On Wednesday 16 October 2013 09:29 Another John wrote in uk.d-i-y:
Parent and child bays are to protect *you*. Think about it - parent, 3 kids all piling out of the car, feet kicking against doors. Where do you think the edge of that door goes? Yes - into a nice little dent on *your* door.
If so, why are they nearest to the shop doors and not out of everybody else's way on the far side of the car park?
Colin Bignell
because they are intended for parents with push chairs/prams. Look at the marking on the ground.
But, is there anything to stop me taking my 45yo daughter and parking in such a slot?
My offspring lives near a shopping centre that has ~1000 parking spaces. The staff of the supermarket complained that they had to compete with customers for parking places. The solution was to put notices on a section of the car park saying it was for staff permit holders only. It was enforced by a fat dragon of a woman, who accosted myself and SWMBO one day while walking along the footpath that edged this area, and berated us for having parked there. We were in fact walking back to where we were staying, and hadn't come by car.
This situation didn't last long and the fat dragon was seen no more. However, the permit-only car park was as far from the supermarket as it was possible to get, and the staff got fed up of being rained on and so resumed parking with the customers.
The result is that this permit-only section of the car park now stands empty as customers won't risk disobeying the signs (£80 penalty), staff won't use it, and so some 10% of the total space has been lost.
The restriction notices originally said something about the marked bays, but none were marked and so I parked there hoping to get a ticket I could contest, but they then changed the wording. Now it is just a waste of space.
Perhaps I should have added that whoever runs the car park has now installed an ANPRS system to enforce the 2-hour parking rule...Last time I drove in there it got my number wrong.
Low emission, as long as you did not take exlax before you went. Brian
If any supermarket would convert *all* their spaces to wide bays, I'd shop there to avoid trolley dings and handbag scratches on my car. Bonus marks if they'd get rid of the immigrant workers offering to drag a damp, gritty rag over the paintwork ...
Because otherwise they would ignore them.
Costco, though not quite a supermarket. Spaces wide enough for American cars containing Americans.
I can't do that, as I'm an orphan. Sniff.
Hear, hear.
That's how the child appeared.
On Wednesday 16 October 2013 11:57 Huge wrote in uk.d-i-y:
You are Squidward and I claim my $5
Not in the UK.
Our local Morrison's has wide parking spaces. Our local Tesco's has ones that are small for a SmartCar. So the usual progress of a supermarket shopper is to try and find everything in Morrison's, and only go to Tesco's if necessary. They are just too far apart to stay parked in Morrison's for both, unfortunately. The Co-op is so expensive hardly anybody goes there.
Costco! Not your average supermarket, I agree...
I took somebody to Manchester Airport on Monday. When I got back to the car people had parked so close to it I had to get in via the boot.
JGH
Not really an answer as to why they shouldn't be on the far side of the car park. It would certainly ensure that nobody else used them.
Neither Morrisons nor Tesco will do anything. Asda will issue a parking charge notice if the driver is seen entering the store without a child, but a PCN does not have a high chance of success if taken to Court. It would, however, be interesting to see what happened to a defence on the basis you suggest.
Colin Bignell
Because then the kids would be running through the car park and supermarket car parks are fecking dangerous places.
Tim
They could have a dedicated safe route from the parent and child parking area, or the parents could teach their children some discipline.
Colin Bignell
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