The rules are for the spaces are parent and at least 1 child under 12. This is ridiculous and unnecessary, why would an 11 year old child just starting secondary school need to have an extra large space and to be close to store?
The spaces are a good idea but the rules are all wrong it should be at least one child under the age of 4. The large space is for extra room for buggies and for strapping into car seats (this is a nightmare when people inconveniently park too close). As far as being near to the store goes, I think it was so young children aren't running across the car park, this I don't agree with though parents that walk to the store manage their children so people who drive should do too. Those with young children with special needs can apply for a blue badge and use disabled bays if they have a specific need to be close to the entrance.
The way parents look after their kids at the sainsburys near me they need to be near the store. The kids have as little disregard for road safety as the parents.
Oh boy, you can most certainly tell who of the people on this thread have ever had to load toddlers, babies, buggies groceries and beer into a smallish car in a narrow supermarket space.
The rules are for the spaces are parent and at least 1 child under 12
Where does it say that? I have honestly never seen an age-limit.
Sainsburys have it on the parking sign, also the security guard at asda told an arguing group of angry parents in the car park that a child upto 12 qualifies. If you look hard enough you'll see it written somewhere.
You usually only find these spaces outside supermarkets and shopping centres. They're not there for the convenience of the parent but for the convenience of the shops, i.e. the shops want to make it as easy as possible for parents of young children to get in and out of their cars and into their shops so they can spend their money. I imagine to the parent of young children, popping into Tesco on the school run would be a nightmareish scenario if you had to squeeze into a tiny space 100 metres away from the shop and unload 3 kids from their child seats plus a buggy (i.e. enough of a deterrent so you'd avoid visiting the shops with all your kids at busy times), rather than a big space with lots of clearance for doors and buggies and right next to the front door so you didn't have to worry about kids running into the paths of cars.
They're basically like fun houses/soft play areas at pubs/restaurants - they make parents' lives easier but without them their life would just be slightly more inconvenient. Also if you're a childless adult using one, you're probably going to get a funny look and maybe a bollocking.
Unlike disabled spaces there's no law stopping you from using them and a store is unlikely to ban you from using them if you don't have a kid unless you're a serial repeat offender. You could always say you're picking up the wife and baby who have been shopping if some have-a-go hero decides to confront you about it. Alternatively you could park further away and burn off an extra 10 calories.
I used one whilst on my own at Asda a few weeks ago. As I got out my car, a woman approached me and started having a right go, saying if I didn't have a child with me I shouldn't park there just for convenience and she would promptly go back into the store to report me.
What make the whole scenario so laughable was it was about 11pm and the whole car park was almost empty. I just laughed at her and locked my car.................
I expect some of the people who moan about this stuff are the same that give a hotel a bad rating on trip advisor because they had to queue at the airport check in for 6 minutes.
1. The wider area between cars not only gives you a safer, more able area to actually open a car door enough if you are carrying an infant at an angle to get them in a car seat, it also means if you have more than one kid you don't have to leave one of them in their buggy behind the car in the road, leaving them like a sitting duck ready for some arsehole who is dicking around on his mobile while looking forba parking space to make the biggest mistake of their life.
2. Why are they closer to the store? They're not always, but they should be. You can put an infant through an intensive 12hr a day road awareness course, but there will still be those horror moments when concentration goes, kid slips your hand / climbs out of buggy / runs off. The driver that accidently knocks over that kid will then wish every night when they close their eyes that that store had put them near the front.
My local supermarket has I think 11 P&C spaces in a 500 car park. Rarely got one though and normally its people who had no reason to park there other than selfishness. Not as bad as the absolute scum that park in disabled bays, but still something I can't for the life of me think how people can purposely abuse when they know they are specifically designated for others.
Haha this forum makes me crease up. Half of this honking is not even ironic
Chill down smudge, once the team start dropping points and leaking goals the whingeing will refocus onto our heroes in red. Fucks up the ying and yang of the forum when we are winning
Heard an interesting study on the cost of free parking, by freakonomics. The guy on there made a great case for scrapping all placard parking (disabled etc.) and forcing companies to charge for parking. Michigan ended up with a two tier disabled scheme (proper disabled had to be doctor assessed, those with existing disabled badges could use supermarket spaces, but not on street ones. 95% of disabled badge holders!didn't bother applying for the "proper" disabled badges. They also found 20 odd UCLA football team members held them. Suspect there would be a lot of the same here.
As one of the deliberately childless I have only ever seen them as a ploy by the supermarkets to pull in people who potentially spend more money. I didn't see any real reason why those that have chosen to knock out a sprog should have any advantage over me.
Having read this thread I can see why you might want more space for taking in and out a car seat, so I am prepared to accept that wider spaces are fair. I don't see why they should be any nearer to a shop as lordromford says.
The spaces should be exclusively for those with car seats though, once little 'un is able to get out of the car on his/her own, off you go and take your chances with the rest of us.
While on the subject of kids in supermarkets, why - despite the warnings of the potential dangers - do some parents insist in letting their offspring stand up in shopping trollies? Okay, if they don't give a monkeys about little Tarquin's safety because its easier to go along with his request than explain why he cannot do something for once that's fine. But what if he has trodden in dog s**t before standing in there, and I get the trolly next?
The rules are for the spaces are parent and at least 1 child under 12
Where does it say that? I have honestly never seen an age-limit.
Sainsburys have it on the parking sign, also the security guard at asda told an arguing group of angry parents in the car park that a child upto 12 qualifies. If you look hard enough you'll see it written somewhere.
I'm sure they will carry ID for their child to prove their age.
I used one whilst on my own at Asda a few weeks ago. As I got out my car, a woman approached me and started having a right go, saying if I didn't have a child with me I shouldn't park there just for convenience and she would promptly go back into the store to report me.
What make the whole scenario so laughable was it was about 11pm and the whole car park was almost empty. I just laughed at her and locked my car.................
If the car park was empty you could just have been less of a prick and not parked somewhere you weren't supposed to.
Comments
The spaces are a good idea but the rules are all wrong it should be at least one child under the age of 4. The large space is for extra room for buggies and for strapping into car seats (this is a nightmare when people inconveniently park too close). As far as being near to the store goes, I think it was so young children aren't running across the car park, this I don't agree with though parents that walk to the store manage their children so people who drive should do too. Those with young children with special needs can apply for a blue badge and use disabled bays if they have a specific need to be close to the entrance.
They're basically like fun houses/soft play areas at pubs/restaurants - they make parents' lives easier but without them their life would just be slightly more inconvenient. Also if you're a childless adult using one, you're probably going to get a funny look and maybe a bollocking.
Unlike disabled spaces there's no law stopping you from using them and a store is unlikely to ban you from using them if you don't have a kid unless you're a serial repeat offender. You could always say you're picking up the wife and baby who have been shopping if some have-a-go hero decides to confront you about it. Alternatively you could park further away and burn off an extra 10 calories.
What make the whole scenario so laughable was it was about 11pm and the whole car park was almost empty. I just laughed at her and locked my car.................
1. The wider area between cars not only gives you a safer, more able area to actually open a car door enough if you are carrying an infant at an angle to get them in a car seat, it also means if you have more than one kid you don't have to leave one of them in their buggy behind the car in the road, leaving them like a sitting duck ready for some arsehole who is dicking around on his mobile while looking forba parking space to make the biggest mistake of their life.
2. Why are they closer to the store? They're not always, but they should be. You can put an infant through an intensive 12hr a day road awareness course, but there will still be those horror moments when concentration goes, kid slips your hand / climbs out of buggy / runs off. The driver that accidently knocks over that kid will then wish every night when they close their eyes that that store had put them near the front.
My local supermarket has I think 11 P&C spaces in a 500 car park. Rarely got one though and normally its people who had no reason to park there other than selfishness. Not as bad as the absolute scum that park in disabled bays, but still something I can't for the life of me think how people can purposely abuse when they know they are specifically designated for others.
Chill down smudge, once the team start dropping points and leaking goals the whingeing will refocus onto our heroes in red. Fucks up the ying and yang of the forum when we are winning
If you can't be bothered educating your own children, dont have them.