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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To park in a Parent / Child spot with a child seat but no child in your car is wrong.

100 replies

sushipaws · 09/08/2007 16:10

Ok, so I was driving into Asda and as usual the car park is rammed. I'm not the best of drivers, I like a big spot so I can squeeze in the volvo and unpack the buggy.

I see a space in the parent and child area, hoorah Then this little car nips in and as I drive past a woman hops out and even though there's a child seat there is no child. "Oi" I shout out my window "thats a child place" she just locks her car and runs away.

It took me about 15 minutes to find another spot and even though I headed up each supermarket aisle ready to pounce on the selfish woman, I didn't find her.

Grrrrrrrrr

OP posts:

MellowMa · 10/08/2007 13:22

Message withdrawn

anniebear · 10/08/2007 13:22

MellowMa · 10/08/2007 13:23

Message withdrawn

kyala · 10/08/2007 14:02

Ok Ok I get it, keying a car is illegal, immoral and unneccessary but I'm pregnant and irratable (I'm not normally this irrational I promise, I'm a fun loving hippy chick who loves everyone before meeting them) but this is just an out and out act of selfishness and I dislike it intently.

I get that these spaces aren't legally enforceable but they're marked for parents with children for a reason, and we have to face it that not everyone has a 4/5 door car right so why would you park in these spaces if it's just you getting out to shop? That's just selfish, something that seems to pop up in most areas of the world now and it's us parent's who seem to bare the brunt of most of it!

Things can be done about it and if you feel the need tell the supermarket (I know my local are really good at enfocing their own policies LOL)

whiskeyandbeer · 10/08/2007 14:10

"It's like trying to herd jelly and the further away I have to park and run the gauntlet of:
mad old people who never actually passed their test,
cocky young people who still can't drive and
dippy housewives whose 4x4's are far too big for them "

and i'm pretty sure they hate trying to drive around car parks because of what they'd describe as "useless parents who can't control their kids"
i'm not saying they are right but they are probably as accurate as the stereotypes you are giving out about.

kittywits · 10/08/2007 18:12

No, I can control my kids. I would just rather not have to risk their lives and cross my fingers and pray to God that mrs Brady old Lady can see over the steering wheel or that 4x4 driver has actually bothered to look behind her before she reverses.
That's why I want p&t spaces.

dazedandconfunded · 10/08/2007 18:20

It's just a safety issue as far as I'm converned. Small children are below the level at which a perfectly competent and careful driver can see out of the back windscreen; if they are hit it is at head level, where they are most vulnerable. A child can break away in seconds, however careful or hortatory the mother (particularly if she needs two hands to push a heavy trolley). We were once present when juast this scenario happened: a reversing car hit a young child who had broken away. That little life was gone in SECONDS, and it didn't seem to be anyone's fault. I have never bought a car without rear sensors since (or parked in a P&T space without a child).

littlepiggies · 13/08/2007 15:37

I always have a word with people who use these spaces without a child (especially as my supermarket has a massive underground carpark which always has loads of spaces). I am sure these folks would be delighted if their car got damaged by me struggling to squeeze my big lump of a toddler into her car seat through an inadequate space between cars. Hopefully they'll think twice next time if I take the time to embarrass them now...I do love a big of genteel vigilantism!

IcingOnTheCake · 13/08/2007 15:52

I parked down stairs in a carpark today, hardly anyone parked there, great i thought, loads of space all to myself! I come back to my car and some twit had parked right next to me leaving me 6 inches to get dd in the car even though there was 20 other spaces to park in

I'm sure some people just enter the carpark and park in the first spot they see even if it means parking too close to someone.

Meglet · 14/08/2007 13:52

saw a man park in the family parking in tescos yesterday without any sign of kids in the car. wish I'd had a moan at him now .

MotherFunk · 15/08/2007 00:36

Message withdrawn

juuule · 15/08/2007 07:26

That is so sad

compo · 15/08/2007 07:29

so sorry to hear that Motherfunk.
It really puts it all into perspective doesn't it

FlameBatfink · 15/08/2007 08:16

MotherFunk.

If I can get a P/T space on a day when I need it (I don't park in them unless I have to, then hurrah, if not then I get on with it.

I have done the heavily pregnant/the moving the car seat out of teeny spaces etc. At the end of the day it really isn't that big an issue.

I have also had abuse hurled at me for parking in one with no child in the car - the fact that I was meeting my friend inside, and she had my son, in his seat, who would then be coming home with me clearly didn't matter.

You know f*ck all about the reasons people have for parking in the spaces - they could be the uncle just mentioned, they could be ill/early preg and having problems walking far so go in the easiest/closest space, they could have just lost their child and be grieving.

I once parked in one by mistake, on a rare childfree day - realised when I came back out

Some people are so bloody scared to park in them they go to move their car - a pair of grandparents one day (looked early 70s), a baby in the car... pulled into the space, started to get out, and then spotted the sign and went to move their car because they didn't have a sticker - they looked soooo relieved when I explained that a child was all they needed

2shoes · 15/08/2007 10:06

MotherFunk so sorry to hear about your auntie. I think your post shows you can't always judge a situation.

SleeplessInTheStaceym11House · 15/08/2007 10:15

oh motherfunk, how sad! and how unreasonable of the woman, i may have had a word but if he apologised i wouldnt have thought twice!

bookwormtailmum · 15/08/2007 10:18

MotherFunk that's awful . I hope that woman gets into a similar situation one day. How could she abuse an old man like that? I'd assume that he'd made a mistake and would give him the benefit of the doubt - not that I'm one for fronting up to people anyway . I hope your uncle doesn't blame himself for not getting there in time.

I stop my dp from parking in disabled bays (my Dad is disabled and has a badge to prove his entitlement so it's infuriating when other people abuse these spaces) but for myself I've never been able to park in a P & T space. I wouldn't key someone's car or block them in though - that's just OTT.

StarryStarryNight · 15/08/2007 10:25

FFS

She had a child seat in her car. How do you know she did not have a family member on the INSIDE with her child in buggy? Why do you presume there was no child? She could have offloaded her child togeter with somebody else and driven off to find parking.

I have done that, dropped my oh and 2 kids at the entrance, buggy and all, and then gone to find parking space.

I guess these threads will stop when people stop posting on them....

StarryStarryNight · 15/08/2007 10:30

Motherfunk,

so sorry to hear about your auntie, and what your uncle experienced.

(Just read back the posts now)

So many women have this insane bee in their bonnets about "their" parking spaces, the only visible benefit granted them simply for motherhood, and they cant bear others taking it from them, it is pathetic really.

If this is all they have to worry about, truly I am filled with envy, as there are worse things in life than somebody else getting a good parking space.

juuule · 15/08/2007 10:37

Exactly right, Starry.

gess · 15/08/2007 10:49

OMG a thread full of rusting children again.
(little tip- buy a raincoat for your kids if you're worried about them getting wet).

MotherFunk- what an awful story. I LOATHE P&T spots - they have turned a generation of mothers into petty, vile, self obsessed Princesses who are incapable of doing anything without a special space to park in. Pathetic.

2shoes · 15/08/2007 11:59

gess they are all made of sugar

clapton · 15/08/2007 12:17

It certainly does but things into perspective, I hope that woman at the garage discovers this thread.

I cannot believe how many problems / arguments those spaces create!

ELF1981 · 15/08/2007 12:26

I got yelled at for this

The other day, I went shopping with DD and DH. It was roasting hot on the Sunday, we popped into a DIY store and the supermarket was across the road, so DH said no point putting DD back in the car for a 1 min trip, he walked acorss with her and I drove the car. I drove into the P&C section and parked up and got yelled at because I did not have DD in the car. So, despite the fact it was quiet and there were loads of spaces next to me, somebody decided it was fair game to have a go at me, when realistically I had done NOTHING wrong - it wasn't like I'd be driving home without her!

bookwormtailmum · 15/08/2007 15:26

Must be the time of year - hopefully in winter they'll be too cold to stand around harrassing people .

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