Waitrose Mum & Baby carpark - parking without child!

[NZMummy15]

So today I parked at Waitrose (in a normal car park as didn't have the kids) and noticed a middle aged woman had parked in the mum and baby carpark (with no kids).

I went up to her in Waitrose and said you've just parked in a m&b carpark but you don't have any children with you. To which she replied I have a baby it's just not with me and I'm in a hurry, anyway who are you the police? Long story short I said she shouldn't be there and also mentioned this to the customer service desk who didn't care.

When I was putting my groceries in to the car she came over to me and said I shouldn't judge without knowing the full story and she actually has medical problems. I said she should be parking in the disabled car park then if that's the case, but of course did feel a little bit bad about whether I handled it right and if she was telling the truth as she didn't mention any of that earlier?

What would you have done it that situation? It's making me feel really awful now, but on the flip side I know how awful it is when you can't get a car park and you have a small baby/child so it always gets my back up!

I have invisible disabilities. I still would never park in parent and child space without dd, even when I'm really struggling.

Why not? A disabled person who is really struggling has as much right or more to use those spaces as a fit and healthy parent of a young child.

I mutter in my car with the window shut that beer/an expensive car doesn’t count as a baby, then continue my day.
Also have a BB and a toddler, have won the car parking lottery! Shame about the not being able to walk more then 5 minutes thing though.

have invisible disabilities. I still would never park in parent and child space without dd, even when I'm really struggling.

This is the issue I was trying to raise. This lady doesn't want to break the rules where as this person

Why not? A disabled person who is really struggling has as much right or more to use those spaces as a fit and healthy parent of a young child.

Would happily do so. Neither is necessarily wrong but currently only the those who feel happy to ignore rules are going to benefit.

It would be fairer to have accessible spaces and or monitor parent and child spaces properly.

This reminds of when I parked in a parent and child space when my son was a baby. A woman made a bee line for me as I was putting my son in his buggy. She ranted and raved for a good 2 minutes. I was selfish, inconsiderate and typical of the generation of today. I asked what her problem was and she asked to see my blue badge?! I explained I was parked in a parent and child space.. I bet she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her at that moment

Do those who don't seem to believe in hidden disabilities have any brain cells?

My mother has severe osteoporosis and cannot walk far because of the pain it causes. You can't see it, though apparently some of these people think that they could? She looks.outwardly normal until she tries to walk far.

What about my Dad's COPD? A chronic chest condition that can severely affect the efficiency of his heart and lungs meaning that he too cannot walk far. You can't see that either and it doesn't become apparent that there is anything wrong until he gets up and starts to walk.

I have an arm held together with metal plates following a bad break a few years ago. It doesn't give me many problems today, but it is there. You can't see it though. I don't wear my bones on the outside of my body.

Arses!! You can't reason with stupid really.

*Why on earth would you stalk someone around a supermarket to criticise where they parked? You massively overstepped

Perhaps because she's a tired mum, fed up of people being inconsiderate, or perhpas she wasn't thinking straight, or perhaps she has mental health difficulties which overwhelm her sometimes, or perhpas she just cocked up, or perhaps she was justified in this case....

Give her a break ...*

If she was that tired I suggest she should go home, not stalk people round a supermarket using up more energy! She wasn't justified, she's not employed to police the p&c spaces.

Perhaps she needs to find more interesting stuff to do in her life, join a few groups? She sounds so bloody tiresome it's untrue, customer service must have done such a massive eye roll with her whinging!

Why not apply for a job as a traffic warden?

😂😂

YABVU. You were lucky she was so polite in her response. I would have told you where to go in no uncertain terms. Who TF do you think you are !

"If you get DLA or PIP you're automatically entitled to a Blue Badge - I know because that's how I got mine!"

That's incorrect. Even having the highest rate PIP and being eligible for motability may not automatically entitle you to a blue badge. Ds has one automatically now because he is on highest rate DLA but he won't have one automatically when he is an adult - despite being profoundly disabled.

I would mind my own business and not set out to make other people's lives more difficult.
If people with children have the time to harass others in car parks it shows that it isn't that hard managing their own children in the car park. When I am with ds my attention has to be on him and I don't notice what others are up to.

I've never figured out how anyone can get so upset over a parking space. The fact you challenged her when you didn't even have dc so we're not in any way inconvenienced is even more U. Parent and child spaces are a gesture and there are no laws surrounding their use. As many others have said it's incredibly difficult to get a blue badge especially for a large number of hidden disabilities that cause pain and mobility problems but not apparently obvious.

Madness. They need to pull those spaces they breed entitlement and aggravation. You will look back I’m on this episode and cringe op.

This reminds me of the ‘Mum’ (since OP is only concerned about ‘Mums’), who accosted me and and my mother in Sainsbury’s for daring to park in a P&C bay. I told her all the BB bays are full and my mum’s badge was clearly displayed in the dashboard if she wanted to look and that my mum can’t walk more than 50 yards without needing a rest. The bolshy woman suddenly turned into a scared woman hiding behind her husband, who told me to calm down as if I was the aggressor

Well done you for standing up to her. If more people did this the country wouldn't be such a mess!

This made me giggle. Let's all make a pact to turn this country around by being self appointed P&C parking police. We can do it if we work together 😆.

I agree with putting the spaces at the back of stores, I bet those that claim they cannot get their child out of the car in any other space will suddenly find a way (I wonder what they currently do when the spaces are taken by genuine people with babies) . Not sure how those that cannot keep their children safe unless they park directly in front of the store will cope though.

@ProhibitedRodent

The criteria for a Blue Badge really isn't that high. If you get DLA or PIP you're automatically entitled to a Blue Badge - I know because that's how I got mine!

This isn’t true, you need the required number of PIP mobility points. Do you even have a badge?!

Blue Badges surely this is decided by each local authority and varies across the country? I know of people (Mum's friends) who are pretty able bodied but have a fairly minor mobility issue (dodgy knees etc) and have managed to get blue badges. It seems quite subjective, depending on who issues them.

Some people seriously need to get a life, makes me not want to live in this world.

Everyone always has an opinion or something to say.

@ProhibitedRodent Actually you need over a certain amount of points to get a BB, nothing to do with getting just getting PIP/DLA!

P&C spaces are the same ones who have “ princess on board” signs on the car

Actually, as naff as princess on board is, these signs on cars are brilliant. Emergency services will see these in an accident and realise there could be a child in the car. So bit harsh to judge them.

You must have little to worry about in your life OP if you can waste your energy on this. I would maybe understand if it was the last space and you needed it to get your buggy out. But it wasn’t affecting you at all. Invest your energy elsewhere OP .

Marriedwithchildren that would only work if people put those cringe signs up and took them down when the kids weren’t in the car. Who actually does that?

I honestly could not imagine caring enough (or even noticing) to follow her round the supermarket and question her parking.

Seriously, get a grip OP.

MutedUser, that is actually true! I take back my comment.

It sounds weird to me to seek to confront someone, complain to customer services and start a thread as well. Mind your own business.

OP you're a busy body I would have told you to do one.
You dont know where the child is or what her situation is.