Altercation in carpark

[Icecreamsundaz]

I was in a supermarket carpark, I had put my baby in her carseat and had just loaded my groceries in the boot. A car parked in the parent and child space next to me and an older couple got out, early 70s I would guess, able bodied, no kids with them
I said "sorry do you realise thats s parent and child space" and I pointed to the markings.
Well his response was very rude in tone "I came here to do my shopping, not to dance around" ?? "It should be first come first served " and they stormed off. I was a bit taken aback, I said loudly but they were a bit away at this point so not sure if they heard me "god id hate to be so ignorant". I took a picture of their car. Not really sure what I was going to do with it, thinking I would think about it and perhaps report to management. I got into my car
The next he was at my window "you took a photo, its illeageal to take photos of other people's property, delete it." I ensured my doors were locked, he stood behind my car so I couldn't reverse out, she was at my windscreen taking photos of me. Eventually they moved and I got out.
Maybe I shouldn't have said anything but there were loads of other places they could have parked but the parent and child spaces are limited. Its very frustrating when I've all my kids and can't find a free parent and child space because people like this who dont need them take them and they don't give a shit

Exactly. I'm shaking my head at 'they didn't look disabled.'

FML.

Commodity?

I think P&C spots should be further away from the entrance.

This is it, OP does come across as a Karen who is also a bully, both in one. Took it out on an elderly couple who had none of it.

You are a bitter person than me because the minute he touched my car things would have gone extremely wrong

In what way would they have gone extremely wrong?

YES the thread is ageist. Against the 70 year old couple. So why did you start it?

Then you'd have been an idiot.
Defacing peoples property is a crime
And making their car unroadworthy is dangerous.

@Icecreamsundaz

This isn't going the way you planned, is it?

You really can not win on MN these days op.

If you had started this thread stating you are in your 70's and had parked in a P&C space and a young mother pointed out to you that you appeared to have no children with you those on here would have piled on you telling you that you were an arsehole for taking up a space for parents.

But no, it appears from many on here that you are the arsehole. You are not.

You provoked a response by being a self appointed passive aggressive parking warden.

Honestly if a couple of elderly people have their lives made easier by parking in parent and child spaces I'm quite alright with it. They're a convenience, not an entitlement.

I very much doubt that, that an elderly person would have been jumped on on here for parking in a parent and child space.

This! I’ve always thought the same, including when mine were very little. It’s not the walking to the entrance that’s the issue, it’s getting a baby seat out/helping a toddler out. Once they’re out of the car they can be in a buggy/the trolley/on reins and walk safely inside from a further distance than someone with mobility issues.

If there were no p&c spaces that’s what I’d always do anyway when mine were tiny. Even now that I have no little kids, I deliberately park away from everyone at the opposite end of the car park so I have more space to open my door and haul my enormous arse out in comfort.

@Everanewbie it's nothing to do with managers not having a back bone. It is not a legal requirement to enforce parent & child parking spaces. Most people without DC park elsewhere. Some people will always be entitled and believe they can do whatever they like because they can, these people are dickheads. Banning people from shops is usually down to shoplifting or abuse of staff. But again even this is hard to apply.

A bit like standing on the right on the escalator on the underground. Most people do it as they know it helps others get on with their lives better. There's the occasional dickhead who stands on the left just to cause issues (not including tourists, they usually don't know). You don't 'ban' people for doing this

Looking at the voting so far, I’m pleased that some people (40%) believe we have rules for a reason.

The rest, I’ll see you in the Thunderdome.

In future you could just report them to the supermarket and they will get a fine. Having said that, I have frequently parked in a parent and child space alone, and gone to collect DC from nursery which is a few mins walk from the supermarket, then done my shopping & returned to my car with my DS.

Once, my parents collected my DS and they got reported by someone (without any confrontation). When they returned to their car, a security guard was waiting for them. When he saw that they had a toddler with them, he explained what had happened but obviously saw they were using the spaces with a child, despite not turning up with one so you never know!

Similar thing happened to me once when I pulled into a loading/unloading bay, got out and smiled at an old lady who did not smile back. Returning with my large package from the place I was collecting it from to see a traffic warden leaning on a post and looking at my car. When they saw I was using the loading bay for loading as is its purpose, they walked off. But the lady I smiled at had obviously reported me because she assumed I was a lazy and entitled youth, I guess!

Some people are just arses OP.
Unpleasant children grow into unpleasant adults and sadly, unlike wine , do not improve with age!
It would wind me up too!

Nope. Parent and Child spaces are a concession and have no legal standing. Anyone can park there. Did OP check whether they had a blue badge ? Because if they did, and there were no BB spaces left they were perfectly entitled to use the parent and child spaces. It could also be that they had mobility difficulties which didn’t qualify for a blue badge - much harder to get when you’re old because they’re issued on the grounds of disability, not age related issues. Again, nothing stopping them parking there.

It’ll probably outrage you to know that I have a blue badge and I have absolutely no compunction about parking in parent and child spaces if there are no blue badge spaces left - not least because I regularly see parents with children parking in blue badge spaces when they’re not entitled to.

OMG how did mothers cope when there were no parent and child spaces?! 😱

Must have been such a terribly dark time!

Parent and child spaces aren’t covered by any laws like blue badge spaces. They’re a courtesy option in some car parks and there is little anyone can do to regulate them. As irritating as it is, don’t bother confronting people.

I’m almost certain that if OP had said ‘a couple in their twenties’ replies would be completely different.

There is no ‘rule’ stopping those without children from parking in P&C spaces. They are a concession not a legal provision.

A good, fair minded store manager would see a courtesy she/he extended to help people, abused, would politely request that said customer move their car and respect the their wishes, or inform them that their custom is no longer welcome. That is within their charge if they had the moral fibre to address it.

Flipping heck how many times are you going to repeat this rubbish about 70 year olds?

I've told you already about my own situation, I'm 68 and I look as fit as a fiddle. You would undoubtedly think that was nothing wrong with me at all. I can jog 2 miles in 20 minutes, I can walk 4 miles with ease. I can't sit in a car and drive it, or sit at a dining table in an upright chair, without pain. I have a vertebrae that was measured at minus 3.9 out of minus 5 on the osteoporosis scale (it a fragile shell, basically) and a 17 degree tilt at the base from scoliosis. I would be a complete idiot to twist my spine contorting myself to get out of a car so as not to offend the person who doesn't like my parking!

I mix with a LOT of people my age and I can assure you that the vast majority of us will have joint pain and reduced mobility compared to a younger person. You are perhaps mistaking the fact that people of our generation don't go around complaining about all our problems to the young.

Exactly. My mother took the bus into town with three kids and a pushchair to do the weekly shopping. No dramas either