Parent and Toddler Parking.

davidsl500

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I was sat in the car opposite the Parent and Toddler parking bays at the local supermarket whilst t'other half popped in to pick up a few bits - which turned into much more as usual....

I was sat listening to the radio and during the 30 mins or so, saw a dozen or more cars come and go into the said bays. It seems that "toddler" has a wide definition. It varied between the "invisible" toddler on many occasions by a wide range of people / couples / hairy arsed builders to toddlers that can push full supermarket trolleys for their parent. It somewhat irritated me to see this practice especially as I saw an old couple, both on 2 sticks, hobbling along from the far end of the car park.

The whole world is falling around our ears......
 

BILL JONES

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I'm with you there, my other half has a Blue Badge and the amount of times some tool has parked in the disabled bay grinds my gears, although when I had a youngling I did park in the parent and child bay until she was around 10 as they didn't specify an age which I think they now do, they weren't called parent and toddler then, it was parent and child, by law you could specify a child as being under 16 but that's pushing it.

Apparently in Tesco's it's 12 I just found.
 
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keefysher

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For the last 12 years Ive used the parent and toddler/child bays in accord with the rules in sainsbugs car parks; ie a 'toddler/child' is defined up to 12 years old, when 1 is available.

I was once challenged when I pulled into a bay in my Z3 with the roof up, and I hadn't had a haircut or shave for a while, so my grey hair gave the impression I was older than I am :). The challenger was having a real go at me as I exited the car, closed the drivers door, walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, reached in and undid my daughters seat belt, lifted her out of her bolster seat, put her on my shoulder, closed and locked the door, then pointed to the line in the sign above the bay illustrating the age limits. All of this was in silence on my part. The challenger wilted and tried to apologise. I just said 'tw4t' and walked away. :)

Could be worse. We regularly go to the coast for lunch, where my daughter will scoot/skate/cycle along the permitted path/cycle way and return to me. Many times there are comments from people sitting on benches about how lovely for a grandad to be out with granddaughter. I tend to just glare at the ignorant commentators as their other halves point out I'm an older dad :cool:

I'm now in a situation where my mother has suffered immobility. In order to keep her active we regularly pop into town to walk aimlessly around the indoor shopping centre to get her out of the house. We have to use regular bays, that do not allow full opening of the door. I stop partly into a bay, get out, run round to help mum out, get her to stand in front of the next vehicle whilst I complete the parking manoeuvre. Do in reverse when leaving. Unfortunately I get abuse as I take time as VIPs are delayed by seconds in their all so important race to get somewhere. My usual retort to the often younger, poorly educated, entitled generation, is 'wait till you grow up and have responsibilities for other than your selfish self'. I don't bother listening to their false apologies, ignorant tw4ts ;):cool:
 

John Laidlaw

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I have 3 under 10s and even then I don’t (except on very very few occasions) use the parent and toddler spaces with the XC90, my kids are mobile, we don’t need to open the doors extra wide to get child seats out etc etc so leave the spaces for those that do. Agreed though, annoying when you see those spaces then get used by inappropriate people.
 

JBell

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My local Sainsburys is ticketing people who use them but shouldn't
 

EmilysDad

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My local Sainsburys is ticketing people who use them but shouldn't

How do they know? A few weeks back I parked in P&T space when I went to collect my lad & my grand daughter. I parked up alone but returned with a toddler .... I felt I was perfectly entitled to use the space.
 

JBell

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How do they know? A few weeks back I parked in P&T space when I went to collect my lad & my grand daughter. I parked up alone but returned with a toddler .... I felt I was perfectly entitled to use the space.

Parking attendants are always around,
 

EmilysDad

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Parking attendants are always around,

There maybe but is he/she going to escort me into the shop & put an all points bulletin out for my son & grand daughter to confirm my story or just call me a liar when I tell him/her why I'm parked where I am? ;)
 

ajlsl600

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i park as far away as possible from neurotic mothers with kids and crash happy toddlers pushing shopping carts. just watch em . kids bale out dinging car doors all round ,shopping trolleys bouncing off surrounding cars neurotic mother blissfully rabbiting away on her mobile, no worries until unsupervised offspring are about to become impaled on passing car .followed by an abusive tirade as to how its all yr fault due to YOUR ! lack of care and attn . i fully support toddler and parent parking, and ticketing offenders i would like to see armco around them to protect the rest of us..... basically the far end of the car park is the safest . as most too lazy to walk more than 1o mtre to the doors !!!
 

Craiglxviii

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This is why I live Costco. Their parking bays are 15 foot wide.
 

EmilysDad

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In Tesco, Asda & the like, I park on the opposite side of the car park & place my near side wheels on (or slightly over :rolleyes:) the line to my left such that you'd not want to park next to me. :)
 

ajlsl600

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Have you ever noticed that even when you park in a lonely remote space as far from other cars as possible there is always a car parked either side when you return?


damn right, especialy if yr in a decent car.... so many things in life i would like an explanation for.dat just one of them .. another ,ever walk around yr plot in crocs, (french) how does that damn stone get in between yr foot and yr crocs every 10 ft while yr walking forward ?????? whats the dynamics of THAT.. drives me round bend all damn summer.
 

vtaylor78

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Have you ever noticed that even when you park in a lonely remote space as far from other cars as possible there is always a car parked either side when you return?

Yes usually a 20 year old heap of $hit.
 

Rappey69

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I park my muddy jimny as near as possible to the store and come out to the opposite effect, as in one one is parked near me !
Our local asda has electric charging bays and are the nearest to the store, always full but ive yet to see a single electric car using the bay, probably because they van never get in them !
 

ajlsl600

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Yes usually a 20 year old heap of $hit.

same as when you take a country drive in yr pride and joy , always some A/H up yrs trying to promt you into a race , often in something like a std 206 or fiesta. i just pull over and wave them by, ten min later there is another !!! even here in france. i CANT go out for the day in my Vdoz without encountering at least one.
 

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