Parent and child spaces should be for those with children 5 and under

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Parent-child parking spaces at supermarkets should be reserved primarily for those with children aged 5 and under, aside from older children with special needs (although a blue badge might be more appropriate where they meet the criteria, in these cases).

I was alone with my 4 month old today, the trolleys with the baby seats are kept next to these spaces. The spaces which have the easiest access to the trolleys had all been taken with the last taken by someone just before me, I reversed into a space around the corner and the driver was shaking their head at me, presumedly because their space only had extra room on one side and my space came up to them (see picture). I was surprised to then see them get out with a child of about 13. I saw multiple other people using these spaces with children looking like teenagers. I was able to get a space which still had fairly easy access to the trolleys, albeit by needing to walk on the road and inbetween the other cars, multiple people had parked in the spaces with the easiest access with much older children. I was lucky to get a space at all, had I not I would have had to walk across the busy carpark holding my baby.

YANBU- Just because someone has a child under 16 doesn’t mean they should take up these spaces, they should save them for people who need them the most.

YABU- first come first served, who cares if someone with a baby is having to traipse across a busy car park holding a baby to get to the baby trolleys.

Which is why I mentioned blue badge spaces

By your standard then Regular parking spaces are a nice to have not a necessity?

The car park at my local village supermarket is really small and it’s not unusual for it to fill up completely. In such instances the P&C bays are fair game for anyone!

I think they’re a bit silly to be honest, it’s not like you’ve got to walk a mile to the shop front and there’s no legal basis for priority parking just because you’ve got a kid.

I used to use them when dd was little because they were closer to the shop. It felt like a nice little perk of being a parent. I didn't need the extra space.

Indeed most cars that can fit three car seats across the back are going to be tight in a normal space. I wish more cars had sliding doors tbh.

No.

HTH.

What would you do if you got to the shop and there wasn't any left because they were being used by "under 5's"?
Would you drive home and try again the next day. Or would you still park up and walk your baby across a "busy and dangerous" car park.
For what it's worth, my 4 month old baby was a lot safer in my arms across a busy car park/road than my 6yr old who would have just ran off and not thought about the danger.

Mummy martyrs? I was only popping a baby or toddler in a sling, what would I need one for? If someone was unreasonably close I hopped in the other side with baby to put him in. I left them for people who did need one.

Pregnant people?

👀👀

Guessing you have an SUV or other oversized car? Your solution is to get a narrower car. I have a golf and never had an issue with opening the door enough to put babies or kids in car seats.

The supermarkets can't police who parks here so there's no point adding extra restrictions. The best way to make it work would be to put the spaces further away, with a safe path back to the shop, and then those who need more space can have it and those who need to be nearer can park closer.

YABU they're for people with car seats. I have three children and these spaces allow me the room to get them all in and out safely and check belts etc. i haven't given the fact I'm still using them a second thought.

They should be far away from the store entrance.
What's needed is extra space - not closeness to the entrance.

Move them to the far end of the car park and put a pen with trollies with the seats in up there too so they aren't even having to carry the child to the store or leave the child in the car alone to take the trolley back. They could even put a path along the edge with a railing, creating a walkway from the p&c spaces to the front of the store.

Why should you get preferential treatment? Do you pay more for your groceries?

Blue badge - yes absolutely.

But why should people who don't or can't have children, have to give priority to you? If it's that important, they should put the extra wide spaces as far away from the front door as possible. Then no-one will mind and it saves all the arguing & resentment.

And I say that as a single mum who always took my baby ds to Tesco with me.

Or maybe just rethink the size of cars

WTF are you on about?

Technically, of course most of us could manage without cars, especially if the state invested in proper public transport. But what does that have to do with the thread?

Supermarkets provide car parks to attract customers. And yes, they provide p&c spaces to attract customers too. The difference is that I wouldn't consider it an infringement of my human rights if a car park was full, I would just look for another space elsewhere.

What is your point, exactly?

I agree to a point, but would amend to under 8 rather than under 5. My daughter at 7 has only just started reliably buckling her own seat belt, I still need space to lean in to help our 5 year old.
And then you have the challenge of knowing their actual age - our 7 year old is the height of a 10 year old, so I would need to carry her passport everywhere yo prove under 8?

Some kids use car seats until age 12, by which time if they’re NT I would absolutely expect them to be able to strap themselves in and open the door themselves

I don't get wound up, life is too short.

It's the Easter holidays the spaces will get used more than usual. Peak times I park elsewhere (3 & 4 year olds). I get the eldest out first and she waits in front of me whilst I get the youngest out. I hold the doors so we don't hit the car next to us.

You carrying an immobile baby across a car park is a lot safer than someone with 6 year old twins trying to walk across a car park.

Suck it up buttercup!

Dedicated parking for disabled people only.

And first come, first served parking for everyone else. Or invest heavily in proper public transport and ban cars for all those without blue badges.

I agree with another poster. I think there should be more disabled spaces. I'm nearly 70 and have a disability, both of which are fairly obvious. Last year I went to our very large out of town shopping mall which has parking for 3000 cars. All of the disabled bays were taken up so I parked in one of the parent & child ones of which there were about 15 empty. It was 3.15pm on a Sunday and the Mall closes at 4pm. I just wanted to buy one item from M & S.

As soon as I opened my door a tall, strapping man of around 30 years old poked his head into my car. It made me jump out of my skin. I glanced in my rear mirror and saw his wife/partner standing behind my car with a baby in a sling. My god this guy intimidated me. Told me how selfish, thoughtless, ignorant and pathetic I was. How I had no idea what it was like to be a young parent. Really? On and on he went until I was nearly in tears. I was unable to get past him and out of my car.

These people were young and healthy and there were two of them with just one baby. There were also plenty of parent & child parking spaces and the Mall would be closing within 45 minutes. In fact they did have a p&c parking space and were actually leaving.

Eventually I got my phone out and threatened to call the police if he didn't move. I didn't know what else to do. Eventually his wife told him to "leave the old lady alone". After that I didn't go into M & S and I just drove home shaking and in tears.

I'm very sorry that this happened to you@ginasevern. You did nothing wrong.

Some people are tossers.

@ginasevern That is EXACTLY why I believe there needs to be a massive increase in disability spaces and P&C either scrapped or located at the back. Parents think they can behave like parking wardens, and it’s dreadful.