Parent and Child Parking Spaces

[heartshaped1 10]

Ok, I know I'm probably opening an enormous can of worms here but hey, it's raining, I've got time!

 

Was at Tesco on Infirmary Road on Wednesday evening and parked in one of the parent & child spaces, as I have a 5 month old and the extra space makes it easier for me to get the car seat out. Another parent pulled in to the next space with her teenage child, who was on her mobile arranging a boozy night out. She was challenged by another mother on the other side with three young kids about her need to use the space, but gave her a right mouthful - what effing right did she have to tell her where she could park etc. Surely if the child is able bodied (or she'd have parked in the disabled space?) and old enough to be drinking she's old enough to use a normal parking space?

 

So.... Do you think P&C spaces are a help, a nuisance, drive you crazy? I know technically me (30 something) and my 50+ mother could park in one, being a parent and child but shouldn't there be some kind of self imposed limit? Or should the supermarkets be doing more to sort it?

 

It seems to me that these spaces are widely misused. In the end, the lady who challenged the teen and her mother reported the car to Tesco who asked her to move, but as she'd finished her shopping by this point she wasn't really that bothered!

 

What do others think?

[willman 10]

i think its been done before.

in my own opinion.

it should be parents & "buggies"/infants and disabled. everyone else should walk or cope. it was their decision to have 3 -4 kids and bring them shopping - why should everyone else have to compensate.its not as though large families or taking kids shopping is a new phenomona.

i think everyone else should be clamped or ticketed, the supermarkets would gain as much new custom & respect as that lost to the antisocial people as described above.

[Cyclone 10]

I think they should be scrapped altogether. You choose to have kids, why should you get preferential parking treatment for it.

[willman 10]

my only reason for parents/infants/buggies spaces is to stop the blighter parking next to me & scratching my car 'cos they're usually that disorgainsed.

i dont think they should be categorically be next to the doors - unlike disabled space.

[*Twinkle* 10]

I think some people use them because regular parking spaces are quite tight and you risk getting a scrape down your door when the person parked next to you gets out...

 

Others use them because they are lazy... end of!

 

They're a really good idea for parents, as they have the whole buggy to set up, strap baby in, then remember all the regular car security stuff! All of which cannot be done in a few inches gap between you and the next vehicle in a regular parking bay.

 

Maybe if they were better regulated, as the disabled bays are, then there wouldnt be such abuse of this facility. (However on second thoughts, who'd really want to challenge irate and harrassed mothers with the cheek to park in such bays anyways!)

[cosywolf 10]

I think they should be scrapped altogether. You choose to have kids, why should you get preferential parking treatment for it.

 

Perhaps because you'd prefer not to have your own vehicle scratched when I open my doors wide enough to deal with removal of my squiggly wriggly child from his car seat.

 

Same as above, but on return journey when I am strapping in screaming, car seat-hating child.

 

Or perhaps to protect both your car and my child when I need to get him in his push chair in a safe and fairly spacious area next to my vehicle as opposed to right in the middle of the road.

 

To protect your vehicle from the dents and scratches it will sustain from shopping trolleys (particularly the brake-free sort) when Mum/Dad is slotting starfish-shaped child into/out of said trolley in the safest place to do so - next to their car.

 

To protect your car when slightly older small children who are naturally lacking in sense slam car doors open/shut because sometimes kids just do.

 

Any other questions??? LOL - IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!!!

[cosywolf 10]

Having said what I said above, however...

 

They should be Parent and TODDLER spaces - i.e. reserved for parents with babies and children only up to a certain age, say about five years old. After that children are capable of entering and exiting a car in a fairly reasonable manner without too much risk of harming other vehicles, and do not actually need another half a cars width to get in and out.

 

If you have older kids you should appreciate the struggles of parents with tiny infants and toddlers, and make way for them.

 

And if you have tiny ones/toddlers but intend to sit in the car with them while your partner goes in - park somewhere else!!!!!! Please!!!!

 

Rant over, thanks.

[Cyclone 10]

You chose to have the children, maybe there should be a special section for you to protect everyone elses car, and it should be at the far side of the car park.

 

Perhaps because you'd prefer not to have your own vehicle scratched when I open my doors wide enough to deal with removal of my squiggly wriggly child from his car seat.

 

Same as above, but on return journey when I am strapping in screaming, car seat-hating child.

 

Or perhaps to protect both your car and my child when I need to get him in his push chair in a safe and fairly spacious area next to my vehicle as opposed to right in the middle of the road.

 

To protect your vehicle from the dents and scratches it will sustain from shopping trolleys (particularly the brake-free sort) when Mum/Dad is slotting starfish-shaped child into/out of said trolley in the safest place to do so - next to their car.

 

To protect your car when slightly older small children who are naturally lacking in sense slam car doors open/shut because sometimes kids just do.

 

Any other questions??? LOL - IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!!!

[Till Man 10]

The problem lies in Tesco's Sainsbury's etc not enforcing/policing these places properly.

Only 3 or 4 weeks ago I was trying to juggle with my 2 year old, upteen bags of shopping and a trolley on which the brakes didn't work, when some D*ckhead bloke (with no kids) in a soft-top Audi A4 screached into the space next to me.

I was insensed enough to say something about his speed, driving style and the fact that he was now parked in a parent and child space.

His response was "F**k off, who do you think you are, a f**king traffic warden?" and he walked off.

 

I left my trolley resting against his passenger door and drove off myself

 

:rant:

[Till Man 10]

You chose to have the children, maybe there should be a special section for you to protect everyone elses car, and it should be at the far side of the car park.

 

Or maybe you chose NOT to have children and should be penalised for that!!!!!!

[cosywolf 10]

You chose to have the children, maybe there should be a special section for you to protect everyone elses car, and it should be at the far side of the car park.

 

You are presumably fit enough to get into and out of your car and walk alone and under your own steam to the door of the supermarket. You are presumably not hampered by anything much except your wallet. You are an adult and capable of looking after yourself.

Please explain what on earth your problem is with providing helpful and convenient facilities for other people who have their hands rather fuller than yours? It's not like you are being penalised nto walking miles to get to the shop...it's generally a matter of a very few metres, for heavens sake!

[Tricky 10]

You chose to have the children, maybe there should be a special section for you to protect everyone elses car, and it should be at the far side of the car park.

 

It's up to the supermarket who they want to encourage to shop in their store.

 

Now imagine you are a supermarket owner, do you want to encourage a) single blokes who drive sports cars with a boot large enough to take a maximum of 4 carrier bags. or b) Parents with kids in a car large enough to contain the entire frozen food section?