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?!

Oh my god - how many more of these tedious threads? Does everyone who ever had a child feel compelled to write one and get the exact same replies every time? Mumsnet is not what it used to be.

So calling them crotch goblins is just a nice, benign attitude from a normal person who doesn’t resent their existence is it?

Yes it is. I have many delightful crotch goblins of my own, I don't resent their existence.
What an odd take from you!

That’s genuinely surprising to me because the only people I have ever seen use that phrase before is people without kids making nasty, judgmental comments about kids existing in public spaces because they think it’s a clever, funny way or showing their disdain.

I live and learn - sometimes it’s also used by parents wanting to talk about other people’s children too!

Afraid I'm one of those people.

I DO have kids, they're teenagers, but I also have a disability and currently need a walking stick to get around, but I'm not disabled enough to need a blue badge (go figure)

I'm an asshole out of necessity, I'm going to park in the P&C spaces if i can't get the spot next to them, or on the end of a row, because i need to swing my door wide to get in/out of my car.

You are absolutely selfish and anti-social.

You're not an asshole and you should absolutely feel free to park there.

YANBU. But lots of people are badly raised and selfish. Weirdly, a lot of people on here resent anything that makes parents' lives easier or children safer.

I understand the annoyance but, if you'd be prepared to walk further then, why don't you? People always park as close as they can to the shop, that's human nature.

I have a nice car and park well away from everybody. There'd be space for you there too.

You are telling a person who parks close to the door when they can't walk properly, that they are selfish and anti social, because those spaces are for younger, able bodied people with children?

Are you absolutely sure that is the stance you want to take? That needing to get a car seat out is more important than someone with a physical disability?

You are quite sure that you want to call someone with a physical disability selfish and anti-social for making reasonable accomodations so they can live their lives?

Interesting stance.

A child is a choice and temporary, a disability is forever and never asked for.

Are you really this breathtakingly unaware?

That's the problem with P&T spaces. They generate a real sense of entitlement amongst some parents, who then think they're entitled to have a go at elderly people for parking in them, or to use a disabled space if a p&t space isn't available.

I agree they should be moved further away from the door and spaces by the door should be reserved for disabled and elderly people. Trolley bays should be put near the P&T spaces so that any parent who isn't in a position to hold their small child's hand while crossing the car park can put them in the seat of the trolley. No need for healthy and fit young parents to be hogging all the spaces near the door.

This sounds interesting, can you register more than one car per badge? I look after a BB holder but the badge moves with them so it’s used in several cars depending on who’s looking after her.

I do think they should be displayed though, some people still have balls depending on where they are to park in the space because they think no one needs it, but I’ve had to question someone before who took the last one and of course they weren’t a holder so they got in and moved. I fear that if the need to display them is completely removed then there’ll be more like this.

Antisocial behaviour and selfishness? ODFOD

Yes. It’s antisocial and selfish to use the parent and child spaces if you don’t have children and just fancy using them so that you get to park your financed BMW 2 series right by the shop door.

The more disappointing but though is how proud of themselves are the arseholes that do it.

You replied to someone who has physical pain and finds walking difficult. Now you’re on about a financed BMW. you sound unhinged.

That’s an incredibly ignorant post. Not all disabilities are permanent, and some are absolutely the result of people’s choices.

I’m sorry that you’re so bitter that your choice to have a child isn’t protected in law with a dedicated parking space, my commiserations

These spaces are concessionary, not enforceable. People can basically use them, with out without kids. It's not very social, but that's life nowadays.

I’m not bitter about anything, I’m just amused at the detritus on here trying to take the high ground about their entitlement at Aldi.

Shoplifters are everyone's problem. It costs us. Mummies and Daddies having to walk a bit further through the car park, is not really that much of an issue...🙄

You said that to someone who does have children, and has a physical disability.

Are you high?

People like us?

you know, this is the absolute height of ignorance. Would you like my disintegrating spine, arthritic hip, 24hr chronic debilitating sciatic pain, back pain, hip pain and fatigue, the numerous dr and specialist appointments and meds that i have to take 3x a day just to stop me from curling in a ball on the floor and crying?

Not all of us are disabled enough to qualify for a blue badge, even if we're in pain and need mobility aids, because the current system is a cunt. I'd love to be able to use the BB spaces, but legally, i can't.. but i also can't park in the normal spaces because i need to get both feet on the floor and haul myself physically upright to stand, which means needing to get my door wide open.

If that means inconveniencing an able bodied parent who is just going to have a little bit of an awkward game getting their toddler/baby out of the car, then so be it.

I have kids, i know what its like to try and get one out the car, it was a damn sight easier and safer than trying to get ME out of the car without me falling flat on my face because my bad leg collapsed because it can't take my weight at the moment.

I'd LOVE to be able to slide out the car like i used to, but i can't. So if i can't get an end space, or reverse into one NEXT to a P&C/BB space, then i will use the P&C spaces available.

If it makes you feel like a better person shaming me because my body is broken and failing, then carry on. Says a whole lot more about who you are as a person, than me.

The point is that a person with a disability usually has to turn the car around and go home if they can't get an appropriate parking spot. A parent with a child may have to struggle a bit more to get their child out of the car, but not getting a dedicated space doesn't exclude them from being able to shop.

There is absolutely no comparison between the two situations.

Interestingly, to me anyway, a look at an online dictionary showed that there were quite a few but many have largely fallen into disuse. Words such as: oaf, pillock, chump, goon, clot, knucklehead, muppet, blackguard, heel, knave, rapscallion, rogue, reprobate, scoundrel, shyster, scamp, villain.

We tend to use much more vulgar terms nowadays: bastard, prick, dickhead, dipstick and because it was an American dictionary: motherfucker, jerk, asshole, jackass and the ultimate in misogyny son of a bitch.

Some, perhaps many of the above terms could apply to women as well, but in my experience they were used primarily, if not exclusively, for men.

It does seem that some insulting words used to describe women were only used about women: hag, bitch, nag and as you point out harridan. Karen might be a modern example, although it seems men are increasingly being called Karens. I don't know if that is progress or not.

I suppose everything is now moving to 'pinging', camera recognition, and enforcement.

I remember when people had to display tax discs, and residents' parking permits. Now you don't - it's all online.

I suspect there will end up being central registration of blue badges at supermarkets etc of up to two cars per badge, or some workaround where there is a care agency involved in taking a client out shopping.

Regarding 'parent & child' courtesy bays - I'd be extremely surprised if they weren't phased out entirely in favour of 'wider bays for customers who need them' and/or linked somehow to loyalty card registration. No reggie, big finey.