To be annoyed that our local tescos have changed their P&C spaces to disabled.

[Jenswish]

There was a letter in the local paper from a disabled person saying that the P&C spaces weren't needed and that they should be changed to disabled ones.

Even though there is disabled spaces about 1 min walk from the door anyway.

They've now got rid of P&C spaces and replaced them with yet more disabled!! Theres about 30 of them now but no-where for the mum and kids.

Am I being evil?

Good idea WeirdBird!

i dont have a big car, we have a standard sized bmw, not wide at all and for us to get one toddler out of each side in a standard parking space proves difficult, we aren't fat either so its not us having to squeeze into a small gap to get child out!!

oh and i dont think you are being unreasonable jenswish- i would be stumped if our tesco scrapped their p&c spaces!!! we dont always use them, but they are fantastic when we can!!!

My local Asda's disabled spaces are quite a hike from the shop which makes no sense. The P&C spaces seem to be nearer! In any case all the spaces are constantly in use - never a situation where the disabled bays are mostly empty while everyone else is cramped together miles from the shop. I rarely manage to get a disabled space and I have a blue badge for my SN dd.

Don't think Jenswish or Tigger32 deserved such a roasting though. Having a disabled child doesn't mean we have licence to be abusive to non-disabled people who are also entitled to their views and opinions. It can be difficult to get your baby or toddler in and out of narrow spaces, who can argue with that?

good point bigwombat- it IS difficult to get a toddler out of the car in a narrow space, but by no means are we saying there shouldn't be disabled spaces.....i'm sure no mother would want to deprive a disabled person of their rightful space!! i feel the disabled should be the isle just outside the entrance and p&c on one side from that, like it is at my local tesco!! i have seen many people without a child or without a disabled badge using those allocated places just to be closer to the shop- that does anger me!!!!

I don't know wombat. I kind of think if you see getting a baby out of a car as such a big problem that you need a special place to park to get round it, well really you're going to struggle with the whole of motherhood. Standard easy going no problem motherhood will be difficult with that sort of attitude, let alone if you have any extras to deal with. It's not that difficult. Getting across the car park safetly with toddler in tow is harder -although only really if you have more than one- and then the easy solution is to fetch a trolley to the car.

Pah! I normally don't bother, but the problem arises when people get used to having something and then it gets taken away.

It's like pagers and mobile phones. (Or even tinterweb! )

We get used to the convenience of nice wide spaces and suddenly it becomes an issue when they're not there. I'm very grateful for the Disabled spaces, personally, but I am a lazy cow and do most of it online nowadays

I agree yurt1... but I still don't see the harm of a few P&C spaces for those who really struggle (as long as the greater needs of others are properly catered for of course).

But most of the people who claim to desperately need them have one 8 month old or something which always makes me snigger. I do wonder what my grandmother's would have made of such fussing.

what;s tinterweb suebaroo?

oh durr- I'm, being slow- worked it out sue, ignore me.

tinterweb! What ye be talking t'me on now

Lol - I can imagine my grandmothers both being very bemused !

"I find the best time to go is 10pm, when mty little darlingfs are safeley tucked up. Otherwise I order online."

OK.

1. Not everyone has a husband/partner at home to babysit while you shop at 10pm

1. Not everyone has a computer. I know. It's incredible. But it's true.

There are women out there who work long hours in low paid jobs, just about manage to afford to run a car to get to work, and need to shop in person to get marked down stuff. Not everyone has the money to shop at Ocado.

Try working all day, picking up tired and whining kids, trudging across a rain soaked carpark and you might just see the point of P&C places.

Don't you find that Disabled users use P&C spaces anyway?

Don't bother with P&C spaces. Just park in the normal-width spaces and bash your doors into the neighbouring vehicles.

Well personally the reason I park in P&T spaces is not because I'm incapable of walking to the shop from a normal space but because they are wider - my kids have a habit of flinging the car door open without thinking and I am always screeching at them because I'm worried they will scratch the car next to us....

I'm with Cocchip plus - I can't get free delivery consistantly online plus I buy a lot close self by date on special offer and get my petrol (cause its cheap). And I'm single so no chance to do any time other than when DS is with me.]

I like P&T spaces. If there aren't any of course I park somewhere else but I don't like walking DS across the carpark which has no paths and very few crossings and few spaces near a trolly bay. I don't get why iots such a terrible thing to like P&T spaces. I like changing facilites in toilets too and get grumpy if there aren't any. Of course I can manage without. I like decenet sized family cahnging rooms in our (mixed sex) swimming pool changing area and get grupy when there are so few or those that there are have no doors on them.

P&T spaces in my local tesco are almost always full, the same number of disabled spaces are rarely even half full - I have no problem with that, not being able to park in a large space near the store when you are disabled is a much bigger problem than not being able to get a P&T space but that doesn;t mean you can't have an opinion about P&T spaces!

It's a bit like the more extreme example someone quoted earlier that we should be worrying about the crying children in Africa (I paraphrase but not much) which (hard-heartedly) made me laugh. Haven't that since my mum used to say it to me in the 70's.

It is OK to get annoyed about something less important than death, rape, famine, pestilence....

and my grandmother thinks P&T spaces are an excellent idea and wishes they had them when she was driving her horse and cart...

As a disabled car user, I only use P&T spaces if there aren't any disabled spaces. And yes, it does happen, despite there being acres of disabled car spaces in multi-storeys now.

multi story car parks lol not much good if you have a wheel chair acceble van.

Sorry, please continue!

i understand that jenswish is upset that there are no P&T spaces now - whereas before there have always been disabled spaces.

i think a lot of people are reading the title and just jumping in

that being said - i heartily agree with expat. I think that P&T spaces are bollocks spaces for lazy parents who dont want to walk.

the argument against this is that wider spaces are needed to get kids out of car.

This i understand - and although in small supermarkets this may be a problem ( making one take theri business elsewhere i would assume - democracy ..vote with feet..blah de blah) In medium to large supermarkets i have never been in one where there isn't spaces right at the back with plenty of room - only to be taken up on xmas eve when the population of england thinks that xmas shopping = the end of the world.

The "what would our grandparents say" argument is b*ks IMO - times have changed - in our g/p time extended families were close by, giving help, and looking after children. There was no such thing as an out of town supermakret or indeed a supermarket at all! Our grandparents had no such thing as disabled spaces - on the whole the poor disabled people were shut up in institutions - so this argument would not have been had !

My Mum moaned at me that she got a parking ticket for spending more than 2 hours in a parking bay. She appleaed, arguing that she had angina and couldn't walk , they wrote back, canceleed the parking ticket, but also suggested she get a blue badge (which she wouldn't qualify for).

then she moaned that my DS watched TV in the evening - "Of course in my day, we only had listen with mother" - of course!! Times HAVE changed, lives are different, "In the night graden" is the equiv of listen with mother...

I only get stroppy about P&C spaces when somene obviously not infirm or disabled uses them - like businessmen on their odding lunch break!

I hardly ever use the parent and child spaces now as DSs are 11 and 7, but I have noticed there is an increase in disabled spaces in my local Tesco and Sainsbury.
The local Sainsburys has a smallish car park and at least a 1/4 of the spaces are disabled and I have yet to see more the 7/8 of them used at one time.
Our local Tesco have now blocked off half the P&C spaces and park the home delivery vans there now.

Actually neither of my grandmothers had extended family nearby. One gave birth to 8 children, 6 survived birth, 5 survived to adulthood, the other had 4 children (was a single mum to 2 for a while) and one stepchild. If I dared to fuss about a P&T space I would have been told to get over myself quickly.

Really, life is a challenge. That's what makes it fun. You don't need P&T spaces, you really, really don't. Don't stress the small things. I'm serious that if P&T spaces are enoough to make you hyperventilate you are going to spend your years of bringin up children in a state of permanent anxiety. It is helpful to have some perspective.

And disabled bays are often completely full. When I go anywhere with ds1 I go on the assumption that we won't get a disabled bay (I'm lucky in that his disability is such that having a disabled space makes it easier but it not an absolute necessity to getting him out of the car). Rather than mutter about the loss of P&T be generous of thought and thnk about how it will make it easier for someone who really struggles to get out to do their weekly shop.