pregnant lady fined for using mother and baby space

[trixipaws]

they shouldnt hav fined her. i used to park in them spaces when i was pregnant, i always said to myself well i do hav a baby with me!

now im a mum with a baby and car seat i hate it when people abuse the spaces, but i wouldnt begrudge a heavily pregnant lady.

 

[Minime]

She deserved it sorry. People who park in the mother and baby spaces who shouldnt be there make my blood boil. I am sick of seeing old folk, perfectly able bodied men and women with kids as old as my DD taking our spaces because there isnt a disabled one or they cant be arsed parking elsewhere. Well hang on why dont they WAIT for one like every one else has to!!!!!!!!!!

Tesco states "Parking for parent and children under the age of 5 to allow access for prams" hear hear. Most other places just say parent & child. When I go asda at around lunchtime I see so many people using them who've got a car seat but oh look NO KID!!!!

Yes she was pregnant so were most of us once but where will it stop if they allow it? People 3 months pregnant? Will overweight people demand bigger spaces if pregnant women can have one for "access"


Actually you've just reminded me to make a complaint to the council as I saw one of their staff locking up the local centre and go back to her car in the parent & child space (we only have 2 as it is!). I glared at her and she couldnt even look at me.

 

[Steelgoddess]

I'd fine her too. When I was heavily pregnant I discovered online shopping and haven't looked back . If she can drive to the shops, and walk round the shops, she can park in a normal space like everyone else (including me when I was over a week overdue!) It is difficult to get in and out of a car with a huge bump, but not half as difficult as it is to get a car seat out of a car with a baby in it. BTW I drive this;

And never feel any guilt at all if the door accidently catches the side aof some idiot who's parked too close to me. It's usually covered in mud, too, not snow.

Just looking at that picture - that's my mum getting into my car with 2 snapped bones in her leg and a full length leg cast on - she wasn't allowed to park in a disabled parking space even though she wore the cast for 3 months and was in a wheelchair the whole time as the cast was so heavy if she fell over she could have dislocated her hip.

Not everyone who parks close to a car does it purposely, i did that when I first passed my test as its completly different when your out there on your own, so maybe think about that when you bang your door "accidently" into someones door


P.s I don't park close anymore im a pro now But even when ppl do park close to me I am still careful when getting in as its just respect to other drivers and its horrible coming back to find your door with litte scratchs from where so idiot has blatantly slammed their door into yours!

 

[Steelgoddess]

I marked no i dont think she should of been fined, however some of you ladies made omse valid points ie if she can get to go shopping then she should be able to park in a normal space...

In saying that though I dont think that its a bit odd they would let someone who has a broken leg park there, huh? If you have a broken leg how the hell can u drive???

 

[beanie]

Pregnancy is a condition not an illness

nope but spd is bloody painful. I was able to walk for a bit ok but when getting out of a car I had to get out by swinging my legs together, otherwise it was like someone was cracking my pelvis open. In an ordinary car space this made getting out impossible - the supermarket where I live has a very small car park which is always full, so I parked in the mother and baby spaces and never felt guilty for doing so. I could go shopping by myself (pmsl - to me that is saying if you can't get your kid out of a car either you shouldn't go out with them) but I couldn't get out of a narrow space - and had to eat so needed to go shopping. In fact it has always been far easier for me to get Seren out of the car then it was when I was heavily pregnant.If anyone suggests I could have used online shopping - perhaps you should do it too, save the angst finding a space And if I saw a woman who was heavily pregnant (am sure the store could use its common sense and differentiate between someone who is in the last stages of pregnancy and someone with a small bump who was struggling I would be happy for her to park there. I do think they should put the spaces far away from the store as this would cut down on others parking there.

Steelgoddess I am assuming they mean if there is a passenger with a broken leg - not the driver.

 

[paradysso]

i think its wrong she was fined, when i was pregnant with alana, so many times after shopping and returning to car i cudnt fit back in as another car had parked sooo close, i had to stand and wait for them to return

so i started parking furthest away from store and still had same problem so i complained the parking spaces were too small and the tesco manager told me as im "with" baby im entitled to use mother and baby spaces.

i still use them now as alana is 2, and i will use them until she stop using a car seat and can buckle herself in as you need to extra room to lean in to belt them in.

We have a man dedicated to looking after the mother and disabled parking he tells people off when they use them. one day we were about to drive into a parking space and a van cut me up and stole the parking place if it ever happens again i will double park them and make em wait until i finished my shopping hehe

 

[SarahH]

I had SPD and had cruthces but I still didnt use those spaces!

 

[lisa&alex]

well.. asda here have 5 mum to be spaces.. and they are always filled with disabled and parents...however..they have them and im greatful for that.. i agree that all stores.. tesco etc should have them because unfortunate as it may be to some of you guys.. pregnant women do need more space to get out of a car.. i need the door wide to get out without banging my bump.

AND...

the parent and child spaces in my eyes are for a few things,
open the door wide to get child/seat out
a large space to have pram at the side of the car
near the pavement to stop toddlers straying into on comming traffic while your trying to open the door. (normal spaces are pretty close to the cars passing behind/infront of you.)

charlotte has just turned 5, and now my tesco parent and child parking permit has run out (5th birthday) however i have still been using the space if there are any availible, loads of people who havent got kids use them, and i think i need the door open wider than the narrower spaces for the 2 of us, more me than her, i feel safer with the idiot drivers zooming round car parks to have her in a bigger space that if she steps out behind the car she isnt going to get knocked over due to extended spaces.

i dont agree with those who have said. if you cant walk far dont use them and get someone else to go for you.. or with someone.. what a pile of crap.. sorry.. but thats pretty impractical for most of us. and if you cant open the door and squeeze yourself through and eye of a needle you shouldnt be driving.. come on.. be realistic.. even though pregnancy isnt an illness.. its still really hard to force yourself through a tiny gap between two cars, and that is the only reason i use them. i dont use them coz i cant walk the distance..its just coz i cant get my fat arse n belly outa the car.

 

[Squiglet]

Well I never had a car when I was pregnant last time.. and well the local supermarkets here don't have mother and baby parking... only disabled... they won't wack a fine on your car over here either for parking in them... you'll just come back and find your car's not there, because the Police how towed it... you can't park there so they remove your car for you

People still don't care, they double park, abandon their cars.... and yes.. I will throw my car door open and slam it into the next persons car, because EVERYONE else does the same. Many a time, I've had to get into the passenger side and climb over, pregnant as I am, just so I can get my car moved... and considering this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4fXbSxxRp0

happens ALL the time in here... no one has any care about anyone elses car and well you kinda get in the same habit...

So consider yourselves lucky..

 

[Squiglet]

well.. asda here have 5 mum to be spaces.. and they are always filled with disabled and parents...however..they have them and im greatful for that.. i agree that all stores.. tesco etc should have them because unfortunate as it may be to some of you guys.. pregnant women do need more space to get out of a car.. i need the door wide to get out without banging my bump.

AND...

the parent and child spaces in my eyes are for a few things,
open the door wide to get child/seat out
a large space to have pram at the side of the car
near the pavement to stop toddlers straying into on comming traffic while your trying to open the door. (normal spaces are pretty close to the cars passing behind/infront of you.)

charlotte has just turned 5, and now my tesco parent and child parking permit has run out (5th birthday) however i have still been using the space if there are any availible, loads of people who havent got kids use them, and i think i need the door open wider than the narrower spaces for the 2 of us, more me than her, i feel safer with the idiot drivers zooming round car parks to have her in a bigger space that if she steps out behind the car she isnt going to get knocked over due to extended spaces.

i dont agree with those who have said. if you cant walk far dont use them and get someone else to go for you.. or with someone.. what a pile of crap.. sorry.. but thats pretty impractical for most of us. and if you cant open the door and squeeze yourself through and eye of a needle you shouldnt be driving.. come on.. be realistic.. even though pregnancy isnt an illness.. its still really hard to force yourself through a tiny gap between two cars, and that is the only reason i use them. i dont use them coz i cant walk the distance..its just coz i cant get my fat arse n belly outa the car.

Psssf ESSAY!!!!! and you complain about me lis????' Although I agree that its not always practical to have someone else go get stuff for you... not all of us are lucky enough to own two cars or have partners that drive... or parents who live round the corner who can nip out for you, or have loads of friends who don't work who are willing to help out... sometimes a women doesn't have a choice but to get in her car and drive....

 

[xSuzx]

Personally I think all parking spaces should be wider, the normal ones seem to be getting smaller I can barely open the car door wide enough to get out and I'm only a size 10 so smaller then the national average, and have 2 boys that don't know how to "squeeze" out properly (it's easier to get lily out of a normally sized space then the boys lol)

Also to all those that complain about people parking too close to your car, maybe their wife is heavily pregnant and he parked closer to your car to give her more room to get out the other side .

xSuzx

 

[Lou]

I voted she was right to be fined. If she is capable of walking around the supermarket then she is capable of walking across a car park to get to the supermarket. If it was me and I had some kind of pg reason to need to park close to the doors of the supermarket then I think common sense would tell me to not do the shopping atall. At the end of my pregnancy I couldnt get to our pc up in the loft room to shop online and I couldn't manage to walk round tesco's so either my OH did the weekly shop or we popped to our local small tesco express or co-op.

Some people really do think its one rule for them and one for everyone else

 

[enn]

too right fine her. too many people in this world take the mick. that is only for
BABY and toddler. she has a baby in her womb not physically with her as in buggy or car seat.

even so called disabled people take the mick. parents with 7yr olds take the p*ss with the baby room that has a toilet. even tho i voted for the third one cause i werent sure which one to vote for till i voted.

so yea she got her just desserts. its not for pregnant, baby and toddler its for mother/father and baby/toddler. not for 7yr olds neither. from 3 or 5 yr olds and under. if it was asda she would of got fined.

even the ticket thing u get with tescos baby thing its at their own disgression and their say is final.

me for one wouldnt be stupid to park there well my oh when pregnant. unless i was gonna give birth but then i would of held out as i hate tescos.

 

[paradysso]

so if u was heavily pregnant and returned to you car and couldn't get back in, you would be happy about stood waiting in the rain for the driver of the other car to return???

doubt it!!!

If you ask at the shops, alot say there more then happy for pregnant women to use the mother car parking spaces!!! for one reason and another, "a baby" be it inside or out makes u need the extra room to get to car, and i dont see a problem with it.

And in regards to not being able to walk across car park if parent parking was other side of carpark i'd still use them as this isnt the problem about walking, its being able to get my fat arse in or out of the car or getting some one else to go shopping, we dont know any one here and my OH doesnt drive so we have no choice but for me to go

 

[lisa&alex]

dw about it anyways paradysso.. alanas only 2.. u can still use it..

i aint gonna worry.. im still gonna use the spaces.. if anyone stops me and says.. s'cuse me love... u cant park there.. il say.. u ever messed with a pregnant woman? no well u dont fucking want to either..

n toddle off..

 

[Minxy]

I voted she was right to be fined. If she is capable of walking around the supermarket then she is capable of walking across a car park to get to the supermarket.

It's not the walking though is it? It's the getting in an out of the car. Even if you park in a big bay you can guarantee on your return some numpty will have parked two inches away. It's a mobility issue.

You can't expect someone to just 'not go shopping' for the last couple of months of pregnancy, even if you're still feeling healthy enough to walk for miles, as I did. I don't consider myself above the law (not that there IS one concerning these things) but I wouldn't think twice about parking in a M+B when heavily pregnant.

 

[mayday]

I have noticed that when you go to the supermarket, if you look at the back of the car park miles away from the shop there are usually lots of spaces. So if it's not about the walking why are people getting so het up about whether pregnant women should be alllowed to use the parking spaces reserved for mother and child which usually happen to be right next to the shop door? You can get the space you need by just parking a bit further away. My husband was desperate to park in the mother and child spaces when I was heavily pregnant and I wouldn't let him. Not that we went to the shops much - as I have said - online shopping rocks!

PS Debecca - the snowy pic is in Andorra. I lived there a few years ago. People slide into each others' cars all the time, so a small bump where doors touch is nothing

 

[Squiglet]

You can't expect someone to just 'not go shopping' for the last couple of months of pregnancy, even if you're still feeling healthy enough to walk for miles, as I did. I don't consider myself above the law (not that there IS one concerning these things) but I wouldn't think twice about parking in a M+B when heavily pregnant.

I have to agree with Minxy... when your heavily pregnant... it's a mobility issue.. I can't get in my car now easily full stop... and today is the first day I honestly thought I might have to quit driving for the last few months... I can't bend properly...

Problem is DH doesn't drive and my parents have two handicapped people they need to worry about, so arn't at my beck and call... But as some people here have said, I would be expected either not to go shopping or struggle with the smaller spaces... so if I desperately needed something how would I get it? I would either need to struggle on the buses, or spend a fortune in taxi's.... because I don't have any other choices...

even so called disabled people take the mick.

I don't agree with that comment though... it's really hard to get a disabled badge... you have to undergo a medical to warrant the parking badge, and my mum has had many an argument with the DLA over my brother who can walk further than the allotted 50m on a good day, but on a bad day he's impossible to control, falls over and is a danger to himself and people around him... And people misuse the disabled bays more often and the worst culprits are mothers with babies. This is because there are more mothers with babies in the UK than people with disabilities warranting orange (well blue now) badges.. and as the disabled parking is right next to the mother and baby, and thats all gone, they will use the disabled because they need the extra space for "mobility"...

Personally I don't think there should be any mother and baby parking... I've survived without it... after all... people choose to have kids... that is a lifestyle choice in that respects... and one of the things that's hard is getting out and about with them... but thats where a sling comes in handy... leave the car seat in the car..

 

[paradysso]

we live in a small town only having a small supermarket we dont have lots of spare places far away from shops or i wud of used them.

 

[Gem & Leland]

you have to que for a normal car park space in my local tesco ! (its a small one not these huge tesco extra things)