Tight Car Parks

2004typer

2004typer

2004typer

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Up North
In my job I tend to get around a fair bit by car and the inevitable situation of finding a car parking space near to where I'm needed.

Does it wind anyone else up how bad some of the car parks are designed and don't at all suit the size of modern cars.

Visited Sheffield today and parked in Arundel Gate opposite the Crucible Theatre. Getting into the car park wasn't bad, but getting out was horrendous, a tight 90 degree turn into the narrowest kerbed area between the exit bollard.

Granted, was driving an Insignia so a fairly large car, but I literally had about 10mm of clear space before shredding the tyre/alloy on the massive kerb, and by the state of it has taken many victims.

Luckily it was quiet so wasn't under any pressure while I navigated the exit at 0.0001mph while eagle eyeing the wing mirrors on the rear wheels, but I can imagine if there was a queue behind and the other driver wasn't particularly patient you'd get some funny looks or a beep of the horn.

Obviously would be loads easier in a little hatchback, but for pigs sake I can't fathom why the owners wouldn't just change it to make it easier (best way - get rid of the kerbs and just have painted line markings).

The car park in concern used to be an NCP, but I'm assuming they got rid due to the age of the place and the obvious design of the facility for cars of yesteryear before they got fat.

Minor moan over lol......lesson learned is to find a modern car park, or drive a smart car.
 
Yep some are absolutely terrible. They're so eager to make use of every square ft to fit in every possible space to maximise profits. Ive got an A6 Avant and some are definitely quite a squeeze.
 
andy_mk3 said:
Yep some are absolutely terrible. They're so eager to make use of every square ft to fit in every possible space to maximise profits. Ive got an A6 Avant and some are definitely quite a squeeze.
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Unfortunately with an A6 you're fighting a losing a losing battle as they become cheap mum wagons. Watched several make comical mistakes, fresh in my mind as I watched one this morning graze another car and then reverse into a gate :cry:
 
A lot of them were designed when cars were a lot smaller and it would be complicated to redesign them. I've driven supercars and large SUVs in very, very tight carparks and I find as long as you're very careful it's not that difficult, particularly once you've done it a few times. One thing that always amazes me is how people don't get out to check. If I have any doubt about damaging my car in any way I always get out to have a look - I couldn't care less if it annoys the people behind me.

This was the only one that made me sweat a bit, not so much because it was tight, but because the parking attendant kept shouting instructions thinking he was "helping" when I was much more comfortable doing it myself.

IMG-5422.jpg
 
geekman said:
A lot of them were designed when cars were a lot smaller and it would be complicated to redesign them. I've driven supercars and large SUVs in very, very tight carparks and I find as long as you're very careful it's not that difficult, particularly once you've done it a few times. One thing that always amazes me is how people don't get out to check. If I have any doubt about damaging my car in any way I always get out to have a look - I couldn't care less if it annoys the people behind me.

This was the only one that made me sweat a bit, not so much because it was tight, but because the parking attendant kept shouting instructions thinking he was "helping" when I was much more comfortable doing it myself.

IMG-5422.jpg
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Damn. I don't understand, were you parking in the spot or trying to get out. As both cars seem to be facing one another.

Either way, must have been terrifying :o
 
I feel this, Leicester and Brum also have some really compact, old school car parks.

The one thing that really annoys me are the ones with dodgy/steep/sudden ramps where, if you're in anything sporty, you scrape the bottom of your car :mad:
 
usamir said:
Damn. I don't understand, were you parking in the spot or trying to get out. As both cars seem to be facing one another.

Either way, must have been terrifying :o
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I parked it like that, as the spaces were tiny. There was a car in front and behind so I couldn't adjust the angle. It was my fault really as the hotel I booked said "small cars only" and me being me I thought that they were exaggerating and it would be easy. I had to do it every day for several days and after I told the guy to stop talking and let me do it myself it wasn't so bad.
 
Worst one for me is most car dealers/garages - they seem to compete with each other to see who can fill the parking space up the most and have the tightest obstacle course of a route from the road to visitor parking, or they are in the middle of an industrial estate with parking which is barely off a road lined with cars on either side and huge lorries squeezing through inches from your vehicle.

As I mainly drive vehicles on the larger size of average I tend to spend quite a lot of time researching ahead when it comes to parking :(
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
You think that bad, what about this?

Cars written off by Watford road bollards caught on camera https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-59641534

Fairly sure there is a longer version on YouTube somewhere.
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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
 
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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Having a look at Google maps and some other footage it is surprisingly narrow vs a lot of modern cars are actually quite wide (surprisingly many are wider than my pickup). Have to say I would have approached with some caution but some people do really struggle to gauge the width of their vehicle.

And some are just clueless and lazy.
 
Rroff said:
Having a look at Google maps and some other footage it is surprisingly narrow vs a lot of modern cars are actually quite wide (surprisingly many are wider than my pickup). Have to say I would have approached with some caution but some people do really struggle to gauge the width of their vehicle.

And some are just clueless and lazy.
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It is very tight, the gap is just about wide enough to squeeze a Transit van through if they are careful as they showed a guy do it. It was a nightmare for the residents though, as it was almost daily they would hear a car pile into the posts
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
You think that bad, what about this?

Cars written off by Watford road bollards caught on camera https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-59641534

Fairly sure there is a longer version on YouTube somewhere.
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Haven't seen this one before - I'd be slowing down to a crawl to get through that, just asking for trouble continuing through at 30mph like most of the drivers shown on the video, would need epic skill to thread a car through untouched at normal speed.
 
geekman said:
A lot of them were designed when cars were a lot smaller and it would be complicated to redesign them.
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Totally agree - but I reckon there could be small things that they could do in certain areas like reducing kerb heights at the tightest pinch points where not constrained by the physical structure of the car park itself, so you'd still have the tight turning circles but less risk of mashing the wheels.
 
Le Clandestin Brun said:
I feel this, Leicester and Brum also have some really compact, old school car parks.

The one thing that really annoys me are the ones with dodgy/steep/sudden ramps where, if you're in anything sporty, you scrape the bottom of your car :mad:
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Yep - agreed, another car park I've had the misfortune of visiting was Grainger Town Car Park in Newcastle, the exit is via a steep incline between narrow kerbs and around a bend, you can't even see the kerbs as you first enter the exit ramp due to the incline and the ground falling very steeply away from the front of the car, so if you don't judge it correctly you end up very easily mashing the wheels.

Found a link with some reviews on - there's a hero on there who states that people should get driving lessons, but he's probably driving a small car so not affected:

https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/grainger_town/ne1/newcastle_upon_tyne/
 
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It amazes me that city councils don’t care the majority of their car parks were built in the 60/70s and are not fit for modern cars. Even if you can enter/exit without trashing your alloys/splitter, the actual painted spaces are so tight, you are going to get several dings/dents from other idiot car owners.

It’s why I don’t park my cars in such places. Ever.
 
2004typer said:
Haven't seen this one before - I'd be slowing down to a crawl to get through that, just asking for trouble continuing through at 30mph like most of the drivers shown on the video, would need epic skill to thread a car through untouched at normal speed.
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Couple of places on my way to work where you have to go around a corner with probably only 2.1m clearance if traffic is coming the other way, most traffic is doing 30 without too many accidents.
 
Rroff said:
Couple of places on my way to work where you have to go around a corner with probably only 2.1m clearance if traffic is coming the other way, most traffic is doing 30 without too many accidents.
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Is this just a narrow area or a deliberately kerbed area like in the video - if just narrow probably a lot easier to judge if there are no kerbs of death that are outside of your sight line when you're near them.
 
2004typer said:
Is this just a narrow area or a deliberately kerbed area like in the video - if just narrow probably a lot easier to judge if there are no kerbs of death that are outside of your sight line when you're near them.
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One has a wall about 1.5 to 2 foot high running along one side and traffic to the other. The other just has regular pavement.
 
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