Called a "c*nt" in front of his kid over a P&C spot...

[SorryIParkedWrong]

Hi all,
Need a sanity check on an interaction I had yesterday that's still bothering me.
I used a Parent & Child spot yesterday at a quiet retail park. I know, technically wrong, but I was doing a massive haul for a house move and needed the boot space, and loads of other P&C spots were free so I wasn't leaving anyone without.
The issue happened when I got back to my car after shopping. I was in the driver's seat, engine on, and was just about to reverse out and leave.
A car pulled into the P&C space next to me. A woman got out with her young child and. She came right up to my window, which was cracked open, and said in a really aggressive tone, "You shouldn't be parked there."
Not wanting any drama or to explain my point to an emotionally enraged individual, I just said, "Ok," and put the car fully in reverse to leave. That's when she and the dad who appeared completely kicked off. Standing right by my car door, she launched into an absolute tirade.
She was shouting all sorts - "cunt," "fucking little shit," "look at your shit car," "fucking shit driving." All while her own young child stood there watching the whole thing.
I briefly stopped reversing, said through the window "I hope you have a lovely rest of your day," and then started to move again. She and her husband just kept going with the abuse, so I stopped the car again because I was just in disbelief. I looked at her and started laughing at the sheer absurdity and the level of her rage.
I know I shouldn't have used the spot. But AIBU to think her reaction was completely unhinged? Does my minor error give someone the right to hurl that level of personal, nasty abuse at a stranger, especially in front of their own child?
It honestly felt like she was just projecting all her life's problems onto me over a parking space. What do you think?

YABU to have parked there. That was lazy.

YANBU to be annoyed by the way she spoke. People who react like that infront of their kids shouldn't have kids.

I put YANBU... Very few things in life warrant that level of abuse and aggression. And in front of their child?!

Both parties come across as entitled and unhinged.

There are lots of people who need extra accommodation of more room but are not registered disabled or don't have kids so I object to the parent and child space

Well………..it was extremely hot yesterday……..maybe everyone was feeling the heat!
Seriously though, what extra boot space did the P & C bay provide? And more to the point…..why not reverse INTO the bay, then you can safely drive forwards out of it and you wouldn’t be hanging around and be subjected to a verbal onslaught from the parking police?
Faults all round on this topic.

@cryptide I think they’re close to the entrance to reduce the amount of time you have to spend manoeuvring through a car park with children.

The awful thing about this is that they are comfortable acting like that in front of their child.

Child aside, I wonder if I can rent this couple to defend the spaces at my local Morrisons where the P&C spaces seem to be always taken up by work vans!

Would you park in a disabled bay.Guessing not. So why take a space for mothers/young DC then.Shes probably hot,sleep deprived and fed up! Comes along and sees yet another entitled bugger using a space not meant for her.my DC are older but I well remember the hassle of struggling with a fractios tot,stacks of shopping and an oder DD. Learn for future, don't be a dick.i have a bad knee ,and In recovery from Chemo .however I don't use a disabled space ,because I don't have a blue badge⁸⁸

You were lazy, knew exactly what you were doing but decided to park selfishly anyway. They behaved like lunatics. I wouldn’t have time for either of you.

I get verbal abuse from disabled people for parking in blue badge spaces with my blue badge and disabled child. People are nasty even you can prive you need the spaces but they don't shout at the white van parking in the blue badge space with no blue badge. Some people want a fight.

This. I'd have taken their reg number and reported them to the police for threatening behaviour.

P&C spaces are ridiculous. We all managed to park fine without them in the old days . If I see one and it's convenient I use them too. Meh.

If you have any details such as car reg, report to the police. Both people unfit to drive given their behaviour.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

This doesn't make sense. Why would you punish parents by forcing them furthest away? They are handling the same shopping and the child on top of it.

I'm pretty sure that if someone asked the shop, they would say that heavily pregnant women can and should use those spaces.

Fooking hell …. Im going to get slaughtered for this but …..children have not just been invented! Some of us had kids 30 or so years ago before these ‘entitled’ spaces existed. Yes, baby seats existed then too 🙄. No, life was not easier then, we still had big cars, we still worked were short of time, we still struggled to open doors fully. We survived and got through daily life though without getting angry at everyone else, My child might have had to walk across a car park with me but I ALWAYS held their hand. No danger. In fact I’d park further over the back to give me more space. They’d be in the trolley seat in the walk back to the car. No danger. I don’t park in P&C spaces but good god, give the OP a break. She messed up, but didn’t warrant the aggression she encountered.

You shouldn’t have parked there but then again I don’t agree with these spaces. You see people parking there with pre teens in the car. That’s not what they are for. I wonder how they would have got on in my day with getting very young children (3 very close together), on & off buses and walking everywhere with them. They are so entitled now. Before I get blasted, I get the get the car seat out of the car etc.

Wow the knives are out on this one! The level of vitriol people are heaping on OP is absurd. You are saying she's 'vile', 'deeply unpleasant' 'entoitled' etc. Have you no sense of irony about being exactly the same way in your comments?

And I find people who feel entitled to P&C places obnoxious. Yes, they're convenient but they're not mandatory - y'all acting like the world owes you priority status. Will the world end if you have to use a normal space? No.

'Would you park in a disabled bay.Guessing not. So why take a space for mothers/young DC then.Shes probably hot,sleep deprived and fed up'

2 completely different scenarios. Disabled people need a space that is larger if they have mobility aids and they need to be close to shops because they are disabled. Parents with young dc are the same as everyone else parking requirement wise.

OP doesn't have a short term disability though does she - she just wanted to buy a lot of stuff and couldn't be arsed to walk further.

Them being available and accessible for people with kids and people with short term disabilities/the elderly is exactly why people who don't have a good reason to need extra space or to be closer to the shops SHOULDN'T be parking in them.

i have a blue badge as walking can be difficult for me but these entitled parents think it’s fine to park in a disabled space

The spaces are provided as a courtesy for those that need them.

I actually don’t have an issue with someone who is wrangling a huge shopping load using the space; or someone with their leg in a cast or someone with an elderly passenger who doesn’t have a blue badge.

people would do well to be generally more tolerant of others

It sounds like you met your match there

P&C spaces should be replaced by over 70s spaces. Older peope often aren't eligible for a blue badge but many have mobility issues. Unlike young parents who should be able to walk the length of a car park without the drama that the op encountered.

you were in the wrong! not only did you selfishly use a p&c spot but you smiled and laughed knowing full well it would enrage them more. You completely deserved what you got.

It is wrong, on the basis that you do not own that land and that the people who do have VERY clearly sign posted and marked that it is only for use by certain people. Parking in P&C without a valid reason is technically (if you want to get very legally specific) trespassing. There’s a reason you’ll get ticketed and fined if caught.

Obviously it’s quite a small infraction in the grand scheme of morally grey things to do but it’s in the same category as cutting in ahead of people in queues and eating unpackaged fruit as you walk around the supermarket because it ‘just a sample’.
individually these behaviours are irksome but don’t seem like a ‘huge big deal’ but ultimately there all pieces of a jigsaw that result in a shitty entitled overall person who thinks they’re better than following societal etiquette.

It's never ok to use that word - it's very offensive (and no, it's not a term of endearment in Scotland, nobody I know who's Scottish has ever said Cactus, love, you're such a c*nt).

As for parking in P&C spaces who cares? They're not for blue badge holders and in my view people should pay if they need a bigger space because they drive a massive SUV or have a million kids - if your child has a disability you have a blue badge anyway. I somehow think it would concentrate a few minds, given people hate paying for parking, despite paying for very expensive cars.

'Parking in P&C without a valid reason is technically (if you want to get very legally specific) trespassing'

🤣🤣