N/A - All - Parking Spaces

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Sat 29 Oct 2011 11:16
N/A - All - Parking Spaces - RaineMan

Recently I posted about cars getting bigger because drivers are getting bigger. Obviously safety features and items like electric windows and door mirrors are the main reason. What puzzles me it that people who lay out car parks still seem to think we drive the same cars as fifty years ago. In the last two years two car parks I use regularly have been resurfaced and yet despite having to re-paint the lines the layout of both has remained the same. The only change was that in one there are some additional disabled bays. Obviously by making the spaces wider you would lose a number of spaces. Is it greed overcoming common sense? I suspect so. Has anybody seen a car park that has had the spaces actually widened?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 29 Oct 2011 13:37
N/A - All - Parking Spaces - jamie745

Parking spaces are still designed for the old Ford Anglia which is bonkers. The new Mondeo is bigger than the 90s Scorpio. Some always wheel out the 'bigger spaces means you'll lose spaces and damage income' but i dont buy that. You'd only have to lose a handful in total to make every space a bit more convenient and barring maybe peak Saturday shopping time at Asda how often is the car park 100% full anyway? I was in Morrisons yesterday which still has stoneage spaces and half of it was empty, are they telling me they'd 'lose custom' by adding 10 inches either side of each space? Places which are packed will still be packed and people still fighting to get in there, they wont lose custom.

I havent seen any recently redone car parks with wider spaces but the car park where i work has decent enough spaces but i park in one of the disabled spaces near the main doors (we have 4 blue badge holders and 9 disabled spaces before anybody writes in to complain). Car park just near where i live has pretty wide spaces and was built about 25 years ago and hasnt even been repainted since.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 29 Oct 2011 18:18
N/A - All - Parking Spaces - Avant

Indeed so, and if you often use car parks like that it's an argument for 4- or 5- door cars rather than 2- or 3-door. I would imagine that you couldn't park, say, a Jaguar XJS in such a car park and get yourself out of it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 29 Oct 2011 18:26
N/A - All - Parking Spaces - jamie745

When i had the new 3 door Fiesta for a weekend recently i found the front doors to be massive, like on a Coupe and you need a good parking space!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

From choosing the right tyre to what to do when it goes wrong - we have the answers.

Tyre News And Advice