In thinking mother and baby places should not be used by those without children not pregnant etc and then laugh about it treating it as a joke!!

[2luvlyboys]

PILs park in the mother and baby space all the time as a matter of course using the fact they have a child seat in there as an excuse!! Never take my dcs shopping never why would they? That is very very unreasonable imo and makes me ! They have been challanged about it and they say they make a joke about they left the kids at home!
Observant ones will notice I put this on another thread but then thought it deserves an aibu in its own right iyswim!

SuburdanDryad, where have I said they are a necessity and who are you to judge whether or not mumsnet is the "right" forum for me? Presumably you think it's not because I don't share the same views as you? MN has been incredibly helpful to me at times, including when DS had exomphalos in an early scan, but it's posters on this thread and this bullying mentality that give it a bad name.

I thought of this thread too as I turned away from the queue for the P&C spaces and went up 8 floors in a multi-storey to find a tight little space and then had to take DS down in a tight little lift (only takes 1 pram at a time)...

I did say, I am all for p&c bays.
I use them, and it pisses me off when some people that use them dont have children.

I also think Gangle is making her life very hard. I have a three yr old, and a 4 month old.
Iv not taken an umberella to a supermarket EVER . There is no need.
No. She shouldnt have to park on the other side of the suermarket.
No. She shouldnt have to risk safety.
Those were mearly the factors I was trying to point out. I dont want to be accused of bullying, or any such of a such.
P&C bays are GREAT for the extra room, and after reading this thread, I was even thinking about it today when in one at our local Somerfield. The extra room is fantastic, and they tend to be down their own little "cul-de-sac" type space, ie, cars are not running through to get somewhere else; theyre only their for that purpose.

Gangle, I think you put your head above the parapet on a P&T thread, and some of the posters may have assumed you were the OP - hence getting all the flak. (although I must confess to being about not leaving baby in the car when getting trolley / paying for petrol, but I have a NSC)

All the rest of us just lurk on the P&T threads .

FWIW, I love P&T spaces - I parked in one today - and it meant that I could force my screaming pre-toddler into his seat whilst trying to do up the straps, without worrying about dinging another car with the door.

Although I also agree with many of the other posts - it should not be a competition between disabled spaces & P&T. I have never seen all the disabled spaces at our supermarket used up. My Mum has severe mobility problems, and I really value disabled spots because of this.

Whats NSC?

One other thought, for all the comments about our mothers not having P&T spaces - this is probably because in the 70's the supermarket was not as widespread as it is now, and more shopping was done on the high street - meaning that cars were parked front to tail rather than side by side . . . just an observation.

I think meaning that you could walk to the shops is more likely.

also, spaces have become smaller/more cramped just as cars are getting bigger....

someone suggested earlier to make the spaces at an angle, and it is so much easier to park in them...and you can fit as many cars in as you can now....this straight parking spaces are part of the problem....

i often go to my supermarket and find all the disabled spaces are full

I thought of this today when I got to the supermarket where I do the grocery shopping - all disabled spaces full - no parent and toddler. So I just parked where I could get the dds out safely, straight into a trolley to walk across the car park. Dd2 gets out when we get to the centre and then when we finished shopping - she holds my trousers, dd3 in the seat and off we go.

If I could not get a disabled parking space and a trolley that you can use with bigger children who have special needs then I cannot shop if I have dd1 with me. In fact one day I had to go home and come back the next day.

I could not get a special needs trolley - that fits, dd2, 1 in a special seat and straps them in and then put dd3 in the seat - because some lady had her son - no sn - cause I asked and his huge shrek in the trolley.

When I explained I could not shop with dd1 unless I had the special needs trolley would she mind using one of the regular trolleys - her reply was tough - her son would not be parted from his shrek and so she needed this trolley!!!

SO I trooped back through the shopping centre carrying dd3, holding dd1's hand and dd2 holding my trousers - back to our disabled parking space - loading all three into the car whilst a lady sat in the disabled space next to me smoking her cigarette glaring at me and tutting and muttering about these stupid mothers who use disabled spaces. Did they not know this was not a parent and child.

Said woman was lucky I did not stuff my parking badge somewhere she would need to have it surgically removed.

Not getting a parent and toddler when I just have dd2 and dd3 is no big deal. Not being able to get a disabled space when I have dd1 who has no road sense and fatigues easily is a big deal.

Buy smaller cars.

And learn how to park a car.

(completely irrelevant really to P&T debate, but see the argument about normal carparking spaces a bit of a moot point)

eidsvold.... at that woman not letting you use the SN trolley just because her bratty precious child would not part from shrek....how stupid can you get....and then to have someone tut at you for using the disabled parking rightfully....

I suppose it is those reactions that make people with sn children so contentious about p&t parking.

It is a shame that so many people have common sense bypass

PMSL @ shrek taking up a SN trolley. Bloody Shrek needed to be posted somewhere painful.

I do have to have an oversized a large car unfortunately (it's small for a 7 seater- Scenic Grande), not particularly through choice (reasons to do with SN again, so fairly dull) - and spaces aren't large enough to get out that easily. Especially when every other car in the car park is oversized large as well.

If I can take dh's Fiat punto I do!

Like Lou I often find the disabled spaces are all full, at the supermarket this isn't usually a particular problem for me (about 80% of the time it's fine - unfortunately the 20% when it isn't is unpredictable) so if they're nearly full I don't park there either. But for some people with disabilties no parking space does mean no shopping.

Yay! I go away for a few days and come back to a P&T car parking thread!

I love the way many P&T fans think that the disabled bays have to be 100% full the entire time to justify their existence

i always park in disabled bays if i have ds2 with me, otherwise it is extremely hard to get a non walking, non standing 7.5 yr old out of a car seat and into a wheelchair, as he is clearly larger than a baby to get in and out of the car

don't think anyone is saying you shouldn't Lou? You have every reason to park either in disabled or P&T....

jimjam...not really the point, like, but, ever since first stumbling across one of these threads on mumsnet...ages ago, I have actually been looking how busy they are, and I am glad to say here are often free spaces....and that is a good thing, because, it should proof that in this area they are doing a good Job in planning the carparks....because it should not be that people with a blue badge should fight over few spaces, there should be ample parking for blue badge holders, so, that the car park can cater for their disabled customers...

maybe that is why I can't understand the contempt felt over p&t spaces, because they clearly did not take away from the disabled parking at all...here that is...I can't talk for other places, obviously....
not sure if it is part to do with the fact that we have a lot of people with disabilities living in this area (used to be a steelworks area), and that is why they are more aware, etc....no idea...but it should be everywhere like this, i.e. that disabled people are more considered, I mean....

not sure if this will be received in the way I mean it...I do hope so!

I don't even understand why disabled parking spaces should be being discussed on a p&t spaces thread.

They are not equivalent and so it's not possible to compare.

Disabled spaces are a necessity, legislated for. P&T are not.

wel, juule..it does beat me why it always turns into a disabled parking space bunfight...because I agree, really it is a different thing...but brought up every single time....

i wasnt saying it as a form of defence, i was just stating it as a fact

but someone always compares them, it is as predictable as rain in the summer.
if no one mentioned them on these threads(that occur about monthly) no one would probably argue.

lol 2 shoes...
and sorry lou, I misunderstood you! But stand by what I said to you anyway