To get irate over misuse of parents' parking spaces at Sainsbury's

[Sunnymama]

No, not by those people without kids (although they are bad enough), but by people who use them when they have no kids with them but a car seat in the back of the car. Hello? The whole point of the spaces if for people who have their kids WITH them, not who just happen to have kids, somewhere. I saw two people do this on Saturday (while shopping with DD aged 2) and it really riled me - they should know better than anyone what a struggle it can be taking kids shopping.

yanbu however a couple of times that I have had the joy of shopping without the boys I have driven round the side of sainsbury's to the P&C slots without thinking and it isn't until I have switched the engine off that I have remembered that the kids aren't in the back. (Doh emotion!)
I would just add that I did then move the car!

just me then grey skull!!!

This really does piss me off monumentally and I appreciate it's irrational, but I just think it's so selfish. What is so hard about following a few common courtesies these days? Who is really so busy and so important they don't have the time to park an extra few foot away and give the space to someone who might really need it let alone appreciate it?

• but then I only go to my local supermarket, so whose repsonsible for all the others...OWN UP you bunch of goody goodies!!!

'It's not irrational when someone who is not entitled to something takes it when it is rightfully yours' - thats right tommy [backs away from the crazy lady]

Easy solution to this - move parent and children spaces to back of the car park.

If I can't find one I usually park at the back in 2 spaces, but I don't care as no one wants to park at the back, they prefer to circle around and around and around and around...the car park until they find one space at the front door!

spot on hatrick.

I bet everyone tutting on this thread has parked on a yellow line or somesutch in their lives..well Sunny mama are you perfect or just selectively so???

Good idea hatrick. Unfortunately it's all about packing as many cars on to the car park as possible and not comfort. I also think a lot of the problem is that cars are a lot bigger these days too, they take up more room.

My dad used to work in a multi storey car park and he used to get alot of abuse from customers who would complain that they couldn't fit their 4x4 into a space comfortably! He had to remind them that the carpark was built in the 1960's when people drove a mini or a Ford Anglia!

I hate the way that P&T spaces seem to make people have these strange competitions as to who is the neediest when really they have no idea what it is to be needy of a special place. Having to squeeze your child in, walking further, being inconvenienced are not really the same as having the need for a disabled space and it seems that all P&T spaces do is make parents think that they have a special requirement when they do not

get rid!

Agree Hattrick - a big problem is that spaces are getting smaller and cars are getting bigger. I parked in the short stay at Gatwick yesterday and could barely open my door to get out, but was parked firmly in the middle of the space.

I don't worry about the P & T spaces - they are quite nice as a convenience, but not worth sweating about! I get much more wound up by the fact that only the trolleys with tiny-baby seats have brakes on, so when you are unloading your toddler, then your shopping, it's quite possible that your trolley will dance across the car park

Haven't seen one of these threads recently although there is currently a battle ongoing in our local rag, as some mother has written in complaining about a 'mature lady' misusing the space
My first thought was that probably the more mature lady might well need the P+T space more than the young mum, but there do seem to be lots of varying opinions in the world out there
That's life
and there are more important things to worry about or get cross about than the P+T spaces.
Rise about it all and embrace a sense of calm in your life.
Karma gets everyone in the end

What used to happen in the olden days? er nothing, life went on, everyone coped.
These spaces are a courtesy not a right, some people don't behave to your very own moral code, you can't change that, so the wisest thing to do is to ignore it, why waste energy over something that you have no right to control over.

"If you met me you'd think I was a normal law abiding citizen "

you are.luckily p&t spaces are not covered by law. as such we are free to park in them regardless of the presence of children

I love driving my Nissan 200sx into parent and baby spaces. I get filthy looks from parents who are loading there shopping into their car. You can't see ds sitting in the back because it is a sports coupe, and shock horror it has pop up lights so couldn't possibly have a child inside! I slowly get out of the car, put on my shades, and then reach in for ds. Love watching faces drop or turn away..don't judge an owner by it's car!

Perhaps 'irate' was the wrong word. I was more irritated. Not on my behalf cos I'd got a space, but for others who weren't going to. Our spaces are always full also. I'm happy to park elsewhere if they're full, I just don't think people who just have car seats should take the piss! Those spaces do make life a little easier when you're shopping with a toddler, simple as.

I gave way to a woman a few weeks ago. She then parked in the last parent and child spot which wouldn't have been so bad, but she didn't have kids with her.

I shouted at her and said it for for people with children meanwhile had to park in Timbuktu and wrestle the double pram from a single spot. Grrr

She said, 'I have children'

I asked how old?

She said, '24 and 26'

{hmm]

I mean, come on guys, we're all in this together so let's just help one another out occassionally. I know these spaces aren't as crucial as disabled parking ones, but I dread a trip to the supermarket a little less when I manage to get one.

How old is "too old" for parking in P&T? We have an 8 and a 5, and I'm starting to think we shouldn't use the spaces any more.

I keep a gun in the glovebox for precisely this reason.

I don't think you can say moving P&C spaces to the back of the car park is the answer. They also have a path that you can walk on with your kids so you don't need to go onto the road of the car park with young children. They are not just about the extra space to get kids in and out. It is also about keeping DC safe

The problem is that the supermarkets don't enforce it.

In fact, they don't enforce people parking in disabled spots either.

Apparently the security is separate from the supermarket and they don't care.

I had words with two men who had parked their porsche in the p&t space. I was 8 months pregnant and had a 3yo with me and had struggled to get out of the car in a normal space. I was annoyed and told them they were taking the piss. They told me to piss off as they were father and (25yo) son. Then called me a peasant.

I would have added you can't buy class, you're living proof.