Family spaces in car parks?

Question

Do you park in these spaces even if you don't have children?
My dad parks in them if he goes to the supermarket with my mum and 25 year old sister as he says that they are a family and anyway parents with young children are much fitter than he is and able to walk further to the shop!
I tend to park in them too even if my children aren't with me as I have 2 baby seats in the car so it looks as if they are!
I'm sure we are not the only ones!

Just for the record we would never park in a disabled space!

Starlet108 - I actually have a 15 week old daughter and a 20 month old son so I do know how it feels when I can't get a family space if they are with me!! I just think tht everyone else parks in them with or without kids so I do too!

If you like Peter kay, you will know that he parks in them when he takes his Mum shopping!!

To be honest, my dad is probably healthier and fitter than most people half his age! He just does it out of principle as he doesn't know what the world is coming to and they didn't have family spaces when his own kids were young!
As for expectant mothers spaces! My God!! What will they think of next!!

Answer 1

Yep I do. I have 3 year old and I'm exactly the same even of she is not with me I still park there! I'm only human! It's also Christmas, parking is such a drag at this time of the year!

Answer 2

I had an arguement 2day with an old bat about this!!! There are always heaps of disabled spaces and no available family ones. I have a baby so if I need space so I don't wack the car next to me when i'm getting him out. Also he is really heavy when I carry him so the closer 2 the door the better. This old girl said she wanted 2 get close 2 the shop but she was being driven by 2 able bodied people. Why didn't they either wait in the car at the door or do her shopping for her. To add insult to injury she flew past me in the shop with a basket of goodies, and they didn't even have a disabled sticker!! Sorry 2 rant but I get annoyed when I have 2 treck 4 miles 2 the shop. And we get fined if we park in disabled but anyone parks in "family" spaces.

Answer 3

It absolutely infuriates me when I see people without young children parking in those spaces, I use them when I have my son with me who is under two and would never dream of using them if I didn't have him with me. I have had an argument with a woman before over it, my little one was only six weeks old and I was still recovering from the emergency c-section when a lady took the last mother/baby space at the doctors - fair enough she did have a boy with her but I hardly think a child around the age of 10 counts as being a baby! To top it off they were not even visiting the doctors but the newsagents next door!! She had the nerve to call me a lazy cow and that new mothers should not think the world revolves around them! Ever since that day I swore I would never park in a space such as mother/baby, disabled, elderly or infirmed unless I was entitled too.

Answer 4

I do have a baby and I can tell you now, having experienced the joys of trying to squeeze a car seat through a half-open car door because people without kids have taken all the parent and child spaces, I would never park in one if the baby wasn't with me.

It's not about being close to the entrance - I'm perfectly capable of walking - it's about the WIDTH of the parking spaces. They are extra-wide like disabled spaces for a reason: getting a baby out of a car seat through a door you can't open properly, without scratching the car next to you IS NOT FUN!!!

Worse still though than the people with no kids are the people with ten year-olds who can't be bothered to walk - they REALLY should know better, having been through the whole car-seat situation.

The only other people who should park in those spaces are heavily pregnant women, as it's also a nightmare trying to get in and out of the car when the parking spaces are only 6 inches wider than your car when you've a stomach the size of a small country!

OK, I know I'm ranting, but this is the one thing that's guaranteed to p*** me off every time I go to Tesco! Although if you tell the security guard, they'll stick one of those really sticky notices on the culprit's windscreen - you know, the ones that take hours to scrape off! *am evil* Hee hee!

If they had parent & child spaces at the far end of the car park I'd park there, but they don't, and it's not my fault the supermarkets put them nearest the door.

So sorry, lazy people, but if you haven't got small children with you, you'll just have to get off your a***s and walk. It's only across the car park for God's sake!

Rant over.

Answer 5

It annoys me too, especially when the majority of cars parked in them don't have disabled badges, thereby taking spaces off those who are genuinely disabled, or even on a busy saturday when theres only 2 or 3 taken, by people without diabled badges, When we try and get a mother and baby place, i have a 5 year old and 2 year old, and there all taken and at least half of them without a car seat in sight or a baby on board sign. Also there have been times when we've followed someone into the car park, who obviously doesn't have children and they take the last mother and baby place. Most car parks have about 3 mother and baby places and about 50 disabled places with only 2 or 3 being used. Thanks for letting me sound off about one of my pet hates, ok maybe a few of my pet hates.

Answer 6

I have used these spaces previously when with my Dis-abled mother in law, using her parking badge but never on my own, I can also understand people with small children (babies) using the disabled spaces, but I do think using them when children are old enough to walk is a little un-justified. Guess thats just my point of view after trying to get someone out of a car and into a wheelchair in the rain without trying to hit the car beside you when non-disabled shoppers have filled all the disabled spaces while just "popping" into the store during bad weather!

Answer 7

I have 3 kids under 6 and am quite happy to walk a fair way from the car park, making the children ride in the trolley for safety, but the "ordinary" spaces are so darn narrow that it's a struggle to open the door wide enough to then squeeze a protesting toddler through and into the car seat. I'd be quite happy to see the end of parent and toddler spaces if the result meant ALL the parking spaces were widened. (And don't say get a smaller car, I need a wide car to fit 3 children and their respective car seats in the back as is the law for them to have) My younger 2 kids are registered disabled, the middle one has a blue badge, but I don't like to take up a disabled space when I can put him in a trolley and walk further, or preferably park in a parent and toddler space (legitimately) although it's mostly v. difficult to get one of these. Why difficult? Well you've answered that for me. Why am I bothering to be considerate when you've just summed up the despicable attitude my fellow countrymen seem to have now adopted - everyone out for themselves and for what they can get. Perhaps you won't be so selfish next time so the when you actually need one of these spaces, someone like you has been considerate enough to leave you one for you - swings and roundabouts they say...swings and roundabouts! what goes round comes round...etc.

Answer 8

No, those spaces are for largely pregnant women or mothers with infants. Car seat or not, my son is 2.5 and can walk with me. I have no need to use those spaces. If your father needs to park closer that badly he should check with his doctor about getting an HP plate.
You may not be the only ones but that doesn't make it right.
I won't even use the disabled space when my mother is with me (who uses a wheelchair and has a placard) but I'm running in to the store while she stays in the car - she can't understand why I won't take advantage of it.

Edited to add:
I don't get the responses from people who think it unbelievable that these spaces exist-yelling about liberals and all. Some stores offer them as courtesy, nothing more. I don't even see them in very many parking lots. When I do see them, there are two spaces near the HP spots-it isn't like the whole row is reserved for that. And it is only an inconvenience to those who don't need them if the entire parking lot is full and there is no other empty space in existence. I don't think that happens every time you go shopping, does it?
Parking there on principle? The only point you are making is that you are rude and inconsiderate.
And if you have a problem with those - how about the Take Out spots reserved for customers at mall restaurants who are stopping only to pick up dinner to bring home?

Answer 9

I've never seen a family space...we do have expected mother spaces and I would not park in them until I was really far along and supposed to be on bed rest, otherwise a nice walk was good for me, I think they would be better for new mothers, those infant car seats are so heavy! But no, I would never take advantage of a family parking spot alone, or with only adults when a family with small children would benefit way more from being close.

Answer 10

I have 3 children under 8 and am expecting my fourth. I am totally disgusted at people who use child/family spaces when they don't need to.

I need to use them because;

Small kids are hard to keep under control when you are pushing a trolley and especially if you have more than one. The closer you are parked to the entrance, the easier to get them into the shop without being mowed down by someone doing 40mph through the car park.

When you have babies or small children, you need more space around the car so you can get them in and out their car seats, you need space to stand and strap them in. That is why these bays are normally larger.

Ove you've got kids and shopping in the car, you don't want to leave them alone unsupervised for 10 mins to walk and return the trolley. That is why there is usually a trolley park right next to this type of parking.

I am really sick of always getting to the supermarket and having to suffer because of selfish people taking the bays I need.

I am 6 months pregnant, as its my fourth, I am quite big. I went to the supermarket with my toddler, we had to park in a normal bay of course as the others were full with (selfish) single men. When I got back to the car, a massive van had parked next to me. There was 2 inches space for me to get in. I couldn't fit in at all and had to climb in through the other side. My back is still killing me. I hope the people who parked in the larger family places had a good day.

Answer 11

No I do not. I only park in them when my newborn and my 2 year old are with me. I know what its like to have a 2 year old and being pregnant and never being able to find a parking spot anywhere close. So I would not want anyone else to go through the same. In my views it is the same thing as parking in a handicapped spot.