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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

If a car parks so close you can't get into your car, what do you do?

274 replies

heregoesnothin · 22/10/2022 14:30

Do you just open your car door onto the car and push yourself in if you can fit that way?

OP posts:
MinervaTerrathorn · 22/10/2022 16:06

If you can't get in when you are parked centrally and the car next to you is close to their line, or get in through the passenger side, then I would park close to the line on the passenger side. I don't think other drivers are at fault as long as they are within their spot.

bercan · 22/10/2022 16:07

Any new supermarkets/shopping centres I've been too it's not a problem as the spaces are made bigger but the older ones are the issue.

Realign · 22/10/2022 16:08

Did they apologise?

Singlebutmarried · 22/10/2022 16:08

try the passenger side, failing that through the boot.

have climbed in through the boot while pregnant one morning after the door locks froze.

it was interesting.

Anjo2011 · 22/10/2022 16:08

If you have an actual handbrake ( as opposed to an automatic one) get in the opposite side if u can , release the handbrake. Get out and stand by your boot and gentle push the car forward enough to get in.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 22/10/2022 16:10

Then the onus is on you with your massively oversized car to park properly in a space and not block others in. Park further away or in a different space if you're going to physically block entry. I don't condone keying cars, but this entitled 'my car is big what do you want me to do about it' behaviour is typical of today's society. You chose to by a stupidly big car, you should be the one inconvenienced, not everyone else.

Apart from the fact that some people have a very good reason for needing a big car - disability, big families, work-related etc. etc. - I don't think it's as simple as all that. We have a VW Golf - an old one that's considerably smaller than the newer versions - and we find the spaces very tight too.

You might be in the happy position of having both a small car and good health allowing you the agility to get in and out with minimal trouble, but you can't just go telling everybody else in quite average-sized modern cars that it's all their own fault.

Keep the same number of spots. Make some 6 inches smaller and some six inches bigger. Mark the smaller spots for small cars. Would encourage people to buy smaller cars to have more parking options.

It's a good idea, but it would be misunderstood and abused. Aside from owners of tiny cars taking the big spaces (maybe not unreasonably) 'just because' it's nicer to have plenty of room, you would get people with average/bigger cars getting angry with them and demanding they move to a smaller space, potentially causing scraps in car parks. If there are only small spaces left, people in bigger cars would park across two spaces. Then, in paid-for car parks, you'd have demands to pay less for the smaller spaces.

JudgeJ · 22/10/2022 16:10

silverclock222 · 22/10/2022 14:35

Well by the time I've accidentally dragged my key along theirs trying to get my door open I try to climb in via the passenger seat.

Jeans with studs on the rear pockets were made for such situtations.

JudgeJ · 22/10/2022 16:14

AdobeWanKenobi · 22/10/2022 16:02

They do this in the USA.
There is almost always a tiny thing in an SUV spot.

I get annoyed at motorbikes using car spaces even when there is a motorbike area.

MinervaTerrathorn · 22/10/2022 16:14

AdobeWanKenobi · 22/10/2022 16:02

They do this in the USA.
There is almost always a tiny thing in an SUV spot.

That was my point, it encourages small cars as well as providing some larger spots as small cars have double the parking options.

MinervaTerrathorn · 22/10/2022 16:17

Then, in paid-for car parks, you'd have demands to pay less for the smaller spaces.
That's a very good idea, would stop smaller cars using larger spaces unless there are no small spaces or they have a need for more space each side. Much fairer to pay for the space you need.

knittingaddict · 22/10/2022 16:18

Honestly? I would open the door as far as I could, put my hand between my door and their car and see if I could squeeze in. Boring, I Know, but that's my practical answer.

55larry · 22/10/2022 16:21

I have had to climb into my car from the passenger side at 38 weeks pregnant. I used to meet up for lunch every week with my antenatal group - the numbers went down every week - when someone with a van parked so although I could open the drivers doo there was no way of squeezing through the gap.

The other reason I got stuck in my car was when I had got in the back of the car to strap my grandson in and then I shut the car door with me and the keys on the back seat. I have child locks on my rear doors and I couldn’t get out. I hoped that no one was looking as this 70 year old woman was struggling to get through the space between two front seats. Just a warning to others.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 22/10/2022 16:23

Mylittlesandwich · 22/10/2022 15:17

I had a car park so close to me I couldn't get in while I was pregnant and had PGP. I just had to wait an hour and a half for them to come back. I did get a call put out in the supermarket asking them to come to move it but they weren't in the shop they were parked at. At least I could sit in the passenger seat and wait but there was no way I'd manage to climb over.

I would not bat an eyelid at someone in your position parking in a parent and child space. Surely no-one would?

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 22/10/2022 16:23

My DH had to go into Tesco to find the wanker who parked so close to the drivers door when I was very pregnant . I couldn't use P&C ( they weren't accessible to pregnant women , just parent+child) I was in a normal space and no way could I fit across the gearstick. (DH doesn't drive )

My old car seemed to attract cars to take half my space , woest was an SUV behind me with their front bumper on my tailgate and they'd taken about 3' of my space too . I did want to leave a note saying "I hope the next person you do this to leaves a message scratched into your paintwork" (but obvs that was in my head)

If someone did park too close I'd either get in but wasn't overly careful with my door . I wouldn't key a car but I'm not going to lose an ear .

Most likely now I'd have to wait , I cannot go in the boot/passenger .

Hayliebells · 22/10/2022 16:26

Yes, if there's enough space to open my door into their car and squeeze in, that's exactly what I'd do. If however, they had parked so close that's impossible, I'd go in via the passenger side. That's never very easy though, so the first option is always preferable, even if I hit their car with my door.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 22/10/2022 16:31

SmallPrawnEnergy · 22/10/2022 15:58

Then the onus is on you with your massively oversized car to park properly in a space and not block others in. Park further away or in a different space if you're going to physically block entry. I don't condone keying cars, but this entitled 'my car is big what do you want me to do about it' behaviour is typical of today's society. You chose to by a stupidly big car, you should be the one inconvenienced, not everyone else.

But a lot of parking spaces are narrow even for 'normal' sized cars these days. Cars are generally a lot bigger than they used to be.

reigatecastle · 22/10/2022 16:33

I am quite small so I can usually squeeze in. I rest my car door gently against theirs. If that doesn't work, I'll get in the other side.

However, I take issue with the fact that people "need" larger cars. No, it's a choice if you decide you "need" it as a status symbol, for the kids, for the dogs, whatever. And if you must have one, and it's too big for a space, park somewhere else.

I do think there should be wider spaces, but they should be charged extra for. I don't see why those of us who drive normal sized cars should have fewer spaces to choose from, and if we do, we should pay less to park than those who take up a disproportionate amount of space.

BeetFeet · 22/10/2022 16:33

JudithHarper · 22/10/2022 14:32

Maybe get in the passenger side?

I'd be keying the other car though.

This is exactly why, if I can't park away from all the other cars, I don't park there.

ButIamBatman · 22/10/2022 16:33

balalake · 22/10/2022 15:43

Get in the passenger side.

Highlights yet another reason why SUVs should be banned or made more difficult to own, as car parks are not designed for the proportion of cars that they are. I'd have SUVs as a separate category of car licence, so you'd have to take your test again, which I think would reduce their number.

Where does it mention SUVs?

reigatecastle · 22/10/2022 16:34

But a lot of parking spaces are narrow even for 'normal' sized cars these days. Cars are generally a lot bigger than they used to be

Normal cars aren't that big, if you get three in a row, there's plenty of space. The SUVs are the problem. You do occasionally get ridiculously narrow spaces but it's rare in eg a supermarket car park, it's usually in a town centre car park in some beauty spot which really can't cope and they've tried to squeeze a few extra spaces in.

smooththecat · 22/10/2022 16:37

Before keying any cars, remember this awful prick of a woman who keyed a Tesla and got caught because it has cameras all over. She got fined, and worse, ended up in the DM.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10336189/Motorist-caught-keying-50-000-Tesla-cars-cameras-prosecution-kind-UK.html

BrokenWing · 22/10/2022 16:41

When a local company's huge van parked inches from my car I had to climb, heavily pregnant (and desperate for a wee!), from my back passenger door over to the drivers seat. It was in a town center, so I couldn't even go into the supermarket and ask them to tannoy them to ask them to move.

18 years later I still frown at them every time I see their van and have avoided using them on a few occasions when we have needed work done!!

Norriscolesbag · 22/10/2022 16:43

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 22/10/2022 15:58

You’d obviously get in the passenger side

It's been said already, but please don't 'other' the many of us living with disabilities, mobility problems, pregnancy, age-related frailty etc. etc.

Yes, it's the obvious solution if you can do it, but I find your use of the word 'obviously' quite dismissive and insensitive.

Respectfully, I’m a single parent to 3 disabled children. I’m not living it but I do get it. Stop finding offense when it isn’t intended.

Lovemusic33 · 22/10/2022 16:44

In my head I would probably open the door damaging their car but realistically I would probably just clim in through the passenger doo whilst swearing quietly to myself.

Anyfeckinusername · 22/10/2022 16:45

This happened to me once when I was heavily pregnant and drove a freelander. Boxed in on both sides. I had to climb in the boot and roll over the back bit into the car part. Horrible. I could barely fit. Those bumps are solid!

It was a nightmare. It happened again at the same car park a few months later with the then new baby in the buggy - I'd gone to London for the day with my 10 week old baby on the train and parked in the same car park. I got a phone call from the hospital that a test result showed something that needed urgent care and I was to get him to A&E immediately and explain (we'd been in hospital a week earlier and they'd ran tests).

Got to car, boxed in, again! It was pissing rain. Left the sick baby in the buggy, climbed the boot, reversed and got the baby and buggy in.

After that, I started using the nearby hotel car park rather than the train car park and paying a lot more.

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