Protecting asigned bays
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One of my biggest gripes in motoring is parking, bad parkers, inconsiderate parkers and the worst, those that use designated bays without need nor right.
It is pretty obvious why we have disabled parking, but parent and child parking seems to be ignored or not understood, before the obvious "I park where I want posts" I will make this clear:
Parent and child spaces are needed for a number of reasons, the main two for me are;
Access, those without children may not realise, but getting car seats in and out of cars can be physically impossible in normal spaces. You need the door fully open for enough space.
Safety, even best behaved children can forget the rules of the road or just be too young / immature to understand. With a P&C space, a child can be taken out of the car, kept with you whilst you manoeuvre pushchairs / get coats etc.
I will be blunt, it is a stupid and unrealistic expectation, to just leave the kids at home. Aside from practical issues like clothes shopping when checking sizes, expecting parent to pay out on sitting services, for other peoples ignorance or selfishness is crazy IMO.
Getting something done:
Raising this locally with the car park owners return the same responses.
"We mark the bays clearly" or "we encourage our shoppers to use bays responsibly".
My local Tescos was strife, when I asked why an announcement couldn't be played, or leaflets administered, they told me they where doing all they could (but wouldn't take any suggestions.)
Local MPs promise to speak with the stores but are utterly useless, not giving feedback or ignoring further communication.
I know the law is tricky around this, (fines cannot be administered on certain land ownerships) but I really feel that this is an ignored subject, and something that impacts the lives of many of us on a daily basis.
Is there anything we can do? any road not travelled or appeal that can be raised? This really does my head in, in many occasions these car parks are largely empty, this is just selfish behaviour and nothing more.
It is pretty obvious why we have disabled parking, but parent and child parking seems to be ignored or not understood, before the obvious "I park where I want posts" I will make this clear:
Parent and child spaces are needed for a number of reasons, the main two for me are;
Access, those without children may not realise, but getting car seats in and out of cars can be physically impossible in normal spaces. You need the door fully open for enough space.
Safety, even best behaved children can forget the rules of the road or just be too young / immature to understand. With a P&C space, a child can be taken out of the car, kept with you whilst you manoeuvre pushchairs / get coats etc.
I will be blunt, it is a stupid and unrealistic expectation, to just leave the kids at home. Aside from practical issues like clothes shopping when checking sizes, expecting parent to pay out on sitting services, for other peoples ignorance or selfishness is crazy IMO.
Getting something done:
Raising this locally with the car park owners return the same responses.
"We mark the bays clearly" or "we encourage our shoppers to use bays responsibly".
My local Tescos was strife, when I asked why an announcement couldn't be played, or leaflets administered, they told me they where doing all they could (but wouldn't take any suggestions.)
Local MPs promise to speak with the stores but are utterly useless, not giving feedback or ignoring further communication.
I know the law is tricky around this, (fines cannot be administered on certain land ownerships) but I really feel that this is an ignored subject, and something that impacts the lives of many of us on a daily basis.
Is there anything we can do? any road not travelled or appeal that can be raised? This really does my head in, in many occasions these car parks are largely empty, this is just selfish behaviour and nothing more.
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Comments
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I imagine there will be some comments playing devils advocate so a couple on instances I have witnessed.
In a multi story car park on a certain level in the only P&C space for three floors I see the same car parked in there everytime I visit. As it is so frequent at least on two occasions I have seen a woman enter and leave the carpark sans child.
In a local supermarket, companies use the space even at peak times, no child only two employees having a fag break.
At the tescos mentioned, it is a hotspot for sales and traveling business, flash cars full of equipment, never a child seat.0 -
As they are only painted lines used as a marketing tool then you will have a hard time getting anyone to do anything.
If you feel you need the space then take up two spaces, lots of people seem to do that.
Park further away from the store?
Children can, and do run, out from P&C spaces so not sure your "safety" argument stacks up.0 -
I have no problem with not parking in disabled spaces as the users of these generally need the spaces. On the other hand I have a big problem with P&C spaces and will park in them when it suits me.
If you don't have enough space in a normal parking bay all this means is that the bays are not big enough, it does not mean that people with children should get special priviliges over people who do not have children. The PC brigade in this country have a lot to answer for.
If someone can give me one good reason (reason, not excuse) for the existence of P&C spaces (apart from a marketing tool) then I will consider not using them.0 -
good gosh, I guess were talking private run car parks here, your MP cant really do nothing, it would be like david Cameron telling you as a business owner you have to sort out your own parking spaces because parking is terrible and he wants your spot to park in.
They can hear you plea but don't have to take action or suggestion.0 -
Do remember not everybody with a disability has a blue badge. Not every disability is obvious. Not speaking for everybody here but I frequently see people using these bays without children but imo have genuine reason to need more space.
Then there's the fact parking spaces are so small it's ridiculous. Even I as a somewhat young (well, ish
) able bodied individual often has difficulty getting in and out of the car.
And because of the above reason people with nice cars don't want them to get dinged or scratched which is fair enough.0 -
Why don't they put the parent spaces at the back of the car park? Then there's plenty of room and those who can't be bothered to walk won't use them. The trolleys have child seats in them for transporting them.0
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And because of the above reason people with nice cars don't want them to get dinged or scratched which is fair enough.
Just park well away from all the other cars. Easy enough to do in most car parks as other people tend to be lazy and park as close to shop as they can.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
Just park well away from all the other cars. Easy enough to do in most car parks as other people tend to be lazy and park as close to shop as they can.
Agreed, It's amazing the number of times I follow someone into a car park, park up well away from the most congested area and then walk past the preceding car as it's driver is still trying to squeeze into a parking space close to the store entrance.0 -
The need for P&C parking spaces seems pretty obvious to me, but the reason IMO that they get abused is that they are near to the store entrance. Lazy people see a space and park there. If the reason for having them is so that parents have additional space to get children in and out of the car, then that's not a reason to put them near to the store entrance.
Disabled spaces are near to the store entrance so disabled customers have less distance to travel, fine. If 'semi reserved' spaces were located based on need then there would be less of an issue of mis-use. As chrisw says, put the P&C spaces near the back of the car park, and nobody would feel the need to use them unless they had the C of the P&C. Personally, I park near to the trolley drop point further away from the store - more space, and more convenient to dump the trolley after loading into my car.
Having said that, I think you may be on the verge of over obsessing with this issue ben_m_g.0 -
Agreed, It's amazing the number of times I follow someone into a car park, park up well away from the most congested area and then walk past the preceding car as it's driver is still trying to squeeze into a parking space close to the store entrance.
Yet if the car park is practically empty and I park away from everyone, guaranteed there will be a big people carrier parked smack bang down the side of my little car
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