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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Parent & child car parking spaces...

63 replies

Shellseeker · 27/06/2009 23:48

I was called a sad cow & told to get a life by a particularly unpleasant man yesterday when I pointed out to him how unhelpful it was to park in the parent space at the supermarket when he quite obviously didn't have a child. He assured me he did have a child so was completely within his rights to park there, it was just that he'd left it at home with its mother (doh!)
He did move his car though!

OP posts:
Rollergirl1 · 27/06/2009 23:57

This reply has been deleted

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MissSunny · 28/06/2009 00:41

Message withdrawn

rimmer08 · 28/06/2009 08:23

no yanbu. i hate when people park in those spaces with children that are 10+ years old. is there an age limit?

EdwardBitMe · 28/06/2009 08:25
cluckyagain · 28/06/2009 08:32

The tesco sticker says 5 yrs.....so 10 is a tad overage!! Personally I stopped using the spaces once my children could climb into the child seat themselves, without me having to be wedged between cars lifting a 10 tonne toddler (at about 2 1/2 to 3 yrs old then)

TheLadyEvenstar · 28/06/2009 08:35

ds1 is almost 11 should I not use the p&t spaces? I mean he is over 10 but ds2 is only 20m old.

TheChilliMoose · 28/06/2009 08:42

Of course you can if you have a 20 month old.

Foxy800 · 28/06/2009 08:56

My local sainsburys has a sign up saying until 12 yrs old. Think it depends on the car park.

sarah293 · 28/06/2009 09:00

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IkeaCatalogue · 28/06/2009 09:01

Pikey???

melmog · 28/06/2009 09:04

I got really annoyed yesterday when a car pulled up and took the last space. This woman got out with a child of possibly 9/10. No car seat anyway. I asked if she could move as I had a one and two year old to try and get out and she gave me a mouthful saying she had as much right as me as she had a child with her. I was going to point out that it's called a parent and toddler space but couldn't be bothered.

I'd have liked to have thought as she'd been in my position at one time, she'd have been a bit more understanding.

Beeeatch.

Aeschylus · 28/06/2009 09:08

at our local tescos I dont even bother anymore as they are always full, and because the car park is not big enough people just park in there as no other spaces left

Kimi · 28/06/2009 09:12

Just wait till they have gone in to the shop and key their cars

hocuspontas · 28/06/2009 09:20

If we all campaigned to move the P & T spaces further away from the entrance e.g. round the side of the building then there would be no more of these tedious threads problems

hophophippidtyhop · 28/06/2009 09:38

I was in sainsburys yesterday and underneath the sign saying up to 12( which I think is a little old ) they said they were doing spot checks on the parent and child and disabled spaces, and if people were found ilegally parked, they would be fined, with the money going to a charity! About time!

WoTmania · 28/06/2009 09:43

I think they should be further away from the shops. I have a 4mnth old, 2 year old and 3.6 year old. I have to do a supermarket shop later. the extra space at the sides and finding a space easily will be great but I can walk the extra bit of distance.
when I have achieved my plans of World Domination this will be on the list of things to sort out

simplesusan · 28/06/2009 10:19

Reminds me of the Peter Kay joke.

I gave up trying to park anywhere near the entrance to supermarkets years ago.
I let the lazy selfish twats desperate to be at door shoppers have them.

Bonneville · 28/06/2009 10:25

I agree with Wot and Hocus - shops should provide bigger spaces at the back of the car park - end of problem. Parents with children are not disabled. Leave the spaces near the door for disabled only.

aendr · 28/06/2009 10:31

OP: YANBU

I think that often they would be better further away from the entrance, but closer to the shop wall so there's less crossing flows of traffic and you can just walk around the building skirting the walls. I'd also like the baby trolleys to be very near to ALL the spaces, unlike in my local supermarket where if you park in the middle ones (last ones to be filled up) you have to cross to another rank of cars to get to them (carrying baby? someone will say that's unsafe... leaving baby in car? someone will say that's unsafe...)

WoTmania · 28/06/2009 10:40

Trolleys...don't even get me started. They've replaced them all at the Asda I used to live near. Nice, brand-spanking new trolleys. Not a single one of them can take 2 toddlers. Two babies (they have about 12 that will take twins but none that take 2 preschoolers of different ages ), toddler and baby, fine. Two toddlers. Nope.

KateyG · 28/06/2009 10:48

This has always really annoyed me - even before I was pg..... My 4 year old neice tells her mum very loudly, whilst walking past people with no children parking in the spaces, "mummy that man/woman has a very odd looking baby".... :0 Incidently my sister stopped using baby and child spaces when my neice coudl get in and out on her own...

I tend to just glare at people who use them without children it is just pure laziness... especially sports car owners with no room for a baby seat!

Would agree that they don't need to be so close to the doors. Its the extra door opening space that is useful..

I've often thought a sticker on the windscreen right in the drivers windscreen, reminding that those spaces are for Parents with children (small ones) only, would do the trick.... Or tannoy announcements... shame them into using normal spaces....

simplesusan · 28/06/2009 11:05

With regards to the trolleys....
Remember being outraged, even though I was shopping alone, on seeing a woman using a trolley designed for baby twins. There were lots of "normal trolleys" available but very few designed for shoppers with twins. Why oh why????

imaginewittynamehere · 29/06/2009 16:19

Kateyg - how would a sticker on the windscreen help? I came back to my car once when dd1 was a few weeks old "reminding" me that these spaces were for children only; I had taken dd1 in her car seat into the shop so it wasn't obvious that I had a child with me iyswim (&Kimi I am that you could advocate keying anyones car - would you have done that to me in the above situation??
I agree what I need is a space wide enough so I can get dd2's car seat out & with minimal traffic to cross so that I can manage a trolley & toddler. I don't need to be close to the entrance at all.

KateyG · 29/06/2009 18:05

Imaginewittynamehere - stickers on windscreens of cars you have seen the people coming from without child etc. Obviously you need to take into account the shoppers who rightly have used the spaces and have taken baby into the shops... Trolleyboys (or girls or men or women) could do the sticking....

vicky275 · 29/06/2009 18:45

i know what you mean it dives me mad when they do that andd then watch you as you try to get the kids out of the car in a normal space
I think it would be a good idea if some desabled spaces could also be used by mother and baby cars i wouldnt even mind if i had to buy a special sticker for the car

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