Tight Car Parks

lordrobs said:
I went for my covid booster this morning and had to wait while a Merc GLE Coupe had five attempts at getting round the one way system in the doctors surgery car park. My Leon Estate went round without even really having to give it any thought at all.

I remember someone coming back to a big SUV parked so close to their car they couldn't get in. They shouted over to the driver who responded "It's not my fault I've got a big car" his response of "So who's fault is it then?" did make me chuckle.

I totally get why people like these monster sized cars but the trade off with parking hassles would be too much for me.
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That just highlights their selfishness more than anything.

I bet they'd be well peeved if someone dinged their car door trying to get in their own because it's literally hanging out the parking bay.

I know if i had a wide car i'd end up parking it well away from everyone else - in fact i've got a normal sized car and i do that anyway to avoid any unnecessary door banging that some people can't help themselves with.
 
There's a carpark near me that is hard to explain without a diagram but basically it is 2 way lanes both directions all the way up and down simultaneously, rather than a dedicated up and down end of the carpark. Because it is so tight, when you take any of the corners they are impossible to navigate at the same time as another car coming the other way as you have to straddle both lanes to get around. It's a ridiculous design. The turning circle of our Ford S-Max is the worst of any car I have owned as well which does not help. It's not even that big a car.
 
jaybee said:
There's a carpark near me that is hard to explain without a diagram but basically it is 2 way lanes both directions all the way up and down simultaneously, rather than a dedicated up and down end of the carpark. Because it is so tight, when you take any of the corners they are impossible to navigate at the same time as another car coming the other way as you have to straddle both lanes to get around. It's a ridiculous design. The turning circle of our Ford S-Max is the worst of any car I have owned as well which does not help. It's not even that big a car.
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Does it have 18 inch+ alloys? My wife's mk 3 focus st did, and it had the turning circle of an oil tanker:cry:, I don't think there were even 2 turns lock to lock:eek:.
 
theone8181 said:
Does it have 18 inch+ alloys? My wife's mk 3 focus st did, and it had the turning circle of an oil tanker:cry:, I don't think there were even 2 turns lock to lock:eek:.
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It does but it's still rubbish with 17s. I think the rack limiter accounts for whether the cars were spec'd with 18s or 17s regardless so you get the same circle effectively. Parking makes you look like you can't drive properly. I mean for the Mrs that's fine coz she can't anyway. :)
 
Resident said:
Next time park in the "Cheesegrater". It's on Charles St and run by Q-park. Spaces are decent sizes and it's only a minute further down the road. Tends to be a bit cheaper too ;)
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Thanks pal, will do - I'll be back there probably once a month for the next 6 months, so appreciate the local knowledge!

How tight are the entry and exit points at Q Park - my main issue with Arundel Gate was the manoeuvre to get through the exit bollards, was ridiculously tight. The actual parking spaces whilst not massive were not much of an issue.
 
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2004typer said:
Thanks pal, will do - I'll be back there probably once a month for the next 6 months, so appreciate the local knowledge!

How tight are the entry and exit points at Q Park - my main issue with Arundel Gate was the manoeuvre to get through the exit bollards, was ridiculously tight. The actual parking spaces whilst not massive were not much of an issue.
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I had no issues with my 19ft long, quite wide, Mondeo estate, baring in mind that the entrance/exit is a spiralled ramp.
 
theone8181 said:
Does it have 18 inch+ alloys? My wife's mk 3 focus st did, and it had the turning circle of an oil tanker:cry:, I don't think there were even 2 turns lock to lock:eek:.
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Crap turning circle is just ST in general. I have a Mk1 ST170 and the missus has a Mk1 Ghia (we both like our older cars) and compared the turning circle on the ST is dire & that's on 17s (standard)
 
Resident said:
Crap turning circle is just ST in general. I have a Mk1 ST170 and the missus has a Mk1 Ghia (we both like our older cars) and compared the turning circle on the ST is dire & that's on 17s (standard)
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The reason I mention it is iirc they put spacers on the cars with bigger wheels, hence the **** turning circle. Weirdly he current gen fiesta st has no issues, but I can't remember if that's on 17's or 18's.
 
The NCP Pepper Street in Chester was a 'hilarious' experience a few months ago. We had to wait 30 minutes to park as once you're in, there's no turning back if it's busy.

There was a Marshall trying to keep things moving but it's just too small for modern cards. They need to get rid of one side of spaces to allow it to move more freely.

The Google reviews of it sum it up: https://www.google.com/search?q=NCP...d-xiaomi-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
 
Greebo said:
On these big SUVS it really is worth every penny buying the £995 rear wheel steer option. Drops the turning circle by over 1.5m. My VW touareg supposedly has the same turning circle as VW golf and I believe it.
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I remember stories about one of the earliest cars with a 4 wheel steer system - I think it was the Mitsubishi 3000GT. Hopefully they've ironed out the bugs in how it works these days, because that one had a major problem. If you parallel parked right up against a wall, then when you came to try to drive out again the rear wheels would put full lock on and drive your back end into the wall.
 
Bear said:
That was on the news, it was hilarious. It illustrates just how bad some drivers are, some didn’t even attempt to slow down and just tried to plough through and smacked the posts, amazing. Just to show how tight it is a transit van can get through it if they are careful, so morons that write their Aygos off on the posts is amazing
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A slight mitigation is that Watford council love a road narrowing restriction, but that particular one was made smaller recently and is smaller than others in the area. I suspect the drivers were taking the same approach they do to all the others in Watford.

Watford Observer has had some good videos from that guy's doorbell camera for the last few months.
 
bazzabear said:
I remember stories about one of the earliest cars with a 4 wheel steer system - I think it was the Mitsubishi 3000GT. Hopefully they've ironed out the bugs in how it works these days, because that one had a major problem. If you parallel parked right up against a wall, then when you came to try to drive out again the rear wheels would put full lock on and drive your back end into the wall.
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Wasn't it a Honda Prelude?
 
ahar said:
A slight mitigation is that Watford council love a road narrowing restriction, but that particular one was made smaller recently and is smaller than others in the area. I suspect the drivers were taking the same approach they do to all the others in Watford.

Watford Observer has had some good videos from that guy's doorbell camera for the last few months.
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I saw some of those videos and wasnt sure what was going on. Looked like the cars were being punted into the air by something?
 
chroniclard said:
I saw some of those videos and wasnt sure what was going on. Looked like the cars were being punted into the air by something?
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Its a steel post which has now been hit so many times its at a 60 degree angle so cars not lined up just go up the post and then stop with a jolt.
 
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