I stood proud and shouted the odds about parents & toddler parking

[twiglett]

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I get pissed off when I see sporty middle aged women in them though.

Ditto. I think that it is unfair that older people don't get slots of their own. That said some older people don't need them either. MIL is retired but still goes skiing and hicking in the Himalayas, so she doen't need any help getting her shoping in yet

Hiking!

Bron - not a civic. I have an Audi cabroilet - only a 2 door so very long

And a view from the other side...
During the last 2 months of my pg, I regularly used the P and T spaces - and on one occasion, a disabled space - cos I was so sodding huge and also had SPD. I could walk, don't get me wrong, just not very far or with any speed, and since it was cold / rainy whatever, and I felt crap, I wanted to be as near to the door as I could get, especially since our local Tesco's is on a bloody steep slope and uphill was a no go for me.
I got harangued on one occasion - the week before I gave birth. I was huge, in pain, it was pouring it down and very windy and had gone in to get bread and a magazine. I got a right mouthful from a woman with a child who was no toddler at that - only about 5, admittedly, but hardly a baby or toddler - for parking in a P and T space. (In hindsight, I should have been clever and said I did have a baby with me! Inside me, but with me ) And its not as if the car park was full.

I was once shouted at by a bloke with a five year old when I was massivly pregnant.....and I hadn't paked in a M & T slot! When I pointed this out he didn't even have the decency to appologise!

Saw a single man parked in a PG slot once!

yeah- Lisa- I think in your condition you probably needed the space more than your average mum with one child.

I sometimes get stared at for using a space when I am with ds1 (4 and a half). But I don't care I know I need the space more than the average mum + toddler, and anyway I'm used to being stared at when I'm with ds1. If they watch long enough they see me wrestling to get him into a trolley (he refuses to go in the shop unless he's in one) so that usually confuses people sufficiently for them to leave me alone.

Really need to get the blue badge. Just cannot face DLA forms this time round for some reason.

The P&T badge from Tesco's is valid till your child's 5th birthday as you have to put the date on it with your reg no. I don't think Sainsbury's issue badges or at least my local one doesn't. Do any other supermarkets issue badges to be displayed?

I always had thought that P&T was pregnancy and toddler. I mean, parents and toddler doesn't make any sense, does it? So anyone pregnant is welcome to the spaces. So for me it was anyone with a toddler or anyone who needed the extra space, being pregnant and all or a very good reason. I don't park in them just because I have a tiresome two year old. It's a very UK thing. I'd gladly give up my spaces and get more blue badges (?) whatever, for whoever needs them. Gotta go, my son just said "why did you growl?" to his daddy, who is the nicest guy ever.

I think some Safeways issue badges for P&T spaces. Isn't it Tescos who have designated pregant woman places too?

Don't know about tescos, our don't, but Asdas do

So what is "P"? I like P as pregnancy and don't disagree with it.

always thought p was for parent

tbh p&t spaces are there as a courtesy for mums, its a customer service, they dont have to be enforced.
and another thing (mainly for VP this one. i have a wacking huge 3wheeler. but then my dd2 is only 17months old and the size of a 3year old, so she isnt as comfortable in her little stroller. i never rammed it into peoples legs, tho i did once trip some business man up after he pushed past me on the underground and sent me flying. well deserved that i think. and it is practical, last week iwould have been stuck trying to push the stroller in the snow as dd2 feet would've got soaked. at least in the 3wheeler i could push it easily and she stayed nice and warm.

My three-wheeler is great because a) we go on the moors a lot (on paths!) and b) I can push it one handed whilst gripping hold of ds1. Until about 2 weeks ago this meant I could go to the newsagents with ds1 and ds2. I can't now becuase ds1 fights to get away and runs off, but it was good until then.

I traded in my umbrella buggy for my three wheeler because the umbrella one kept giving me really bad electric shocks. My mum came back from town with her had standing on end.

My MIL hated it becayse it looked like "an invilid carriage" and "everyone was staring" as ds1 wasn't wearing shoes (it was 90 degrees in the shade at the time). Funny he turned out to be disabled then.

wow, knew I'd light a tinderbox here (sorry, been away all weekend).

VP, it is not the distance to the store, it is:

i) the width of the places so that you can get kids in and out
ii) the proxmity to an enclosed trolley park so that you can load up 2 non-walkers/escape artists, without having to carry two plus trolley to the paper towels at the entrance (or give them wet bums)
iii) the proximity of a trolley park so that at the end you can park the trolley without leaving the car full of kids for very long
iv) consider safety issues of getting small children or big bumps (or both) around a busy car park

I do agre that I do feel slightly guilty using them, in that I know they are really there because as a young mum I am a fantastic customer. But then again, a trip to Tesco ain't what it used to be, and I'm gla for the spaces.

VP - I have a 3 wheeler too but I never ram it into people and never block anywhere with it either. I am just as courteous with it as I am with my little buggy. I have one becuase I WANT one, just like some people like proper big prams (which IMO take up at least as much if not more room). It is comfortable for DD and very practical for us. It is also the lightest pushchair I could find suitable from birth to 3 or 4 years.

A sturdy, foldable three wheeler IMO is the way to go, IME umbrella buggies break too easily (I are not talking cheepo umbrella buggies either, I mean Maclaren). I use as much care with my three-wheeler as I would with any pram or buggy and am generally aware if I am blocking aisles etc in shops, if I am blocking the way an 'excuse me' will soon have me apologising and moving the offensive buggy!

i think we need a new thread on the buggy situation really.

I know you're all entitled to use what buggy you want but I sometimes do get annoyed when I can't get my McClaren round a shop because someone with a 3-wheeler is blocking the way or more pertinently just now myself with bump and DS in tow.

I have not being using P&T spaces for a while because I have had no need of them but have decided that I'm going to start using them again as of now. Although DS is almost 3 my pregnancy has got to the point where it is difficult to fasten him into his car seat in the back of my two door car in an ordinary space.

Victoria I imagine you would hate me then. I used (until recently when 2-year-old ds twins have wanted to walk everywhere) a very wide double 3-wheeler buggy. Forgive me if I don't prostrate myself before your holiness for having the audacity in choosing such a machine.

Rather than a fashion accessory it was the safest, sturdiest buggy I could find and at £199 from Mothercare, affordable and able to withstand walks in the country parks nearby. Rather than needlessly explain myself to you I shall just say that because of people like you, crappy attitudes, shopping was a nightmare for me and I ended up quite isolated. I now think I was far too considerate in not pushing my way into every shop I wanted to and stuff numpties who moaned and whinged and bitched just because I had the cheek of having two at once. Greedy aren't I.

Oooh, I feel much better now!

those double 3wheelers are very wide, the only reason i got the mothercare huge tank tandem and not the 3wheelr was i couldnt get it thro my door without collasping it first. would've loved one tho, did borrow one for a few weeks and it was heaven.

LOL Paula!

Oooh what about people whose cars are take up too much of the parking space in the supermarket, leaving too little space for someone parking next to them to get out? or People who park partway into the next space so that when you come along there is only 3/4 of a space and not a whole one? That has to be much worse than those of us who have big buggies?