to use the parent/child parking spaces whilst being heavily pregnant??

[STIGZ]

was jst wondering wot ppl think of this??

my boyfriend has parked in these spaces a couple of times for me if the only other available one is 10 miles away from the door!

I feel bad when he does this but it must admit its great not have to walk any further than i have to in peeing rain with my dodgy back and preganacy waddle!!

he says "you are a parent with a child....you jst cant see it yet!!(well not all of it!!)

am i being a pregnant lazy sod ??

Morloth

By Morloth Fri 01-Jan-10 11:21:45
No-one said it was easy just that you should be entitled to one if you have a disability and from what I have heard SPD is a disability, but it still doesn't answer the question of why people with no cars somehow manage without parent & child parks but having a car makes them necessary?

Ummm - hate to point out the obvious, but people with no cars don't need to park them - thus really don't need special parking places

Riven - no kidding - really????

I am quite amused at the thought of women with SPD should have a blue badge. My DH is disabled but he can't even get a blue badge for something that will affect his whole life rather than just a few months.

And yes I have had SPD so I know how painful it is.

Riven - if you don't have a car, you don't need a parking space - which is what I was saying to Morloth as her post was funny! (IMO)

Yes, women with SPD do go shopping without a car (did you really need to state the obvious???), but when they do, they don't need a parking space to put a non existant car into and they don't need a wide space to get out of the non existant car either and generally a bus doesn't park right next to another bus and even if it did - the doors don't open OUT needing extra space do they???

Sheesh - it's not a difficult concept that some people need a wider space for various reasons and although you are anti car - not everyone is and those that aren't are somewhat entitled to parking in a bloody space that's wide enough to open a bloody door and get out!

Kayzr - we should all campaign for the shops/councils whoever, to go back to reasonable size spaces so that people don't need to use the wider spaces that are reserved for P&C and disabled persons.

No matter how much I needed the extra space or how much of a rush I am in, I wont use a disabled space - but I would have no problem with a heavily pregnant woman using a P&T space (or anyone else with needing the extra space). I am another one who would be happy with the P&T spaces being a good way away from the main doors of the shops, it's the ability to open the bloody door to get the kids in & out that I need, not the proximity to the shop!

Kayzr - it beggars belief that your son can't get a blue badge - on what grounds are they refusing him??

What I started to say before, but went off on a tangent , was that if the spaces were wider as they used to be, then life would be easier for a lot of people and the P&T/disabled parking spaces wouldn't be so sought after and people who really need them could still get blue badges so they can be closer to the shops/have wider spaces/have ramps etc

When I rule the world, this is one of the first things I'll see to

My DH's blue badge was taken of him when he was 15. All because some busybody complained to the benefit people that he went on a school trip to Switzerland. He didn't do any of the mountain walks any of the other children did. But because of this they decided he could walk far enough to not need a blue badge.

We don't have a car but it would come in useful for when we go shopping with my mum, MIL or my brother.

Kayzr - that is proper shite. Isn't there anyone you can talk to??

Riven - both - but we aren't likely to go back to buying Reliant Robins again are we?

Not really. It depends which level of DLA he gets and if you reapply they can stop it altogether which we can't afford.

Riven - we all know that you hate cars & that you consider anything bigger than a skateboard a massive car. It isn't a thread about the pros & cons of cars/car ownership/how one can walk/bus everywhere. Let's not start those boring old topics up again - they have been done to death.

I didn't know that Riven. I'll get him to see his GP and see if it is possible. But then again we probably wouldn't use it much now but in 5-10 years he could be in a wheelchair.

ChippingIn No, but does having a car make it harder for you to walk long distances?

I am not anti-car either.

About as far from that as possible. I drive a Mosman Tractor in Sydney. And I can see how useful having wider spaces for the loading of kids/pregnant bellies is. What I can't see is why they need to be as close to the doors as disabled places. As I said upthread. It would make more sense for them to be at the back of the carpark. Then there would be plenty of space, nobody else would want to use them, there would be more closer spaces to be able to designate as disabled and everyone would be happy - yes?

I haven't read all of this as I'm sure it will have kicked off and it might make me miserable on a Saturday afternoon .. but anyway..

When I was pregnant with DS, I had bad SPD and struggled to get in and out of cars by 9 months. I was seriously huge. If someone parked too close to my door I couldn't get in and I couldn't climb in the passenger seat and climb over, so i did sometimes use P&T spaces. I don't judge other pregnant women when they use them (providing they are big and uncomfortable).

However, this time I have SPD far worse, to the point that I can barely walk and I also have to get DS (19 months) out of the car and across a car park safely. I am glad they are so close to the doors- or he'd probably get run over on the way as he's dinky and I can only hold his hand at the moment as I can't pik him up. I thank God for the P&T spaces at this time and I think there should be more. This xmas I've really struggled as I should be on crutches but can't manage DS when I use them and often the P&T spaces are full. I don't think mums should have to feel guilty for needing a little help sometimes.

Now what has annoyed me, is white vans parked in the spaces with men with no children as their vans are big they seem to think they are entitled to a big space.

Old men also seem to think they are eligible to use the P&T spaces when they are on their own. It's not fair.

I am quite worried about the number of disabled people at our local Asda who fail to park their car properly in a giant space. In the space of a couple of weeks I saw a lady pul in, out, in, out, in, out and then leave her car between two spaces. I saw a man do this and leave his car between a disabled and P&T space. I saw two different people park on the bit that has cris-crosses on it as you're not supposed to park there. I saw someone try to get a smallish car into a big space a number of times and when she couldn't, rather than driving out of the other end, she reversed. There was a huge queue and everyone had to reverse out of the disabled/P&T bit until she actually realised she'd never manage to reverse her car around a bend and so she drove forward at snail pace. There have been far more mistakes than this.

Now if people can't park in a large space, are they safe to be driving and would they be able to stop if a small child walked out? I am not talking about every disabled person when I say this- but the few that I have seen parking in this way.

I've given this some thought as I'm with child myself.

Have come to the conclusion that I wouldn't park in one of these spaces. The point is that they are big enough to lug car seats/buggies in and out of isn't it? Pregnant women aren't that big. Even at 36 weeks pregnant, I'm still smaller than a lot of obese people. So if can park in the p&c space, why shouldn't a fat person do the same? Pregnancy is arguably an equally self-inflcited condition after all...

There's possibly an argument that if you've got SPD or similar, you ought to be able to park in the spaces- as has been mentioned on this thread already. But if it's simply a case of being large and waddly (as I very much am at the moment!) then I'd argue that if I'm mobile enough to walk around the supermarket, I'm mobile enough to walk across the car park!

Plus, we should be trying to stay at least a bit active, shouldn't we?

Morloth - no, I agree with you and have said so several times - I would be perfectly happy to have the P&T spaces at the other end of the carpark to the entrance - it's the wider space that I need, not the proximity to the shops.

But I was just having a little light hearted banter with you, as you said "but it still doesn't answer the question of why people with no cars somehow manage without parent & child parks but having a car makes them necessary?" - well, right, if you don't have a car - you don't need a space - any space.... just made me grin - sorry if no-one else finds that funny....

Blushes - I think the difference between an obese person and a pregnant person is that usually the pregnant tummy is a lot 'firmer' than an obese tummy, so easier to 'squish in & out' and also those of us carrying more weight gradually get used to it - where as a 'football' tummy can arrive quite quickly!