Parent & child car parking spaces...

[Shellseeker]

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!

OMG - I am quite shocked to see that someone posted about Sainsbury regarding a child to be under 12 (re these spaces!). I always felt a bit bad parking there when my son was 3/4. I definately don't park in them now and he isn't 5 yet!

The point of P&T spaces is not just the extra width but closeness to the store so you haven't got to walk across a car park and risk them being flattened by some idiot doing 40mph.
So they do need to be by the entrance and some kids have no road sense until high school so 12 seems a good cut off age.

They don't have to be near the entrance if there is a footpath that can be used. There's a big supermarket near me that has a footpath to one side of the car park, it would be perfectly safe to have the P&T spaces at the back then (along with a stash of trollies so I didn't have to carry DD all that distance )

"As I parked up a 2-door German sportscar in the Parent & Child space in Sainsbury's in New Cross a woman came storming up to me from a couple of cars down to give me a right earful about me being incredibly selfish .....

but fell silent when she caught sight of the Maxi Cosi with my 8 month old daughter in the back.

Yes, because you can't have a Porsche and a child, can you"

have this constantly with my dad (people rushing up or leaving nasty notes on the windscreen) because he couldn't possibly be disabled and have a lexus or a job that requires him to wear a suit to work.

Hurray kimi! I agree 100%. Nasty divisive things.

'They have to be near the entrance' - No No No! At least these parents have use of a car. What about all the parents who have to take baby/toddler/buggy and get shopping all by public transport? Compared to this the ' inconvenience' of a wider parking space at the back of the carpark (which IMO is where they should be) is no hardship whatsoever. Keep the spaces near the door for disabled only.

Skimming, will read thread over lunch time but I just wondered where you are getting the Tesco permits? I joined their Baby club last year when dd was born and never received one. I can't find anywhere to email or phone and a lot of the car parks won't let you use the space unless you have a permit.

Completely agree that the spaces should be further away with a safe footpath and a trolley park nearby. It's only because they are near the store that they get snaffled. I had to wait for someone to finish their shopping and move their car so I could get DD's car seat in once, because they had parked too close to me and I couldn't open the door wide enough. (There was a wall on the other side, just enough space for me to get out of the driver door)

The only time i dared to say aomething to some old bint about parking in P & C space she got really really aggressive, started swearing at me and pointing her finger at me!

I told her she should be ashamed of herself and walked off shaking - she was about 65! She parks there every single week and it drives me mad.

The thing thats gets me the most is when the car pulls up full of kids, and then one parent gets out and leaves the other with the kids in the car - surely that defeats the point?

When pg with DS2 I screamed talked politely to a young teenage driver in asda until she moved - into a space directly behind the P&T space she had taken!

Re the trolleys, I have a rather large 8mo and our local somerfield has 1 baby trolley, I couldn't find it and prepared myself to lug DS round the aisles when a family came out with a toddler in the normal seat and her dolly in the baby bit!

Oh i used to get really het up about people parking in the mother & baby spaces,i used to politely point out to them they had parked in there by mistake as they obviously had no dc.

I stopped when a very nasty,foul mouthed middle aged man used every swear word imaginable to me in front of my ds.

I was gob smacked!

Anyway i now shop online,much easier & no stress.