Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

......to expect that people without children have the common decency to NOT park in the 'parent and toddler' bays!!!???

103 replies

Heebychick · 10/03/2009 11:34

Grrrrrrrrr!

It drives ('scuse the pun) me mad when you have a toddler on your hip, it's pouring with rain, you are pregnant, have bags and purse to hand and have to park at the opposite end of the supermarket car park and make a wobbled dash to the shops.

Then as you run past the 'parent and toddler' marked bays you notice some lazy sod who 'didn't want to get wet running to the cash point so decided a parent and toddler bay would be easier'

"i'll only be a minute love, i'm just getting some cash out and it's raining"

ARGHHHHHH!!!

"i'm only about to slash your tyres .... LOVE"

Ok rant over, calm thoughts.

OP posts:
Original poster
Heebychick · 10/03/2009 15:06

Yes - if you have no conscience.

OP posts:
Original poster
Heebychick · 10/03/2009 15:06

I was joking by the way ... before you high-horse riders get all upset!

OP posts:
mayorquimby · 10/03/2009 15:08

well i've got a conscience. just not regarding p&t spaces.
as i said, i won't go out of my way to park in them. but if it's the only spot left in the car park then i'd park there without a second thought.
it has nothing to do with the distance to walk to the shop, just simply if there are no other spaces available.

Stayingsunnygirl · 10/03/2009 15:09

Puddingchops - I think that the Parent and Child spaces are there to allow enough room for a parent to get their child safely strapped into a car seat. In an ordinary parking space, it can be well-nigh impossible to do this without banging the car door into the next car.

And even if something isn't an absolutely vital necessity, what's wrong with having something to make life a little easier for a sector of the community? Are we all so selfish that we can't bear for someone else to have a benefit that we aren't entitled to??

It's like saying that OAP/reduced income rates on leisure-type evening classes (ie embroidery/woodwork/watercolours) isn't necessary, simply because not everyone is entitled to that discount!! I can afford to pay full price, so I will do so happily and it won't bother me that the lady next to me has only paid a tenner for her class - and in exactly the same way, I'll park in an ordinary space and watch a parent get their children out of the car in a P&T space, and I'll still happily walk that bit further and squeeze out of/into my car in an ordinary space.

mayorquimby · 10/03/2009 15:33

i blame the foreign nationals

Original poster
Heebychick · 10/03/2009 15:36

Here here stayingsunnygirl. You put that brilliantly.

It is a shame that the UK has it's fair share of selfish people, sadly it is hard for some to see others being helped or having a helping hand.

I hope i am a better person than that.

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 10/03/2009 16:04

I have a conscience too. I wouldn't park in P&T because they are there for a purpose and anyway, seeing the furore they cause on here, I wouldn't dare

And neither would I say 'oh ffs, it's so trivial, go and worry about something else' as I think that is stupid on a forum like this. We all have minor gripes that need airing from time to time.

But... having said all that.. the thing I hate about P&T is the sense of entitlement that it gives people. There were no such things even 20yrs ago but now all of a sudden someone sans-kids using a P&T parking space is no better than Herod. It's a priviledge nor a right. And IME the more you 'enforce' considerate behaviour (ie only parents with small DC can park here or else!) the less people feel obliged to be considerate off their own bat. Making one group 'special' can make other groups feel excluded and bolshy, and IMO P&T parking isn't that important.

Which is why I'd abolish them. I don't like the nastiness they generate.

misdee · 10/03/2009 16:15

i say scrap p+t spaces ompletely.

Mumsnut · 10/03/2009 16:16

Having been present when a toddler was killed by a reversing car, I believe it is ESSENTIAL that P&C spaces are next to the door of the shop. It is too easy for a toddler to break free, and being too short to show up in a car's rear window, they are at great risk.

OnlyWantsOne · 10/03/2009 16:25

it always makes me chuckle when I walk from my car to store with my DD in clamp like grip - the fat middle aged semi balding bloke reading the paper on a saturday morning, parked in a P & T,with no kids in the car, obv sent the Mrs's in ...

Oh and I have been known to leave notes on people's cars. Sarcastic ones. Never that rude... well only once or twice. I find it quite fun.

sazzerbear · 10/03/2009 16:27

I saw an OAP blatanty driving into a clearly marked parent and child space in Sainsburys the other day...

Lulumama · 10/03/2009 16:29

has anyone said' P&T spaces are a privilege not a righ?'

if not, i'll say it

Peachy · 10/03/2009 16:30

misdee please don't, not being able to get a blue badge atm (our council has a higher rate or no chance policy despite 2 with LR mobility) they're the only chance we have to take ds3 out if just one adult.
I can'yt use the buggy very well with ds3 pulling on his asd reins and he slips my hand.

OP- yes you should be able to expect that, no you can't really though as not everyone gives a shit about other people and won't care unless there's a fine attached which would be OTT

StealthPolarBear · 10/03/2009 16:38

"jee - I'm a blue badge holder and I still wouldn't park in a p&t spot without a T! Because I hate to find disabled spaces taken and go bonkers if they are misused, if I then turned round and misused a p&t space - it would make me a great steaming hypocrite, wouldn't it? "
I don't agree with this. P&T spaces are there for people who need them. As there are already disabled places then they are P&T spaces. IMO if all the disabled spaces are taken then disabled drivers should park there and have priority over parents with children. I also don't mind if pregnant women, elderly, non disabled people who find walking a bit of a struggle etc park there, but I do find it annoying when people treat them as normal spaces and it's first come first served!

sarah293 · 10/03/2009 16:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MrsTittleMouse · 10/03/2009 16:52

Mumsnut.

wabbit · 10/03/2009 16:54

I wrote 'wot no kids' on a jag that a woman (perhaps herself in a 'high pressured job' had just left in the last available P&T space... Right across the windscreen in gloopy difficult to get off lippy

I felt Soooo much better!

mistlethrush · 10/03/2009 16:56

OF COURSE YBU - didn't you know - P&T spaces are for business men in their sports cars with no hope of getting a car seat in so that they can nip in and get sandwiches - and also parents with 8yo with them...

noavailablename · 10/03/2009 16:57

mumsnut - that is terrible, but TBH I simply cannot understand why people don't use reins.

I think this is a completely separate issue from the location of P&T spaces.

I sat waiting to reverse out of a space in my local leisure centre the other day, while a mother strolled the length of the car park, making no effort to control her toddler who was running free along the line of parked cars. Fortunately, I had spotted him, and switched off my engine until they were safely past. She appeared quite unconcerned, and he was several yards out of her reach - no chance at all if another driver had reversed out and not seen him.

sayithowitis · 10/03/2009 17:11

Agree Lulu! When my dc were small I didn't drive but somehow managed to get them both to the local superstore, get the shopping and get them home again. I had one in the buggy and a toddler walking with me. Shopping under buggy and hanging from the handles. And I'm not talking about that many years ago, within the last 15 years. I just don't get why so many people seem to find it so difficult.

Lulumama · 10/03/2009 17:14

I found it easier to park towards the back of the carpark, were less people park, get the buggy/pram out, plonk the baby in there and then get my older child out.

also, i have found the earlier you go in the day and the later at the night , the more P&T spaces are available, and don;t even bother trying at the weekend!!

or do your food shop on line

sarah293 · 10/03/2009 17:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Lulumama · 10/03/2009 17:19

we like convenience.

being near to the store, nice big space to park in.

i thikn they are a good thing, but i can;t get worked up about it

whereas able bodied people using disabled spaces, 'jsut for five minutes', now ,taht does make me cross! and people complaining if blue badge holders use a P&T space.

Stayingsunnygirl · 10/03/2009 17:30

I think my dses are about the same age as yours, Riven - and I have to say that, looking at some of the buggies that are available, I'm not surprised that people can't fold them up whilst juggling bag, toddler, baby etc!!

OrmIrian - you make a very good point about P&T spaces generating nastiness - I hadn't thought of it like that, though I'm not sure I agree with your solution of doing away with them. Sadly I suspect that the selfishness in society is too well ingrained for one single measure to reverse it. I wish that I knew an easy answer.

Confuzzeled · 10/03/2009 17:58

Just skimmed this thread as there have been so many.

My nephew got run over in a carpark, no P&T spaces available. He pulled out my sisters hand, she has a grip like iron so don't know how he managed. But he did and got a fractured skull.

P&T spaces are a privilege, but should be better signed asking people not to abuse them.

Swipe left for the next trending thread