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?!

I park in them from 8pm. Children should be in bed.

And yes I know newborns don't have the same schedule, but to be fair I've never bumped into any in the grocery late at night.

Disabled if all disabled spots are full?

This isn't a blurred line, its absolutely appropriate.

A little while ago I confronted a fat middle aged childless couple (by which I mean they had no child with them) loading endless bags of crisps and cakes into their car in the p&c spots after I'd struggled with my over active toddler at the back of the carpark due to no spots and the man squared up to my car and tried to fight me. Clearly these people have no morals... if your response to being called out for wrong doing is to try and fight a lone woman and child, rather than acknowledging what you've done wrong then I just feel sorry for you and whoever raised you.

I can see why they do it, people just don't respect others property! I had my car 3 days before someone scratched it in a car park!

We don't use them unless DS is with us but we had a car that barely fitted in a regular space yet if we parked at the back no matter how many spaces were left someone would park so close it was a nightmare to get in. I had a mini when DS was a baby and it was easier to get him in and out of them than a 6 year old!!

Maybe it should be super mini spaces (not actual minis mine fills a space!) and then regular spaces that are larger.

What has their size, age or dietary habits got to do with it?

This is mumsnet, where you should stop complaining and just merrily squeeze your children out of the 10cm of door space you have because there's chance that man in the parent and child space in his BMW might have a hidden disability and your struggles as a mother are nothing compared to his. Besides, all the seasoned mothers managed it with their relatively tiny cars in the 90s so there's no reason you can't contort yourself and your children out of a much bigger car in the same sized space!

But back in the real world it's absolutely selfish behaviour from people who will for 99% of the time have zero reason to be in the P&C spaces apart from that they value their cars and convenience more than they value the safety and needs of families.

Acting sheepishly?
What was she doing?

The root of the problem is the outdated regulations of the car parking width. It says 2.4 meters which is not enough. Maybe in the 70s when everyone had a mini this would be fine but now most of the parents drive SUVs.
I just came back from the states and you can fully open the doors without touching the other cars. That's what we should have here.

If a p and c space is free use it. If not park elsewhere. Unless you’re a parking warden for that car park it’s nothing to do with you who is parked where.

a small minority of parents seem to develop a sense of helplessness when it comes to parking but strangely they can manage fine in the thousands of car parks at other places that don’t have p and c spaces.

Parents who let their kids fling the door open piss me off far more than non/parents parking in p&c spaces.

If your child can't open a door with care, open it for them and stop damaging other people's cars.

I often park there with my 15 year old. Autism, severe learning difficulties and a bolter. p&c parking places in my local supermarket do not require crossing the road. It's just safer for us. Judge away!

(and before someone suggests I get a BB - turned down twice, my council doesn't issue them for hidden disabilities like DC's).

Wrong, again.

You sound rude and nasty so I might have squared up to you if you confronted me.

I'd probably just tell you to fuck off though.

They need moving from the entrance, if they were put not so close then people could still use them for their intended use but others wouldn't so much.

I was just going to say exactly the same thing.
Move them away from the entrance and people won't use them, I've never understood why they need to be close to the entrance anyway, they aren't disabled spaces

I don’t care.

Would it have been ok if they were thin loading the car with celery? 🙄

When I was using them it never even registered what other people were up to. There was either one available or not.

If not I parked elsewhere, in a quieter part of the car park if possible, or waited, and just got on with it.

It is a minor issue and there is no value spending time monitoring space use and getting yourself wound up about it.

I sometimes use a P&C space at one supermarket. The parking bays are tiny, and I since I had a (less than wholly successful) knee replacement a couple of years ago, I can't bend it very far and need to open the car door wide in order to get out.

When I can find a space between two smaller cars it's manageable (but painful), but there are times when 90% of the cars seem to be massive 4x4s and there isn't a free space where I'd be able to get out.

I never need to do this at either of the other two, which have bigger spaces.

My understanding is that they are close so that they limit the amount of children potentially running through a busy car park.

Is if because people are buying stupidly big cars that they do not need?
I drive a small car.
I don’t park in P&C spaces.
I’m finding more and more drivers of these stupidly big cars ( and yes it’s often a solo driver) take up more than their share of space. They drive over the white line and expect to take up my side of the road. Well tough luck, I’m not making allowances for you.
These entitled folk do not card that you are struggling, they are selfish.

I park in P+C spaces sometimes when out with Mum. She uses a mobility scooter but isn't disabled enough for a blue badge. She can walk a little way, so is considered to be too fit for a badge. I park in the P+C so that I have safe space to get the quite heavy bits of her scooter out of the trunk and assemble them.

We wouldn't park in disabled spaces because they are a legal requirement, but P+C spaces aren't. They are just wider spaces suggested for the use of people with kids, but it's not illegal to use them in other circumstances. I used them when my brother was on crutches too.

I just use the EV spaces now. They seem to be just as wide as the P&C spaces and are usually empty.

😂😂

We use one for dsd because the council has messed up her blue badge, we need to fully open the door to get her in. Only once has someone said "did you know this is a parent and child space" then apologised when they saw dsd. She is dp's child just older !