Would you park like this?

[Wertie]

Second time I’ve had a disagreement at my local station. The spaces are narrow and the carpark is very very popular. Gold dust spaces, but Tbf there is a carpark 4 min walk away that’s bigger. The station one is pokey car park not really suitable for many modern cars.

On a number of occasions I’ve found very large 4x4 cars right up to the white lines. I have an old low car, thin doors. I’m slim. I can park between two of them and get out without touching their car with my doors. It’s a squeeze, but no contact at all.

Im guessing their thick doors and higher doors make this difficult, particularly if they aren’t petite. As it’s not a disabled space I’m restricting (there are wide separate spaces the other side for disabled drivers) I just park if I can park, and don’t concern myself with other cars. If I can fit, I’m in my own space I see it as fair play.

Twice I’ve come back to moody car owners of the huge cars.

My view is if their car is huge/ they struggle to get in then they should use the half empty nearby car park as it has wider spaces and you can park at the back without neighbours. I don’t see why I should walk it, if I have no needs for extra space.

Ive just had a really screamy outraged woman shouting I should consider the space taken if I’m blocking access.

I’m maybe an arsehole, as I laughed it off. But do others agree? Do this?

ttcat37 · Yesterday 20:22

Seems like the unpopular opinion but I always leave plenty of space on the driver’s side.

I had someone do that, their passenger side was very close to my driver's door. I had to wait for them to come back, he got in, drove out a bit and she got in the passenger seat. Arseholes.

I think you’re projecting your feelings to me.

It doesn’t impact me, therefore I don’t particularly care. I got out fine.

You are coming from the point of view of your understanding, it impacts you therefore you believe I think there’s fault involved and my reasons have centred around you.

@DownNative @Jifmicroliquid but that's no different to everyone parking in the centre of the space, it's just that people don't!
OP I'm with you and have done the same on many occasions & been shouted at for it, I'm not the twat not parked properly! I'm in the centre of my space in my small car, definitely a them problem!

So are you saying that as you drive a car that is too wide for the parking space, you expect people not to park next to you?

Surely no one is quite this entitled

I would like car parks to introduce maximum width restrictions and issue fines for cars that are too large to use their spaces. If people couldn’t park their huge great unnecessary tanks, they might think twice about buying them.

People are going on about huge tanks, gas guzzlers etc but actually if you look at all types of cars, they have got bigger over the years.
Even a mini is much wider than the original. So you don't need to be driving a Range Rover or a Q7 to find that cars don't fit as well in spaces as they used to.

Newer car parks often have larger spaces now which obviously reduces the number of cars they can hold.

I drive an SUV but actually it's not much wider than my old Mazda hatchback so maybe people could stop with the mindless frothing.

It does irritate me when women try to paint other women disagreeing with them or having other opinions as ‘frothing’.

There is enough misogyny without women joining in. No one has frothed, karened, squealed or nagged here. Just commented on cars a bit

@Wertie I didn't use any of those other terms and don't.
I made a valid point about the size of cars changing and pointed out some inaccurate bias against larger cars but you've chosen to focus on one word.
Well done.

I do think people (not particularly women so that's for assuming misogyny where it didn't exist) froth over larger cars. They're an easy target and the SUV hate on here is strong! I was trying to point out its not necessarily reasonable to hate on all cars than aren't a Golf or Clio, which incidentally have a much larger footprint themselves these days.

Except that everyone gets the car parking space minus the width of their own car to get out on the driver's side, drivers of big cars only reduce their own available space (and their neighbours passenger side but the car could pull out of the space if that is too tight). Fairer system.

I have an SUV and a massive van! I still don't think the OP has done anything wrong

Though, parking on the line would only work if it was the passenger side line not the driver side line. Otherwise a driver of a small car may still have only a tiny gap if parked next to a gas guzzler on their driver side.

YANBU. These will be the same people who park their stupidly big cars half on pavements because it’s too wide. These people should accept damage and park without blocking access if they choose to buy tanks.

Exactly! That was my point about driver's side! While there is a driver's side of the car, there isn't one in a parking space (unless they're really angled and it's one way I guess) so everyone should park in the middle of the space.

"Ive just had a really screamy outraged woman shouting I should consider the space taken if I’m blocking access"

Ask them to consider if you should inform the parking company that a car is effectively occupying two spaces if you're unable to use it...?

@Clymene I didn't mention their parking in my post.

There is a driver side if everyone drives into the spot.

Now you are being ridiculous. I doubt all large car owners are in cahoots with each other 🙄

But I always reverse in, so there is no driver’s side

The trouble with the middle of the space is that if I am dead in the middle of mine but the gas guzzler on my driver side is closer to the line than me, I have less than my fair share of space to get out. If we were all parked on the passenger side line (driving into the spot) then I'd always have the same amount of space to get out (in a standard sized space).

When you are doing a food shop with a trolley?

Next time alert a parking warden to the fact she's not parked fully in the space, for good measure not your fault she's badly parked

There is a driver side if everyone drives into the spot.

Driving in then reversing out of parking spaces massively increases the risk of collisions

@DiscoDeborah I think if you're sliding between the cars to get out then you're too close. Yes you might be between the lines but the car next to you might have had to park close to the line because of the car next to them and on it goes.

It really isn't the OP at fault here though is it. If a car is so wide that it requires the space next to it to remain empty then the driver should realise and accept that the parking space is too small for their car.

I really like the idea of everyone parking against the line in the same way

This will only work if everyone has the same sized car and every one parks facing the same way. A wide car is going to fill the space as both sides are already on both lines. .

Most people do at my local supermarket, hard to access the boot otherwise, you'd have to leave your trolley at the front of your car and hope it didn't roll away and cause a collision.

@EmeraldFox that's not the same as tight spaces in a station car park.

Most supermarkets have decently sized spaces (and trolleys with brakes)