To park next to tank-like cars

[Getmoveon14]

When collecting my son I like to park in a certain area so he knows where to find me. Today when I arrived there was only one space in this part of the car park so I parked there. Trouble is, it was very close to a monster BMW car. When the driver got out she bashed her door against my car. Luckily it didn't cause any damage and I decided to move before things got worse, but it made me think is it really reasonable for certain cars to need two spaces in a car park?

Rural villages where? No one is buying a tank sized audi or BMW because they are safer in a rural village

The rural villages round me have narrow roads, and we had a near complete gridlock situation recently where 2 big audis literally couldn't pass each other (at least not without risking a scratch)

Yes I agree there should be limits on sizes of cars in the U.K. especially in the city. Or maybe car parks could say no wider than in the same way height can be restricted.

it would seem pointless to reduce the capacity of a car park by increasing the width of each space.

Pretty much everyone around here has a 4×4 . If you do not, you cannot drive for chunks of the year due to snow or flooding. Cars are regularly abandoned in the winter because drivers couldn't manage the conditions. It is foolhardy to go out with children not knowing if you can complete your journey.

We’ve lost sight of what a normal car looks like.

Part of the trouble too is that children's car seats are now massive. That's brilliant for child safety in accidents but it is a pain in the bum if you want to fit more than two in a car! My husband is 6' 7" and when we had a second child we had to get rid of my beloved Ford Fiesta because it just wouldn't fit him and two car seats. I imagine it is even worse if you have three children as our middle space is unusable even with two!

I agree. Car park width has become problematic in some places, but I think a lot of it is people being entitled and rude. The issue isn't the size of the car or the parking space, if she'd taken all due care and couldn't get out that would be one thing, but it sounds like she didn't even try let alone apologise. The problem here isn't her car width or the car park width, its that she's an entitled arsehole.

I should also add that I always put my own body between my car and someone else's so that I don't damage their car/my kids can't accidentally swing the door. Not, unfortunately, courtesy someone did to me when they dented my driver's door on my new car...

Car park spaces are getting too small , it's not just about big cars not fitting but some smaller cars are parked at weird angles meaning the next space along has to park weirdly to fit in and then it continues

YANBU. Idiotic people with their giant cars.

I don't know what the solution is, but a lot of UK settlements are based on medieval street plans and that isn't going to change.

In the affluent SE town where I grew up (medieval street plan, scads of SUVs), all car parks built or remodelled in the last 10 years or so have got wider spaces.

Although I have a 1990s licence and can therefore drive a 15 seater minibus or (I believe) some light goods van classes with no extra test or licence, I know my own limitations and therefore drive a 12 year old Polo. Sometimes when I go back to it in a car park it has disappeared into a metal canyon created by two obese vehicles!

I do think an extra test would be a good idea, because a significant number of drivers of large cars can't reverse properly and if your car is the same size as a goods van, you need the same kind of skills. I'm not fab at either parking or reversing but I don't often get into pickles because my car is small.

The car park for the supermarket in Uckfield has such small spaces. I've always wondered why they've kept them that small. In a 6/7 person car I needed to go out through the boot.

I don't live there but visit a relative that lives near.

Cars don't need to be so big, it's a hazard on some older roads when driving too. It's just like you can start widening roads for these stupid oversized cars. It's not going to solve the parking issue at present but car manufacturers should be reducing the size of cars. Half the people can't even drive them properly anyway.

DH's car is far too big for me as I'm used to a Mini. I parked it in a local car park and despite being parked perfectly, the wheels were over both white lines! I ended up having to drive to a different car park. It's not even classed as a 4x4 so goodness knows how people in proper tanks cope.

That being said, I find the doors on the mini are badly designed too because they have to be opened really wide to get out so I still can't take advantage of tight spaces.

We need a wider space for our clio than our land rover as the clip is s 3 door, so the doors are really long and need to open wide to get the children out the back.

It looks like a toy car in car parks sometimes!

There should be design regs on car size and weight, our roads and parking spaces are not designed for these cars, even mid sized EV's are the size of Range Rover from just a few years ago.

Wider parking bays means less parking and who pays for this widening?

fwiw i always look to park away from other vehicles if possible and or shop at quieter times.

I hate the ugly bus like cars out there at the moment. I park away from them

Dog had operation a couple of weeks ago and friend took me to vet to collect him. 6.30pm so large, empty car park, couple of staff cars over the other side. Friend parked tank-like car and went in to collect dog as I can't carry him. Another car arrives and parks alongside us, - WHY THERE? - so closely that we now can't open door wide enough to get dog in. I asked madam if she'd be kind enough to move her car forward a few feet. Cue tirade of 'don't tell me what to do'. Pointed out it was her car that would be damaged if I had to open that door. More shouty entitlement then stropped off with her 'very sick dog'. Fortunately she and the very sick dog bounced out 5 minutes later and she left with a final performance of entitlement. Why, in an otherwise empty car park, do people do this? Enough space for 20 double decker buses; why park right next to me so closely I can't open their door? Must be some subconscious herd instinct. Drives me to the brink.

@LlynTegid sorry but what a stupid sweeping judgement to make! So every BMW driver (of which there are probably thousands) is an inconsiderate person? What happens when they change cars and drive a Mini for instance? Do they suddenly change personality? Honestly don't have enough eye rolls for comments like that

Mini are owned by BMW, so I suppose that makes sense

It's annoying when people park next to you but the fact that your friend could not open the door at all, suggests her car may be the real problem here.

What would she do in a full car park? If the owner wasn't in the car? She's either have reverse or be stuck. Can't say I've ever experienced that myself I my normal sized car.

I once parked my normal sized car in a parking space and did an excellent job of being perfectly and evenly within the lines I noticed. One car to my left and a space to the right. Plenty of other spaces. Just as I was getting out (car door opening) a massive SUV driver came and parked on my right. So I paused and waited. She parked so close I really struggled to get out without hitting her car. As I was struggling to get out, she saw this and I smiled and said these parking spaces aren’t wide enough are they?! She agreed and asked me to move my car. I nearly got back in to move it, until I caught myself and said ‘no, I want to park here’. Bloody cheek.

Probably because she's useless at parking and needs another car to be able to park her tank. Ive seen this on mn before. Posters would rather park next to the one car in a car park as they can't line up or use mirrors properly to see painted lines.

EVs are just regular sizes. We have small one that’s exactly the same size as its ICE counterpart. The cars I see at the chargers don’t look bigger to me either. It’s SUVs that look big to me.

I did say mid sized! not small like yours.

I ve family estate car, its dwarfed by its EV equivalent, those batteries have to go somewhere, plus there is the weight.

You don't need big cars to deal with snow or flooding. The little 4x4 Toyotas in the 80s did just fine; better than today's monstrosities.