Non Parents in Parent and Child parking spots

[MrsM494]

Its really getting on my nerves how people are parking in Parent and Child spots despite not having children. I saw 3 cars like this today and 2 the other week. I watched one woman act sheepishly as she saw me struggle to take my toddler and baby out of my car in a regular parking spot, whilst she (with no children) parked in a parent and child spot. I don't want to be confrontational but would I be in the wrong to ask people to park better?!

Combined age of about 130??

I would use the disabled bays! I know it's a choice having kids as opposed to having a disability but your mum could do with the space regardless of how far she can walk with a stick (on a good day I imagine), you should be entitled to part there. In this sense disability inequality is an issue for us all, if not-quite-disabled-enough (according to the council) are taking up parent and child spaces then it's not just a disabled issue, it's once again society not looking after it's most vulnerable, and a bunch of lazy f*cks making it even harder for the most vulnerable by taking one of the few provisions they do have!!!

The only thing about deciding to park in a designated disabled bay is that some retail parks, to combat people parking there (that as far as the rules go) aren’t entitled have introduced a penalty charge for anyone not displaying a blue badge.

Genuine question here.
This is me not knowing a thing and trying to learn and Google is giving contrasting answers.
Not trying to poke or provoke. Only learn the rules / law.

What's the rules on private car parks?
For instance. The asda near me charges for parking. They use a private company for this who sends fines to people. (The daily complaints on the local FB group tells me they catch multiple people daily) and it is monitored 24/7 by cameras and operators who issue the fines.
Now they charge for parking all over (not just parent parking)
If on their tiny small print sign they had a "parent and child parking spaces are for people loading and unloading children into and out of their cars. People using these allocated spaces outside of these conditions will be issued a fine of £##" then would it be enforceable?

There has been chat on the group saying that none of their parking fines are enforceable because its private and not government issued and encouraging people to not pay because there's nothing they can do about it if you don't. Which I don't get either.

Like I said. Not trying to be controversial. Just trying to understand parking law in the UK.

I would be ashamed to use the disabled bays, plus it would be illegal. There has to be a line drawn somewhere on who can get a blue badge and, although it's strict, we don't have a huge problem with it. Mum doesn't consider herself disabled anyway, she's a certain age and can't walk as far as she'd like to.
Why would I use disabled bays illegally, and potentially stop someone with severe needs getting parked, when there are larger spaces available that I can use legally? I haven't seen any notices about fines for parking in C+P spaces - think about it, that would be impossible to enforce without staff stationed watching constantly. However it's easy to see if a car has a blue badge displayed and I'm 100% in favour of fines for anyone parking in them without one.

It's helpful for parents with children to be able to park in a larger space, but when those spaces are full they can and do manage elsewhere. Someone who uses a chair and hoist, just for example, can't.

I cruise the car park looking for a place where I can reverse in with a low verge or footpath behind the car. Or maybe where I can get on the end of a row and put the scooter on hatchings beside the car. But if the only larger option is C+P spaces that's where you'll find me, lifting out the components of the scooter, putting it together, and getting Mum on board in safety.

The disabled spots annoy me more. Selfish bastards.

I was shouted at by a woman for parking in a parent and child space, I had a child in the car who is T1 diabetic and was having a hypo so I was rushing to get him a snack to bring his levels up, people don’t know the circumstances all the time!

what's your point?

I think it’s the car park designers to blame. Put these spaces away from the entrance then the lazy child free people won’t park in them. I would rather walk my kids/pram a bit further but park safely and remove the kids without a squeeze.

If you look up the dictionary and legal definitions of who is a child, I'm a bit too old to fit that category. 🙄

Yes because practically every school in the country doesn’t have an issue with lazy people with children parking on zig zags, double yellow lines and across people’s driveways so they don’t have to walk far with their children at the beginning and end of the school day.

And what gets me are people calling these parking bays - ‘mother/parent and child’ - they are ADULT and child

If YOU look at a dictionary you will find that in the context used, you are ALWAYS your parents child. Age doesn't come into it. You can be 85 and be someones child. The actual definition is:

1. A young human below the age of puberty OR the age of legal majority
2. A son or daughter OF ANY AGE.

so again, what is your point?

For fucks sake, do you always take MN discussions so seriously?

😂

Anyway, you sai -
'You were right to use it.

In any case, she's the parent and you're her child, so what's the issue anyway?'

You know full well that parent and child spaces aren't intended for the use of adults accompanied by adults. So your point wasn't particularly clever was it?

(You can nag on at me some more if you like, but I'll completely ignore your comments).

A disabled person with or without a blue badge using the parent and child bays is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps look up the law. P&C is a courtesy. Not a legal requirement.

I think there should be extra space spaces in one area and close to the door/quick park spaces at the entrance. That way anyone who needs extra space can have one without having birthed a child, and people who can't be arsed to walk or only want to grab a sandwich can go in the close spaces if there is one. No discrimination, first come first served, covers all the entitled groaners in big car owners and leaves disabled spaces free for those that need them.

God I don't know why I always end up pulled into these threads but they wind me up so here we go!
It is not "entitled" to expect to be able to use a P and C space if you have a child / baby with you. Nobody in their right mind would resent a disabled person using one if they needed it.
"It is not a legal requirement but a courtesy" so using one when you don't need it is a bit like not queue jumping or letting a door swing shut in someone's face. Do you do that too?
It doesn't matter that you "coped" in your day. I bet your grandparents generation "coped" without a washing machine but I'm sure you use one. It's called progress.
And needing space to put together a mobility scooter is EXACTLY THE SAME as needing space to put together a buggy. It doesn't trump that need. It's equal. Both need the space.
And the most ridiculous one of all "having children is a choice" I mean WTF? Yes it's a choice that we need people to make if we want to keep society running. It's not like choosing to wear high heels and then saying you need a space at the front because you can't walk that far because of your shoes.
And when my twins were babies (they're 7 now so I haven't used P and C for a while) I did end up literally stuck once in a regular space. I couldn't get the doors open wide enough on one side to get one baby in. (No I didn't take them out the car in their car seats ever before anyone tells me I shouldn't be so selfish as to expect to be able to do that) I had PND so wasn't in a good place mentally anyway but I just remember sitting on the pavement crying. I didn't know what to do. I would have had to get one baby in, get in the car myself, shut the door and reverse out of the space to get the other one in. I thought about it, but they were about 9 months at the time and he would have thought I was abandoning him in the car park. I'd probably have traumatized him. So we sat and waited for ages until a traffic warden came along who agreed to stand with the baby and keep him calm and safe while I did reverse out. So yes they ARE needed.

Being disabled is not equal to having children. Both may bring challenges but they are not the same or anywhere near equal.

Nice try. I didn't say they were the same. I said the space needed to put together a buggy or a mobility scooter is the same.

Exactly and unless the child is in some way disabled, the time needing these spaces is self limiting. I do like the idea of renaming these spaces ‘accessible’. However, I sadly think it will encourage even more cheeky fuckery.

As for entitlement, I have a bb and I one time when I needed to just get some cash from the machine. I have chronic fatigue, was having a really bad day and struggling to walk more than a couple of steps. I parked in the p&c as it is far closer to the machine and annoyingly all p&c spaces are closer to Sainsbury’s entrance / exit than the bb ones. I put my bb up. A woman approached me and had a right go at me for using the space despite my explaining I have a bb.

Well it’s not. For a start if you have to put a pram up slightly away from the car it’s easy to carry a baby to the pram. Less so for a disabled adult!

Fair enough but for a mobility scooter user you can use the P and C space anyway and nobody with a brain would mind. You can also (probably) use a BB space. So what's the issue? Why can't we have spaces put aside for parents and children? This is what I don't get. I don't want spaces taken away from BB holders. And I have no issue with someone with a disability using a P and C but I don't get the absolute glee some people take in trying to make sure they're not available to people with young children. Why? WTF is that about?

The problem is too many parents hold these spaces in such high regard they don’t give any brain space to why others may need the extra space. On this thread there has been a poster calling disabled people selfish for using a p and c space.

there are a lot of circumstances when people - not blue badge holders - will need that extra space and be on a par for need of parents. That’s why I would much prefer to see ideally all spaces much wider or spaces being renamed accessible spaces so people who need the extra space for whatever reason can use them without being made to feel guilty.

my issue comes not with the spaces but the people who are so narrow minded they can’t appreciate that people who aren’t parents also have times when the extra space and/or vicinity to the shop is going to make life easier.

Thanks, that's been my point all along. I know it's not illegal and we use the spaces.

I was responding to one individual in particular who is trying to say we were entitled to use P+C spaces because I am a child with my mother... 😂

Oh sorry, I should have read the whole quote. We are in agreement then. I read your post about your mum upthread btw. Totally doing the correct thing.