sad that my son is going back to University next week and has been so difficult to communicate with over the last few weeks . He is generally a very easygoing guy and very motivated but he has been hard work recently. He has split up with his long term girlfriend..his decision. As a Mum I just feel sad that he has switched off from us as a family. I have asked him if he is ok and get the standard ‘yes I am ok ‘ with the eye rolling expression !! Given the mental health problems that are epidemic. Do I just give him space or keep on prying !! I have for weeks asked him to sort his room out ie revolting...he is a very smart guy and is obsessed with his appearance so am bewildered by his disinterest generally! . Any thoughts from anyone..?

notacooldad · 10/09/2019 07:32

Any thoughts from anyone..?
Maybe start a thread about it?
This has nothing to do with OAPs and parking.

tttigress · 10/09/2019 07:38

Agree Parent and Child is a gimic, it does not have a vetting process behind it, unlike blue badge holders.

I would just let it go.

Pinkcat231 · 10/09/2019 07:45

I agree with PPs, P&C spaces should either go altogether or be moved to the back in favour of priority spaces.

Better still, all the car parks could be redesigned to match those in America, where all spaces are large and angled for easy parking!

woodchuck99 · 10/09/2019 08:16

Frankly I'd send all the SUV style vehicles to the back of the car park, they're the biggest pain in the arse in a car park

Yes, people probably only need "P&C" parking spaces because they have bought huge cars.

CassianAndor · 10/09/2019 08:17

Or people in smaller cars don’t want to end up with a huge car jammed up against them.

MildThing · 10/09/2019 08:23

“Better still, all the car parks could be redesigned to match those in America, where all spaces are large and angled for easy parking!l”

Yeah, great, let’s all bear the cost of that on our shopping prices!

Land is costly on our small densely populated island.

MontStMichel · 10/09/2019 08:56

Frankly I'd send all the SUV style vehicles to the back of the car park, they're the biggest pain in the arse in a car park.

One reason people get them is because they are higher off the ground! DH is in his 60s with pain in his knee and hip (enough to keep him awake at night) - probably arthritis. We have a saloon family car; but he finds it increasingly painful to get in and out of it! DD’s is SUV far easier for him!

MontStMichel · 10/09/2019 09:17

DD has a SUV, which is a Motability car - because it’s easier to her in and out of it, or do her seatbelt for her, when she is out of it.

She does have a blue badge, but it’s rare we can get in BB spaces in supermarkets and retail parks round here.

MontStMichel · 10/09/2019 09:18

Should be easier for us to get her in and out of it, or do her seatbelt!

DadDadDad · 10/09/2019 09:42

I say it every time on these threads: if someone's incorrectly using a P&C or disabled space, your issue is not with the driver but with the supermarket.

The supermarkets provide the spaces, so if they are not working as intended, they are the ones who need to be told or even challenged to police them properly. They'll do something if they think they are going to lose custom over it.

coolandcalm17 · 10/09/2019 09:59

When my kids were little I never had the luxury of a car let alone a parking space right near a supermarkets entrance. I had to struggle with shopping , baby and buggy and get the bus, not even a walk on bus in those days. Had the huge stress of collapsing buggy, whilst holding baby at the same time to get on, then the horrors of struggling to get off, hoping some kind soul would offer to grab the buggy for me. So to me, just to be able to drive into a car park with a baby would have been heaven to me, I wouldn’t have cared about allocated parking spaces. Envy

notacooldad · 10/09/2019 10:00

P&C spaces and MN are a match made in heaven!!
A constant source of delight on more or less a weekly basis!
I take back my thought of getting rid of them.

3timeslucky · 10/09/2019 10:04

Have any of the charities representing older people ever lobbied for "spaces for the elderly"? It would seem like a really sensible thing to do and you'd imagine there'd be little resistance.

Gladimnotcampinginthisweather · 10/09/2019 10:12

But then who would decide who was 'elderly'? DH and I are late 60s and definitely wouldn't need a special parking space. Nor would a lot of people we know in their 70s. Putting 80+ on a space would be a bit demeaning, and there are some people in their 50s who don't meet blue badge criteria, but could do with a space nearer the shop, but would not be 'elderly'.

MontStMichel · 10/09/2019 10:16

The supermarkets provide the spaces, so if they are not working as intended, they are the ones who need to be told or even challenged to police them properly. They'll do something if they think they are going to lose custom over it.

DH complained to one national chain of supermarkets, after we went one Saturday with DD, and 4 out of 5 BB spaces were taken up by cars with no BB. They said they had minimal staffing and no staff to deal with it. He then pointed out they had signed up to an initiative by the government to provide BB spaces - they never replied!

Someone was taking legal action against another local supermarket for the same reason - but we never got to see the outcome in the papers.

DH has also complained to the operator of our station car park that national guidelines suggest 4% of BB spaces, when there are nothing like that in our station car park and they are only on one side of the tracks (there are car parks on both sides). No response!

3timeslucky · 10/09/2019 10:23

But then who would decide who was 'elderly'? DH and I are late 60s and definitely wouldn't need a special parking space. Nor would a lot of people we know in their 70s. Putting 80+ on a space would be a bit demeaning, and there are some people in their 50s who don't meet blue badge criteria, but could do with a space nearer the shop, but would not be 'elderly

It already happens with other benefits that kick in when you're 65 (reduced entry rates to cinema, theatre etc), free travel (where I am) etc etc No-one checks if they're needed (people may still be working) but we accept that they're a universal benefit to people of a certain age. There'd be no compulsion to use the spaces and yes people over 65 who didn't need them would inevitably use them but surely that's better than P&C spaces being used as a catch-all? As things stand there are older people who wouldn't use a P&C space but have a need that isn't being provided for.

DadDadDad · 10/09/2019 10:33

MontStMichel - I appreciate the frustration, but I think ultimately your DH's way is the best way to tackle this.

If I confront Joe Public about parking in a BB or P&C space, I just get into an argument with Joe Public, and he might behave better next time (but that leaves the other 1000 Joes who won't). It's only if the supermarkets etc get repeatedly taken to task and get bad publicity / legal action / loss of custom that they will decide it's worth paying for staff to monitor it.

GrapefruitGin · 10/09/2019 10:37

This has got to be a joke. You sound very entitled OP. If anything, the elderly are more deserving of those spaces.

Frainbreeze · 10/09/2019 10:37

Then you get the able-bodied elderly who park in disabled bays for no other reason than being old.

woodchuck99 · 10/09/2019 10:40

Why would it be "spaces for the elderly"? They aren't the only ones who are inbetween being able bodied and eligible for a blue badge. Supermarkets could allocate parking spaces to those with medical conditions but not with a blue badge if they wanted to. I'm sure a few people would manage to abuse any system but it would be better than nothing. Even if they just allocated "priority" parking to people who are disabled, pregnant or over a certain age it would help.

woodchuck99 · 10/09/2019 10:41

Then you get the able-bodied elderly who park in disabled bays for no other reason than being old.

It would depend on the age really wouldn't it. Few 80 year olds can run for example.

Durgasarrow · 10/09/2019 14:39

It's true, there's no reason for a parent and child space to be anywhere near the store. It just needs to be slightly larger than an average parking space so that parents can get the baby out of the car seat.

Swipe left for the next trending thread