parent and child places.

wez130

wez130

wez130

Soldato
Joined
31 Jan 2004
Posts
11,327
Location
Matakana New Zealand
Ok, so i've been driving ~ 4 years or so, and have always been considerate with regards to P+C/Disabled places thus never parked in them. However, i've recently had a baby boy, as you can probably imagine, it's a bit of a struggle to get the baby seat out of a normal parking space at the best of times, which is why P+C places exist.

So, today, went to the local supermarket, eventually found a P+C place and parked in it, the car in the bay next to me reversed - no kids, the person who parked in the place guess what - no kids. I got my child out of the car - in baby seat, and walked round the other side to the side of his car - and i shouted to him 'Where's your child' - he gave me a dirty look, as i walked towards the supermarket, the person who was infront of the car next to me, a woman in her late 20's - no kids, i said out loud, people like you make me sick. Got in the supermarket, and the bloke that i asked if he had anykids came chasing after me, grtabbed my trolley and said - where's my kids? in a coffin that's where he said, fair enough mate, i apologise but still don't give you the right to park in a P+C where people like me struggle to get our baby car seat out without risking damage to other peoples cars.

Yet another case of me, me, me. :mad:
 
P&C spaces are a cynical marketing excercise by the supermarkets. They cram all the regular spaces in so close together its virtually impossible to park in such a way as to avoid damage to your car, and then set aside half the carpark to ultra wide Parent and Baby spaces instead.

They have no legal bearing whatsoever, unlike disabled spaces.

I don't bother parking in them either becuase some ridiculous mother in a huge MPV will no doubt come along and smash their door into your car anyway, so instead I now visit Sainsburys at such a time that there are ample spaces I can park in to avoid damage to my car.

Although for some people it is pure lazyness which means they uses these spaces, for many others its the thinking that why should they risk their, often very expensive, prized posessions being damaged as a result of inconsiderate people who don't care and money-hungry supermarkets who'd rather cram in a load more spaces with some 'LOOK HOW NICE WE ARE' parent and child spaces rather than simply ensure EVERY space in their carpark is sufficiently sized to avoid damage?
 
Parent and child spaces are the landowners choice, it's just some selfish people think they can ignore what the landowner chooses...

They may be a marketing ploy, but the company has a right to make decisions based on that, so it's fairly simple to me.

Seems like a perfectly valid comment the OP makes, irrespective of whether they have a legal basis beyond the fact that a supermarket car park is private land, and the supermarket wishes to apply restrictions on certian spaces.
 
I'd just rather instead of using them as a nice marketing opportunity 'Look at us, we love parents, please shop here' - they instead got rid of the whole damn lot and made every space wide enough that it can be easily used for ALL purposes, perhaps with some 'priority' spaces at the front of the store for those parents with toddlers and suchlike.

I think Plymouth Sainsburys now has approximately 40% of the carpark made over to disabled/parent spaces! Most of which are pretty empty, leaving the rest of the carpark full of closely parked cars picking up dents.
 
Plymouth Sainsbury's car park is bloody awful though. The whole design is a disaster. :)
I'm all for P&C spaces, and it does upset me a little when you see others parked in there, who shouldn't be.....especially when its raining. Our local Tesco's is excellent for spaces, as the normal spaces are give you at least a foot either side of your car when parked. :)
 
P&C spaces discriminate against those without kids. Why should those of us who choose not to have children have to put up with inferior parking?

Disabled spaces are protected by law and rightly so as no-one chooses to be disabled. People do choose to have kids and then expect the rest of the world to make allowances for them.

I do appreciate that, with small children to get in and out of the car, more space is advantageous and, truth be told, I wouldn't have much of a problem with a few P&C spaces at supermarkets. The problem is that it's getting out of hand. Most of the supermarkets round here have ridiculous numbers of them which, when combined with the disabled spaces, mean the "rest of us" have to park a mile away from the doors. Worse still is the tendency for absolutely everywhere to start putting in these spaces.

I've noticed a few places which have actually combined the disabled and P&C spaces so they can be used for either. This is utterly outrageous IMO. If I was a registered disabled badge holder and found there were no spaces in which to park as they'd all been taken by parents with kids I'd cause a riot.

As someone who has chosen not to have children, modern society's pandering to parents annoys the hell out of me and is discrimination, pure and simple.
 
Vertigo1 said:
P&C spaces discriminate against those without kids. Why should those of us who choose not to have children have to put up with inferior parking?

Disabled spaces are protected by law and rightly so as no-one chooses to be disabled. People do choose to have kids and then expect the rest of the world to make allowances for them.

I do appreciate that, with small children to get in and out of the car, more space is advantageous and, truth be told, I wouldn't have much of a problem with a few P&C spaces at supermarkets. The problem is that it's getting out of hand. Most of the supermarkets round here have ridiculous numbers of them which, when combined with the disabled spaces, mean the "rest of us" have to park a mile away from the doors. Worse still is the tendency for absolutely everywhere to start putting in these spaces.

I've noticed a few places which have actually combined the disabled and P&C spaces so they can be used for either. This is utterly outrageous IMO. If I was a registered disabled badge holder and found there were no spaces in which to park as they'd all been taken by parents with kids I'd cause a riot.

As someone who has chosen not to have children, modern society's pandering to parents annoys the hell out of me and is discrimination, pure and simple.
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so you'd rather the likes of me - who have to open the rear door WIDE open to get my baby out, and risk damage to your car, park in a normal space, it's bad enough when cars are parked adequetly distant in a normal space, let alone some ******* rush-park on some ridiculous angle or about a body width away from your car, making it actually impossible for me to put my baby back in the car? :rolleyes:

I don't care where the P+C places are, i never asked for them at the front of the store, they just conveniently are - i suppose for incase it rains etc. All i want is to be able to have enough space to manoevre aand not have to struggle not to damage somebody elses car, wether that be at the front, the rear or the middle, i don't care.
 
[TW]Fox said:
I'd just rather instead of using them as a nice marketing opportunity 'Look at us, we love parents, please shop here' - they instead got rid of the whole damn lot and made every space wide enough that it can be easily used for ALL purposes, perhaps with some 'priority' spaces at the front of the store for those parents with toddlers and suchlike.

I think Plymouth Sainsburys now has approximately 40% of the carpark made over to disabled/parent spaces! Most of which are pretty empty, leaving the rest of the carpark full of closely parked cars picking up dents.
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For once i'd agree with you, they should make them all the same size.
 
I was forever being shouted at for parking in the parent and child spaces when i had my prelude. The back seats are really low buckets so the kids couldnt be seen hehe .. few shocked faces when i drop the seats and my 2 boys jump out the back :D

would be interested to know exactly how much bigger the P+C spaces are and how many fewer cars you could fit in the carpark if all the spaces were P+C sizes :)
 
Increasing the size of the standard spaces would be a good start but let's face it - never going to happen.

One thing they should do is enforce these spaces as "Parent and Baby" only. Every time I go to Tesco or Sainsbury's, all of these spaces appear to be full but I hardly see any parents with babies in tow around the supermarket itself.

The spaces are being used by people with kids rather than babies and this is unnacceptable. Even if your child is young/small enough to requite a seat or bolster, if they can get in and out of the car themselves then you have no need of a special space.

If they ensured the spaces were only used by those with babies that had to be extracted from and inserted into the car by the parent then a lot less of them would be required in the first place. Parents using them with 5 year old kids in tow are just as "guilty" as those without kids at all.
 
I admit sometimes I park in mother and baby spaces even though I don't have a child. The only reason for this is that I'm disabled and all the disabled spaces are taken up and I need the space to get my wheelchair out. I don't like doing it, but the same thing can de said for the disabled spaces - too many people use them that have no need or no right to.

I've even parked in the middle of two spaces before, because there were no disabled or m+b spaces left, and when I've come back had a nice adhesive sticker stuck to my windscreen telling me not to do it again or some sutch. I had to go back into the shop, it was a tesco iirc, and ask there customer services to remove it. They did and was very appologetic about it, they even washed of the gum with soapy water :)

I'm sorry I park there, and given the option I wouldn't, but I need to get food too and there is no alternative unless I drive 7 miles to the next supermarket.
 
hominid said:
I admit sometimes I park in mother and baby spaces even though I don't have a child. The only reason for this is that I'm disabled and all the disabled spaces are taken up and I need the space to get my wheelchair out..
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Nothing wrong with that, IMO. :)
 
I never park in them, I've seen the nutters that use them pushing their ultra wide 3 wheel pushchairs or shopping trolleys up in between the cars where there isn't enough room to do so.

I park as far away from the shop as possible, over 2 bays every time I go to the supermarket. The car parks are never that busy that it makes a difference, there's normally only my car plus the odd 1 or 2 others where I park :p
 
Vertigo1 said:
Increasing the size of the standard spaces would be a good start but let's face it - never going to happen.

One thing they should do is enforce these spaces as "Parent and Baby" only. Every time I go to Tesco or Sainsbury's, all of these spaces appear to be full but I hardly see any parents with babies in tow around the supermarket itself.

.
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My old morrisons used to be parent and baby, not parent and child. if the child can walk safely themselves then they should not be using the space.

i happilly argue / ask people to move their cars if i see them parking with no children.

Barry Smalley, this is normal and is allowed iirc. If you are the designated driver for a disabled person and you are out on an erand for said person, then you get the same parking privileges. i think.
 
I park in parent and child spaces I've had a few comments but I'm a muscle bound skinhead so. :p I've picked up so many dents using the pathetic spaces provided I'll park where I want now.
 
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