Miserable old gits out in force at 11.03 today.
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Sorry, is that you *and* me?
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+1 m.o.g.
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MM, I'm assuming your comment was TIC anyway, but thanks, I can drive my car without crashing into others, should I choose to.
It's the other folks' abilities I worry for.
The problem is not really one of competence, simply physical fit, when UK carpark bays seem to have been marked-out to accomodate Austin Allegros.
How does the average family go on, if average families were all driving the new Mondeo?
And as for moving down to a smaller car, have you seen the size of the latest Corsa? Not small any more, are they.
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"marked-out to accomodate Austin Allegros." Yup. I shopped at Morrisons once. Well how can I shop if the space is so narrow I can't get out? OK I exaggerate but only slightly. That plus TWO queues at the deli counter, one for meat, then join a second one for cheese, meant I never went back.
JH
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Herringbone car parks are common in the US and work well. With the turning circle of a typical Yank SUV, they're probably essential.
Usually they arrange alternale rows in alternate directions. Only problem is when you spot a space from the end of a row which is facing against you. I solved that by reversing into the space - but turns out that's actually illegal in the US (due to no front number plate).
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Disneyland Paris has herringbone bays too, and they work well, until you drive and drive the wrong way down an aisle.
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Herringbone bays are a no brainer to me. You can drive straight into them and you can see other cars sooner when backing out. Why shouldn't driving be made easy. The worse culprits for difficult parking are multi story car parks. In my local one, there are three bays between pillars. The middle one is fine but the other two are so tight against the pillars that you can barely open any doors. I have had so many parking dents in these that I have given up caring.
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The only place in the UK where I've seen herringbone parking bays is Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, and they work very well. I wish they were more common and the size of parking bays increased, especially since cars are getting bigger for safely reasons.
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This thread has cheered me up. It has re-identified me. Once I might have been accused of being a "y.u.p.p.y." ( young up and coming professional ) Later I was definately a "d.i.n.k.y." ( dual, income, no kids yet ) I thought I had become a "s.i.m.a.k" ( single income, mortgage and kids ). But no .....I discover to my delight that I am in fact a "m.o.g." ! Wonder if you can get a bumper sticker?
;-)
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For the sake of losing maybe a couple of spaces per row, why don't car parks have angled bays arranged in herringbone fashion?
Because the owners of the premises (supermarkets are worst offenders IMO?) want to pack in the maximum number of spaces and they dont remotely care if their customers have difficulty parking. There are only guidelines for minimum space sizes, and some places they will reduce the size to squeeze more in.
I have a book which shows that in the area taken up by 32 spaces in herringbone pattern, a normal parking layout will give 34-36 spaces. So over a whole car park they could lose dozens of spaces, which they are evidently not prepared to do.
At Costco they must do it the American way, at the shop in Derby the parking is great, the spaces are in a standard layout but between all spaces there is a double line, making a good 14-16" gap.
The supermarket I was at yesterday has smaller than normal parking spaces to start with, but then every 3 spaces there is a diamond shaped kerb with tree planter, which cuts off the corner of the spaces, so longer cars cannot get right in. The design of the place is terrible.
The car park is comparatively small for the size of shop (hence small spaces to cram more in), so it is usually busier than most car parks, even at quiet times there are people struggling around trying to get into/out of spaces..
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There was a complaint about a posting here (think M.O.Gs) the "offending" poster self regulated by alerting us via the offensive post button - now unless there are any contrary views we'll leave it at that shall we ?
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Spaces in French car parks, multi-storey or otherwise, are a joke - think 2CV-size - although, to be fair, they are either cheap or free.
The secret of dealing with them and most manoeuvring in tight spaces is a piece of almost-forgotten technology, just resurrected by Renault (by coincidence), ie 4-wheel steering. It really works!
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*and*, FT! ;)
It's a space thing. In the US they've got lots of it. Land is cheap - it used to be free. And the cars are big.
In the UK we need every spare inch.
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I don't subscribe to the lack of space theory... to me it is contempt for the customer. Compared to 20 yrs ago plus, all our cars are a lot bigger..yet...car parks and domestic garages etc are still built to the spec of the past.
Try getting the average family saloon into a domestic garage.. it won't fit. Same with the average parking space, unless you mind chips and dents.
When I go out with a 4 month old in a car seat i have to look to park where there is an extra space, so i can physically get him out in his car seat, as a usual space with a car parked next door is normally quite tight.
Is the customer important enough to 'get it right'...obviously not in this country
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Just reminded me Westpig.
We bought our current house from a builders plan abut 6 years ago. It gave options for various elements of the final configuration. We opted for a double width drive leading to a single garage. On the day we arrived to move in ( having never actually seen the house before ) we rolled up in our then brace of Mondeo estates. Tried to get them onto the alleged double width drive to no avail. As for getting one of them in the garage.........no chance. In fairness to the builders they very swiftly arranged for the drive to be extended at no cost to us but it does just underline that maybe industry standards for how large a parking space should be are out of date. Think I read in one of HJ's reports that my Mondeo is larger than an old Granada.
The only car which we now have which would fit in the garage is Mrs SS's Ka and even that would be tight. Well...... it would be if I cleared enough other stuff out to let it in!
Often thought though that house drives would be better if they ran at an angle to the house.
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Herringbone bays may make it easier to enter the bay but it increases the risk of another car bumping you if the bays are in rows of two with no physical barrier betwen them. It's easier to judge the end of your car when you're parking in conventional bays than it is the corner of your car when parking in herringbone bays. Also I'm not sure how effective parking sensors are in herringbone bays, rows-of-two or otherwise.
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............. having never actually seen the house before .............
You must be joking.
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No, really. We were moving from Scotland to Cheshire and had seen the plot but everything else was done by remote control. Thankfully it was fine apart from the drive!
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There is a car park on the side of West Quay in Southampton which has the herringbone spaces and they are tiny! I couldn't get the Golf in between an Astra and a Focus last night, and be able to open the doors once I'd stopped. Luckily there is a row of normal spaces against a wall at one end, and these always fill up first because they are big enough to park a car in.
I don't think I would choose to park anywhere that had the herringbone spaces - hate them.
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I saw a good arrangement in a shopping mall car park recently, herringbone but with a raised paved area running down the "spine" so you can reverse in but still access the boot with your trolley. Very few did of course, dim-witted as most people are.
I saw one guy last week as I waited in a tiny carpark at the local post office - he drove in the entrance and wanted the bay right there next to said entrance so a very sharp, tight turn if you want to do it forwards. Much easier to drive past and reverse in. But he was determined to drive in forwards and boy did he make a meal of it. In out backwards forwards in out backwards left hand down right hand down, out of the car for a quick survey of progress then back in for another in out in out and straighten up. I wanted to batter him by the time he'd finished he got me so stressed.
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>>attitude to customer service
I'd rather have more tight spaces than fewer smaller spaces. My local Tescos you wouldn't be able to park at all much of the time if they had herringbone spaces.
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