To think people without kids who use parent and baby spaces are just lazy and selfish!

[Mummer123]

local Tesco and nearly every single week I have a run in with someone over this. I am 7 months pregnant and have a 1.5 year old. For me it’s not even about the walking, it’s the extra space at the sides so that i can get the baby in the trolly/pram at the side of the car rather than at the boot where there’s traffic.

i don’t mind if there’s older people who clearly are struggling with mobility but fit, healthy people who park there and not a child in sight. A car actually cut the one way system a few days ago to park in the last mother and baby spot. Was a man on his own, plenty of other spaces in the car park. I wouldn’t even park in them if I don’t have my baby with me. I just think it’s so lazy and selfish.

I don't go through my life thinking "no one is stopping me from doing X".

It's just not how I'm wired to think.

Yes it's a marketing tactic, but I actually think it's a lovely one.

I respect and love other fellow mums, and my DCs are old enough now that I don't need it.

If we were able to get through life without sitting there thinking "ooh, no one is stopping me from doing X" the world might be more pleasant.

Instead we have posters like this stressing ardently how much people "don't have a right or entitlement" to something which is a COURTESY , a word which is just lost on today's "what can I grab?' mentality.

I take your point but they aren’t legally enforceable. I had a BB for my mum. Dropped her off at the entrance once, went to park - no BB spaces. Went to the other side of the lane to a P&C space. Was just locking the the car when a lady with 2 Junior school aged kids, in a 4x4, stopped and told me to move my car as I wasn’t entitled to park there and there were no more P&C spaces. Because of the snotty, entitled way she said it, I just told her I wasn’t going to (didn’t mention BB). She then said she could tell by my car (hatchback) and the fact I was single (on my own) that I wasn’t spending a fraction of the money she spends, so she was a better customer! I just laughed, but it did make me question if having separate spaces for P&C was giving some people a false sense of superiority.

Yes.

Unless they have actual signage that says "only adults with children in the car" that is legally written/displaying the PCN conditions etc , then sorry, ANYONE can use the space...

And 99% of them won't have that signage. They'll have, at most, a sign saying "please leave this space available for X/Y/Z"

Because the only way na supermarket could actually enforce the P&C rules it is either by paying someone to patrol and issue PCNs or have a human review/monitored CCTV system that would cost a ridiculous amount of money. And the grief and moaning they'd get for it, wouldn't be worth it.
And let's say the P&C spaces were for adults with children under 8, how can you possibly tell if a child is definitely "under 8".

Honestly, there's no entitlement to the space. It's a courtesy.and the only intention behind it is to encourage you to shop there and hand over your money.

Yes, it's lovely and wonderful.

I don't abuse the space.

But the point is that Johnny Small Dick in his Porsche s allowed to park in that space.

Unfortunately they are courtesy spaces and I treat them as first come first serve tbh whether ds is with me or not.Im not usually entitled but I suppose with this I am.

Literally every argument being made here about the P+C spaces also applies to disabled spaces in a private car park. No one has any right to a space in a disabled bay, they're just as unenforceable and unenforced in private car parks and only work by social contract and common decency. And yet these same posters would be absolutely apoplectic if they thought an able-bodied person without a BB was parking in one.

The double standards on MN when it comes to these parking spaces is, as always, something else.

OP YANBU but this thread went exactly the same way these threads always go because people get upset that you're calling them out on their shit behaviour and they want to keep parking by the shop, leaving you to cross all the driving bits of the car park with your DCs while pushing a trolley full of shopping to the arse end of nowhere.

The point of all parking spaces is to get customers in

No that's not "the point" @IroningBoardAgainstTheWall . I didn't need a legal lesson from you, and you keep saying the same thing over and over.

We all know Johnny Small Dick is able to park his Porsche in there.

But Johnny is just a trope that you and others use to reduce the whole argument to absurdity.

As in "well if Johnny Small Dick does it and no one can do anything about it... well then.. what's the point of talking about it?"

However -

There are loads of mums on here (and I know them as frequent posters on here) who have already said on this thread that anyone can and should use them.

Look at this post on the first page:

There are many people who need extra space or proximity for whatever reason.
yes some people are lazy but others are just trying to do their shopping easily. Those with disabilities don’t have a neon flashing light over their head to identify them.
p and c spaces are a nice thing if you can get one but they aren’t essential. Use one if free but don’t let them stress you out.

So it's clear that the OP actually has a point -

A lot of mums without kids use them
A lot of women use them because they're pissed off at other women for having a perceived advantage that they didn't.

let's not blame all this on Johnny Small Dick, ok?

Haha.. user name checks out.

Oh come on, I've had to traverse a dodgy Aldi carpark with a. Trolley a toddler and small child. Aand there's no parent and child spaces at all... I've managed to get the same kids out of a long stay airport carpark, on a transport bus, with two suitcases.... It's fine, ot ideal, but it really doesn't matter - you just get on with it.

Stop moaning.

You can go on and on about how mean people are using the spaces. But it doesn't matter.

Anyone can use them.

Why do you think that wins the argument? You abuse a courtesy and no one can legally stop you? I'd keep that level of ignorance to myself rather than boast it on internet forums.

Because she's right. That's how.

The thing is for me to get the Doona out the car i have to open the car seat wide. And the normal spaces don't allow for that. Especially if some cunt has pulled in next to me and parked right on the line.

@IroningBoardAgainstTheWall and anyone can be a dick by doing so. All about rights, what about responsibilities?

Right legally, but oh so wrong morally. In the gutter in fact.

I've had to physically leave my baby outside my car and pull my car forward cause of absolute cunts parking that close to me. So for me it's got fuxk all to do with the distance to the doors.

What's wrong with just being nice in general, holding doors open, helping people out etc, just not being a dick

Yep it's no biggie to just park in a normal spot.

Most people are. I am lovely in real life.

But it still doesn't mean OP is more entitled to that space than anyone else.

I used them a few times when I broke my leg so I could get out of the car and into a wheelchair safely. I didn't have a disabled badge so...

😱😱😱

I'm literally astonished about how much people are willing to inconvenience others to park a small amount closer to something when they don't have mobility issues. See also - school drop off!!!

You aren’t being unreasonable but there’s always a wanker who will argue they aren’t legally enforceable/people used to get by without them/get a smaller car blah blah blah

The one that used to wind me up is when someone pulls up with like a 10yo in the car and then leaves them while they nip in. If they are old enough to wait in the car unsupervised you don’t need the bloody space!

I hear you but @IroningBoardAgainstTheWall and others are literally waiting to reply to each instance of this, to say

"But it's not enforceable.
"But no one has a right to the space".

It's just fascinating how much they want to have this perceived valuable space, and how serious they are about inconveniencing mums with young kids.

It's really weird.