Angry motorists want fines issued for misuse of parent-and-child parking

By Elizabeth Howlett
|
31 August 2017

A new survey carried out by YourParkingSpace.co.uk reveals that over half want to fine motorists that misuse parent-and-child parking spaces.

Of the 500 people who took part, over a quarter wanted a fine of more than £25, while more than one in three were happy with £25 or less. However, one in 10 wanted a temporary ban from the supermarket for the parking offenders.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk’s managing director Harrison Woods said: “Parent-and-child parking at supermarkets is a hot topic and often creates strong opinion, as demonstrated by our survey results which show most people want some sort of punishment for motorists who use supermarket parent-and-child parking spaces when they shouldn’t be.”

A sizeable 38% want an age cap of just five years’ old for the use of parent-and-child parking spaces and not the much higher 12 years’ old which is the generally considered accepted limit by many supermarkets.

In fact, an age cap of 12 years’ old only received scant support at 17%. This is the same amount of support from those who favoured limiting parent-and-child parking spaces only for parents of those children who could not yet walk.

Survey participants were also asked if they thought that, where possible, supermarkets should be forced to provide parent-and-child parking spaces, with a vast majority at 69% giving it the thumbs up.

Meanwhile the survey suggests that UK motorists are overall very respectful as almost 9 out of 10 said they had not parked in a parent-and-child parking space when they didn’t have a child in the car with them.

Yet among the excuses given for those who had infringed were simply that they were feeling lazy, were in a rush or just wanted a bigger parking space. Others said it was a genuine mistake or that it was the only space available.

More articles on:

yourparkingspace.co.uk

Author: Elizabeth Howlett

Comments (10)

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Comments

Anna Lee - 31/08/2017 11:22

Re: Fines for mis-use of Parent and Child Parking Spaces - totally agree with fines being implemented. I have a 3yr old and do not park in these bays as my son is more than capabale of walking. These bays should be for parents and babies, or younger children that need pushchairs etc. Also a number of disabled people have started parking in parent and child bays as the disabled bays are all being used. If a Parent was to park in a disabled bay they would get a ticket? Its all wrong and people need to start abiding to the rules o fthe carpark and consideration for others wouldnt go a miss either
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Mike - 31/08/2017 11:44

There are a number of issues with this research. Firstly clearly people don't understand that extra room is needed to get a small child into/out of a child seat so walking has nothing to do with the issue. Secondly a supermarket will never fine its customers as this will simply drive them away rather than encourage the use of their supermarket. The bigger issue here that has been missed is the fact that cars are getting wider and spaces are getting smaller. If bigger spaces were available (even further from the supermarket doors) I for one would use them to prevent careless people damaging my car.
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Mike - 31/08/2017 11:46

There are a number of issues with this research. Firstly clearly people don't understand that extra room is needed to get a small child into/out of a child seat so walking has nothing to do with the issue. Secondly a supermarket will never fine its customers as this will simply drive them away rather than encourage the use of their supermarket. The bigger issue here that has been missed is the fact that cars are getting wider and spaces are getting smaller. If bigger spaces were available (even further from the supermarket doors) I for one would use them to prevent careless people damaging my car.
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Bianca Castafiore - 31/08/2017 12:13

I agree that people should be fined for parking in Parent and Child bays, and, for that matter, Disabled bays too. These bays are naturally closer to the store and therefore tempt other drivers to use them. As a driver of a larger than average car and a classic car, I confess to sometimes parking over the lines at supermarkets to avoid careless people opening doors onto my car. Before I get slated for this, please note that I always park at some distance from the store (my wife will confirm this!), and I don't do it if there are very few spaces available. Most of our parking is done in the evenings when the car parks are generally pretty empty anyway, but I don't like to take chances. Supermarket car parks always have the most amount of careless parkers, some of which can barely reverse out of the spaces! I did visit an ASDA store recently in Wolverhampton, and their car park was the best that I have seen. They seem to respect the fact that many people look after their cars or have larger cars, and have actually made the normal bays furthest away from the shop larger than those nearest. This seemed a great idea to me, but sadly I have not seen others follow.
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Bianca Castafiore - 31/08/2017 12:13

I agree that people should be fined for parking in Parent and Child bays, and, for that matter, Disabled bays too. These bays are naturally closer to the store and therefore tempt other drivers to use them. As a driver of a larger than average car and a classic car, I confess to sometimes parking over the lines at supermarkets to avoid careless people opening doors onto my car. Before I get slated for this, please note that I always park at some distance from the store (my wife will confirm this!), and I don't do it if there are very few spaces available. Most of our parking is done in the evenings when the car parks are generally pretty empty anyway, but I don't like to take chances. Supermarket car parks always have the most amount of careless parkers, some of which can barely reverse out of the spaces! I did visit an ASDA store recently in Wolverhampton, and their car park was the best that I have seen. They seem to respect the fact that many people look after their cars or have larger cars, and have actually made the normal bays furthest away from the shop larger than those nearest. This seemed a great idea to me, but sadly I have not seen others follow.
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Disgruntled Tesco Shopper - 31/08/2017 12:22

I agree totally with an age of under 10, I am disgusted with cars parked in these bays, one even had a massive TV on the back seat the other week. I would be great if it was enforced and the money should go to the local child hospital wings.
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Nicola - 31/08/2017 13:07

I'm not sure fines would work as hard to control and the supermarkets would not want to take their custom elsewhere. I think the age is 12 as this is the age when car seats are no longer required therefore meaning needing less room to get in the vehicle. I understand why disabled are close to store and I am presuming for children so to stop the chance of being run over but I know most wouldn't mind walking further as long as there is a safe path to the front of the store. This might also stop others using them as I presume it is just laziness as they are so close to the store. It would just be a better plan to make all parking spaces bigger but this would then probably limit the number of cars and therefore the store again losing out ( especially in the Christmas period). In Warrington the M&S have diagonal parking spaces which make it a lot easier and more space it get in and out of the cars.
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Gary - 01/09/2017 09:48

I'll happily park in a child/parent bay after 8pm as that's when kids should be in bed, not being dragged around food shopping. Also, what happens if I turn up and park with a child in the back of my car, but let them go home with friends I've met at the supermarket? Should I go back and move my car the moment this transition happens? Its an utter joke. Our parents dealt with no Child/Parent spaces for years, so why cant modern Britain?
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Dan - 01/09/2017 13:56

As in every kind of un-supervised implementations it just take a few to ruin it for the many. The problem is not the fines, its the attitude. One could easily throw an empty child seat and abuse these privilege with no one asking questions.
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Dan - 01/09/2017 13:58

As in every kind of un-supervised implementations it just take a few to ruin it for the many. The problem is not the fines, it's the attitude. One could easily throw an empty child seat and abuse these privilege with no one asking questions.
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