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

[Pelly8]

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?

Agree with numberstation !!

Technically they shouldn’t park there but, like the PPs, I wouldn’t have had the heart to say anything. I did once boot someone out of a P&C space when he pulled into it just before I got to it (the last one, when I had a new baby with me) but he was middle aged and seemed perfectly able bodied!

People get so precious about these parking spaces

They are a luxury not a right and they are just there to tempt you to shop there unless you genuinely believe shops GAF about your ability to get a child safely out of the car.

You should know that on Mumsnet, the general consensus is that anyone should be able to use p&c spaces apart from actual parents and children!

This does seem to be the common view. Which runs alongside the view that parents should not use any other currently accessible space such as toilets but should campaign for their own space.
I have never been convinced of this logic as it seems that parent and child only spaces are nothing but worthless publicity stunts that can be used by anyone else so why parents would bother campaigning for a wider range of them?
But choosing not to harass elderly people was the right call OP.

An elderly person/couple using these spaces wouldn’t bother me. I generally park further away to avoid some twonk bashing the car with a trolley or whatever, but I HATE seeing people who have no need to use P&C spaces use them. Obviously there’s hidden disabilities etc but I mean people who’ll drop the wife or whoever off to go in the store, while they sit in the car, taking up a space that could benefit someone else. P&C spaces are a privilege and not a right but some people really need a good dose of common sense.

Fifteen years ago (l was 45 at the time) l'd had orthopaedic surgery on my ankle (l'd had some surgical wires removed that had been previously put in after l broke my ankle). l could drive and walk a bit, but had to keep stopping to rest as l still had stitches and my wound was still painful. l parked in the parent and child bays in my local Morrisons as they were closest to the store entrance (besides the disabled bays). As l was hobbling to the store, l was accosted by no less an authority than the trolley collector man shouting "You can't park there!" l said that l'd recently had surgery and needed to park as near as possible to the store as l was still struggling to walk any distance. He wasn't having any of it. Went on and on about how l should have a blue badge so l could park in a disabled bay. Trying to explain that it was a temporary thing after recent surgery, and thereby didn't entitle me to a blue badge, was like banging my head off a brick wall. While he was haranguing me l sat down on the low wall and told him to fetch the manager if it was such a problem. Whereupon he buggered off, never to be seen again.
At the time there were about 12 P&C bays - only three were in use, including the one l was using. For all he knew l could have been going to spend a fortune in the store, and his behaviour could have resulted in me going elsewhere.
As PP have said, blue badges are difficult to get these days. Being old and having difficulty walking aren't seen as a reason to have one. l had a hip replacement three years ago, l needed it because l had no cartilage left in my hip joint, and also had cysts and bone spurs in the socket. That's bloody painful to walk with, believe me. And l'm only 60. l think older people (or even people who may not be older, but who have mobility issues) should feel free to park where the hell they like. They're being decent by not taking up blue badge spaces which are meant for people who are deemed to need them, and quite frankly, are bloody hard to get hold of these days.

Were they old and doddery? if they were I'd let it go (as I would if they were young and doddery) but my parents are mid 70s, fully mobile and would look at you very strangely if you suggested they should use the parent and child spaces just because they were old, because being old shouldn't give anyone a free pass.

You'll be there one day. Each step pushing a trolley round the shop will hurt. Your numbing fingers will drop things and as you fumble for change, a queue of muttering youth will curse you and your encroaching enfeeblement. On leaving you will look at the endless stretch to your car and thank God you had the sense to park as close as possible to the entrance.

YANBU but everyone on here will say you are

They might be waiting for a BB. The wait here for automatic acceptance applications is 20 weeks atm. God knows how long it is for assessed ones.

How the hell do you think those of us managed years ago, before the luxury of P&C spaces were invented? It's not rocket science, fgs, to get a couple of kids out of the car and into a buggy/trolley.

I bet that older couple needed the space more than you did.

Someone on here recently suggested that P&C spaces should be positioned further away from the store entrance. If it's the extra space either side of the car you need, as opposed to proximity to the actual shop, it shouldn't matter how far away they are.

I would let this go. It’s not a big deal. Elderly people need a lot more compassion than they’re given in our society.

How mean spirited are you?

FGS elderly people might have all kinds of ailments that make getting in and out of a car or walking very difficult,

An adult with a baby/children is NOT in more need of a wider/closer space than they are - use a bit of sense instead of entitlement!

I can do better than this ... at my local supermarket lazy so and so's park in the only motorcycle bay (it's basically two parking spaces very clearly marked with a wall around) because they are too lazy to walk 5-10 extra metres, I mean a mostly empty car park at 2pm. I sarcastically suggest that a circa 30 year old man should really consider whether he should be driving with such poor eyesight just this week, the guy shrugged and said it was closer to the entrance! Ps there's about 20 p&c spaces and even more disabled, my car was just 10m from the store in a normal bay though

Elderly people trump people with their lifestyle choice children imo.

But would people feel the same if it was someone younger? Lots of comments about age and mobility. I have issues but don’t qualify for a BB but I know if I parked in a parent/child bay someone would probably rip my face off...

But would people feel the same if it was someone younger?

On these threads, most people are happy for people with a genuine need to use them.

This need for a special parking space simply by virtue of having pushed out a baby really embarrasses me. Surely there is no one that is that self-absorbed by their procreation capability to begrudge elderly people a convenient parking space in a supermarket.

Remember you will be elderly one day, OP. Hopefully when you are the people you come across will have more understanding and compassion than you show with this post.

Agree that P&C spaces should be at the back of the car park.

And why are these people always “wresting” with their toddlers? How hard is it to put a pre-schooler in a car? If it’s that bloody hard then online shopping is your friend.

@You should've gone back into the supermarket to check if they had grips on offer.

OP didn't return as their goady thread didn't go the way they thought

One day the OP will be old and doddery and of course she will refuse to park in a parent and child space, because the young mother needs it more.

OP, if you live long enough, one day you will be old.

Perhaps by then you may have acquired a modicum of kindness.

In the meantime, why not try to re-prioritise what you now consider to be such grave offences.

And maybe get out more?

Of course YABVVU. The elderly couple deserved it much more

YABU - Come back and ask again when you’re in your 70s