You can, FT, in my view, and should do so.
I think BR's should have a BR badge which, when displayed, permits us to do pretty well anything we want as long as there's a motor car involved.
On the subject of irritating things (but hardly worth a thread) I think there should be a law banning grown men from wearing sunglasses on the tops of their heads.
When I was a kid only "models" you saw in the paper did that.
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local supermarker to me (who shall remain nameless) does monitor abuse of spaces and responds by parking their delivery van behind persistent offenders!
Saw it myself the other day when Mr "I'm too important to consider anyone else" decided to park there and came back to find himself blocked in.
I did chuckle to myself when I overheard him ranting and raving at the customer services desk, who, after asking him why he had parked in a Parent and Child space, "did everything they could to locate the driver as quickly as they possibly could so that it could be moved without delay, honest gov!"
15 minutes later when we left, he was still stuck there...
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We have a two year old, sometimes she has to come to the shops with us - although for the sanity of everyone it's better if she stays at home and on most occasions she does.
She hates sitting in a trolley almost as much as I hate pushing it, but at least I can rationalise why I'm doing it - she can't and knows how to protest.
Sometimes we get a space, sometimes we don't and on many occasions the spaces are abused, but I really can't be bothered getting uptight about it.
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splendid whoop whoop, wish a few more would.
I'm quite capable of walking and/or controlling a sprog...but what i'm not capable of doing is getting the door open wide enough to get a babies car seat out, without marking mine and the next car...because the usual sized car parking spaces are far too narrow
if the supermarkets etc gave us 21st century sized parking spaces, we wouldn't need mother and child ones
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I am disabled and a wheelchair user and I often have to use a parent/child space as no disabled bays are free.
I inform customer services what I have done and they are always ok about it.
Being in a wheelchair at the time does help though! Hard to refuse me, I guess.
screwtape
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These spaces are a nightmare, there are disportionately huge levels of these spaces at your average supermarket now with low occupancy levels. It's a marketing thing for the supermarkets and nothing more.
The other problem is that loads of these spaces erodes peoples respect for 'special' spaces and many, out of frustration, lump disabled spaces in with them.
The disabled deserve and should have special privilages to make life easier. Parents not so - its a choice, it doesn't make parents better than anyone else.
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MR,
Until recently i'd probably agree with you...but now i've got a 5 month old baby i realise how difficult it is to get the door open fully enough to get him and his car seat out in one go. Yes we could dig him out from the car seat, wake him up and carry him, but it's far easier to leave him asleep in his chair..and although the chair and him is a bit heavier, it's still easier to have him in the seat and carry that around, as it can also be placed on the floor, in a trolley etc.
I don't need a special parking space near the doors etc... i can walk quite easily like everyone else. I do however need a space wide enough to open the door fully... and usual spaces are woefully tight.
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I think there should be a section of car park specifically for parents and sprogs - once parked they take kids to attendant who supplies a trolly - well a sort of trolly - I would make it four foot square all round with basket on one side - the kids would be placed in cage and attendant locks them in - upon returning to car park they are released to get back in car - for anyone who worries about safety aspect then most staff members could carry a key for emergencies.
I know this sounds harsh but I prefer my mk2 version - all kids should be kept in confines of their own house till 6 yrs old then sent to some approved government school where they will be kept till 18 then send them straight off to nick - we could cut out their growing up pains :^)
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I am disabled and a wheelchair user and I often have to use a parent/child space as no disabled bays are free. I inform customer services what I have done and they are always ok about it.
Does the same go for Parents to use Disabled bays when all the parent and child spaces are in use by selfish idiots?
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selfish idiots?
Pshaw.
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Surely the solution to this problem is to put the parent and child bays at the back of the car park.
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Tesco "Baby & Toddler Club" provide P&C parking windscreen stickers for elligible cars - we have one - cant remember how my wife qualified for it, maybe plonked our baby daughter down on the helpdesk....
However, the sticker is not mandatory and my local(ish) store doesnt seem to enforce it in any way. Therefore pointless.
The nearby Asda is an unruly free-for-all, be it disabled, P&C, 'pick-up' point, or even the loading bay - no one gives a stuff.
Waitrose (our nearest) is an oasis of consideration and well judged parking, especially with the Cayenne's, V70s and Golfs squeezing their 18" rims into a narrow bays...
It's not unreasonable to assume that certain, 'budget' supermarkets perhaps attract more inconsiderate parking than others......? (he says, lighting the blue touchpaper....)
Edited by Sulphur Man on 02/06/2008 at 16:46
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(parking standards in various supermarkets) It's not unreasonable to assume that certain 'budget' supermarkets perhaps attract more inconsiderate parking than others......? (he says lighting the blue touchpaper....)
Hm, interesting. I shop most ofthen at Aldi, Lidl, and Waitrose, occasionally Morrison's (SP?) and Sainsbury's, avoid Tesco whenever possible, & have never been to an Asda shop.
Waitrose car parks always seem full, and I have not noticed any extra courtesy/good driving & parking there compared to other supermarket car parks. The same as Morrison, really. Tesco seems infested with chavs who could not care less. In Aldi/Lidl, it seems that there is a larger percentage of "ethenic" clientele, but I cannot say that I've ever seen the issues that plague Tesco's car parks.
One *major* advantage in the "discounters" car parks is that there are no trolleys left lying about. Really! I can only ever recall seeing a line of about 4 joined together, which were 3 Lidl ones, attached to a rogue one from another shop entirely! So, no trolley dents, and no spaces occupied by loose trolleys.
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You need to be careful jumping to conclusions about abuse of P&C spaces. Some friends of ours had the big stickers slapped on their windows for parking on one at a supermarket when they had their little one with them. When they're little, you take the whole car seat with you so unless you car is littered with toys and Iggle Piggles stuck to the window, you wouldn't know if the owner is abusing the space or not.
It simply needs the trolley dolly to be given the job of politely asking people abusing the spaces to move on. If they refuse then they have to do so in front of others in the car park which might put them off.
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Parents bays should be used by those with kids under 6. After that age they should be sensible to stop and listen to parents instructions and manage to get into the seats easier themselves
I have two children at 6 and 4,so no need to use specialised bays, but yes I used to. Without them I would have damaged several cars getting them in and out, and changing them on occassions.
The best store I visited was Sainsbury's up near Kew -the P&c bays were located on the side of the store, so space was good -where as MOST store have them at the front and psycologically selfish people think its ok to park there.
I hope d7t???? either is too old to have children or never will have them, or if they do they, realise what a stupid comment they made
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The location of the bays is key, and the idea expressed above of moving them away from the close proximity of the main entrance is a good one, removing temptation etc.
However, isnt that just letting selfish behaviour win?
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UncleR
I agree - you need to see the children or not. Otherwise parents who leave child at home but keep seat in back just park in these spaces as well (seen this several times as well).
As stated earlier the trolley collectors could inforce this if they were given some motivation to do so. However it is all extra effort for the supermarkets to police this, when really
if people just behaved reasonably there would be no need for this.
Re parking place sizes, strangely in the town car park (just rebuilt) the spaces are much bigger (even though it is 40p/hour) and never really full. There is no need for special P & C spaces as can get child out in the nromal space. Perhaps I should do more in town shopping if I find the P & C spaces keep getting pinched at the local store.
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