People who park in child and parent spaces when they don't have kids.

[Fortheloveofpurple]

Does this annoy anyone else? I personally don't care about the distance from the shop but I need the room to get my kids out of the car. And when I say when they don't have kids I mean they don't have them with them or a disabled badge or anything. Where I am from it happens so regularly. It makes me so mad 🙈😂

It really pisses me off too. Mine are older now so we dont need parent and child spaces. But it still gives me the rage when people misuse them. Life's hard enough with little children, least you can do is let them have a parking space where they can get their buggy out easily

I’d be more embarrassed to proudly admit to insurance fraud tbh…

It's pure selfishness. And there's a good reason for them being closer to the door of the supermarket, because small children are much more at risk of being hit by a car and seriously injured than an adult, so a short distance from car to shop is much safer.

I do if all of the disabled spaces are full and I have my mum (blue badge holder) in the car.

I apologise! I should have searched as opposed to writing on here! I am going to politely suggest that next time you are bored with a thread then you don't read or comment on it. I didn't realise people posted on here for solutions! I thought they posted to moan and get some support when they are at their wits end. But I shall take your feedback on board.

I can't bring myself to get worked up about this. If a space is empty, great but if not then we'll just park at the back and never had any issues with space when doing that.

So true! I posted to get out of my system. I hadn't realised I would get so many responses lol. But you are correct. I could shout but I'm sure that person doesn't care 🙈

I didn't proudly admit to any such thing. Insurance all sorted it out. I personally couldnt see how the other scratch was caused by the other car, but both insurers agreed it was. Not my problem and no embarrassment at all. I wont argue with the experts 🤷‍♀️

I think I get annoyed because I am a mum running around doing things for others. I would never have dreamed of parking in a child's space before and I don't do it when I have my eldest child (5) only my youngest. But yes I was angry earlier on about it. I'm so grateful for the love and support on here. It is so lovely that a place like mumsnet is available where people can come on and ask questions or just vent without being linked to the nazi party ... Who commited genocide. I do really appreciate it! ☺️

My answer to this is to have every space extra large like Costco and no P&C parking.

YANBU I can see your point

I have a family member who might end up needing one if what is wrong with her turns out to be incurable/old age. But as they are not on PIP (and would not qualify for PIP as they are not below the income threshold) we are unlikely to be sucessful with a blue badge application when the time comes. Blue badges are linked to PIP here.

I had no idea that being above a certain income threshold protects you from mobility problems ! 🤡

🤣🤣🤣

As a blue badge holder, I parked in one a few months ago, as all the disabled spaces were full. The parent-and-child space I parked in was the last one before they reverted to standard spaces, and I think I took the last one, as a mum pulled into the 'normal' space next to me and started to take her very young baby out of its seat, and get a pram out of the boot of her car, while I was getting my wheelchair out of my boot.

The barrage of abuse I got from the mum was shocking. She literally ranted at me for daring to take a parent and child space and that my blue badge isn't a licence to park wherever I wanted. She correctly pointed out that I didn't have to open any of the rear doors on my car to get a baby out like she did, and as I only needed to access my boot, I should show some consideration and park in a normal space. I pointed out that I can't exit my car without having the driver's door wide open, and therefore also need the additional space to the side, and was pretty shocked when she suggested I should therefore go and park in an isolated area of the car park about half a mile away 🙄

But... a blue badge sort of is a licence to park wherever you want, isn't it?

She was a tit, ignore her.

Well that mum was rude and whilst annoying, I can completely understand why a wheelchair user may need to park in a parent and child space. Although I personally would not park in a disabled space as a parent as I feel disability trumps baby.

Absolutely "unhinged" to use a MN favourite.

If I had to guess, I'd say Self centred new mum who thinks the world revolves around her because she is the only person in the world to have birthed a child. 🙄 Insufferable.

Never mind that you likely need such a parking space for life, while she only needs it for a year or so. Absolutely no empathy.

I guess if the car park is so full ie there are no spaces for you to park further away from the store while still allowing you to open you car doors wide, then I can see it would be annoying.
IME, supermarket car parks usually have quite a few spaces at the far end of the car park.

The first thread I ever read was about parent parking spaces when my dd was one. She’s twenty two now.

It was a Lidl. Very small car park.

Then you're lucky it has any P&C spaces at all.
I'm probably not qualified to comment. My youngest is nearly 17, so mine were small when both cars, prams and car seats were more modest in size.

The key difference as I understand, is that blue badge spaces are enforceable by law (or through traffic orders), while parent-and-child bays are usually provided voluntarily by private retailers. Therefore, misuse of a parent-and-child space can lead to a private parking charge at worst, not a fixed penalty ticket.

Interesting! They actually have loads! And disabled! But the car park spaces on average are very small and not very baby friendly. Next time I'll go to Aldi 🤗.

I'm pretty sure it's a way to encourage families to use their stores. Families spend a lot of £.
I would have thought the age of the children for whom P&C spaces are really designed for are not that high a risk for being hit by a car. If they are very small, you get the trolley or pram set up and put them straight in it.

I'm more bothered about hitting someone else's car as I try to get my children out and of the car in one piece. My priority is the kids, I like th extra room so that I don't end up paying someone for spray paint on their car.

The only time I would park in them was with my parents when they couldn't walk far, before they got their actual blue badge. My dad had poor mobility when he was waiting for his hip to be redone. This didn't necessarily mean he was eligible for a BB at the time. When his heart started to fail though we did get a BB for him.