I have a 2 year old & am currently 15 weeks pregnant. I joined Tesco's Baby & Child club when I was expecting my daughter & displayed the badge in the window as requested to do so. Tesco's stipulate that you have to have the badge displayed in your window to be able to park in the P&C spaces, yet they don't enforce it! I've lost count of the number of times I have been upto Customer Services to complain about people without children using the P&C spaces while I've had to park further away just so I can park in a space without cars either side so I could get the car seat out of the car or get my toddler out , but they do nothing about it.

There should be more P&C spaces - maybe they should all be towards the back of the store as opposed to near the front. Let's face it, the people who shouldn't be parking in them are using them literally for nipping in to get a sandwich or because they need to use the cash machine. This would cut the problem in half almost immediately - as they want to park closer to the store as opposed to further away.

I like the idea of getting a national badge to display in your car - however I don't think it's fair to wait until you've claimed child benefit. I think all mothers to be should receive it once you've applied for the free prescription charge card. Maybe it could last for 3 or 4 years. I also think that women diagnosed with SPD should be given a temporary disabled badge as soon as they're diagnosed so they can park in disabled spaces.

I also think P&C spaces should be policed like disabled spaces - fine people for using them.

I am fully behind this campaign. This isn't a lazy mum's campaign - it's about protecting the safety of our babies & toddlers.

Jenny x

i just wish i had the guts some of you have i would love to shout as these people but i dont. i do alot of staring but never say anything. it gets me so angry i end up going home and ranting at my oh about it. i would never dream of using a disabled parking space or using a p&c if didnt have lo with me. although i do have sympathy for claire weston a few times i parked the car while heavily pregnant and worried about going back and not being able to get back into my car.

I think its disgraceful that people park in parent/toddler spaces & its even more disgraceful that supermarkets dont enforce it because there are never enough of them in the 1st place. I would never park in a disabled space but have noticed disabled people parking in parent/toddler spaces even when there are disabled spaces free! Its near time something was done to save our spaces x

defo save our spaces it is annoying when u have to do the shopping and u struggle to do evreything specially when youve got a 3 year old and your 8 months pregnant trying to put your child in their car seat is a task and a half in the normal spaces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree the other day I went to Tescos and there was a man parked in a P&T bay he was putting his shopping in his car so I waited (he didn't have a children) He said that he wasn't finished shopping. I went to Tescos another time there weren't any child spaces so I parked in a normal space and took up 2 when I came back to the car someone had put a note on my car saying either you can't park properly or you fell from space, they don't like it if we take up to many spaces so they shouldn't park in the child bays then.

I've commented on here before, but went to my local tescos yesterday, and 4 of their 'new' delivery vans were parked in the mother and baby spaces. Luckily we managed to park in a space, when we came out they had been moved. Then at our morrisons store, where they do seem to have more mother and baby spaces than disabled, a elderly gentleman and his disabled wife parked quite blatantly in a mother and baby space - when asked why he was parking there when there were disabled spaces free - he told me 'there are more important things in the world to worry about than where to park your car!' I agree but he still should've parked in a disabled space!!

i am not lazy and would happily walk a few extra feet from a normal space-if it was safe to do so, but trying to get 2 kids and shopping across a busy car park is just plain dangerous-that's if you can get out of your car in the first place

as far as i'm concerned, being heavily pregnant counts as a parent and should carry same priviledges(not that you'd get to use them-hence this topic!). i feel that when you get your maternity exemption card, it should come with a p&c parking permit-enforcable with a fine for people using parking spaces with no permit or clear sign of parenthood such as carseat etc. i could go on all night about this topic as it makes me so mad(but won't)

i agree on a lot of points raised - that lazy inconsiderate people park in our places and should be fined, embarrassed, beaten with wet nappies......
also that you cant just ask people to leave their car seat in the car.

I know if my lo is asleep i would rather click his seat into our travel system and take the pram round than wake him up to leave the seat in the car.

I went and stood behind a car parked in one of our spaces, as i'd just watched him park and his wife get out, without a child in sight or even a bump. I waited till they wanted to move and wouldn't budge. when they asked me why i told them they had parked in a p+c space and had no children with them.

they apologised and said they thought they had parked in a disable bay just to nip in for a few items!!!!

with regards to tescos parking permit things - we're a member of bby club and haven't recieved one of them.......

xxx

should(hopefully) be appearing on local tv show to address this issue. any particular gripes?

the lack of policing from the stores!

I agree these people are very selfish and bone idle being too lazy to park further away and walk the distance, its usually boy racers or 4x4 or flashy mercs with people thinking they are above the rest of us,it serves them right if there car gets scratched!

they should have pregnancy spaces aswell lol theres hardly room 2 fit out of the car without crushing the bump

as far as i'm concerned bump counts as baby x x

I've not had the pleasure of using these spaces yet as first baby due anytime now, but it does annoy me when I see perfectly able bodied people usin them when I have to hobble for miles to the shop! (Got spd and also huge bump!) I'd never dream of using these spaces without a child as i've seen plenty of parents struggling in these spaces let alone in normal size spaces! Have given plenty of dirty looks out though....lets just hope that the government do something about it!! Lets just hope if they do they enforce the rules as well!

Oh my god... This makes me soooo angry, I actually had a woman start on me once when i told her she should move...and then when i squared up to her-she called the police on me! Cheeky mare! Unfortunately for her, they were more sympathetic to me and she got a ticking off...Still wouldn't stop me from doing it again, quite frankly, i would of enjoyed slapping her, it makes me so angry-she said that her merc was more valuable than my baby-tbh she's lucky she did call the police when she did!
I totally think that we should get permits to park there...and people who dont have a young child with them should be fined...or worse!
Wow, Im not normally an angry person-honestly...this is the one thing which really makes me mad!!!
xxx:evil:

wow this is great it was about a year ago i had my first rant about this lol that old bat doesnt know what she started

maybe we should arrange a march!!!!!!!!just to show how serious we all feel about this

I truely hope the new scheme with ASDA works out and becomes counrtywide! Mind you, with 1 of the governments new guidelines for maternity care is for hospital staff to be 'more curteous', I'm not sure how they will tackle this growing problem!!!

As a mum of 4 young children, (7, 6, 3 and 7months), I understand and sympathise with all of you - especially those of you that are heavily prgnant. My hubby and I have always said the child spaces should include pregnant ladies too! I can remember many a time when I had to wait in the rain for my oh to pull the car out of a space so I could get in! Plus, even worse, having to stand there, babe in arms, trying to protect them from the elements because someone has parked so close. The parking area for P&C at my local Tesco is also quite small number-wise and quite frequently you will encounter cars parked illegally on hatchings etc or creating a traffic hazard coz they're waiting on a space. WE NEED MORE OF THESE SPACES!! Yes there are many disabled ppl that need their spaces but child safety has become more apparent in this day and age so why are the powers that be doing their utmost to ignore the problem - at least, that's what it feels like!!!

Have read with interest all the postings up till now and felt compelled to express my own agreement. I was particularly infuriated one day at Asda when I tackled an elderly woman for parking in a P+C space without children. I was rewarded for my efforts by her screaming at me why did nobody bother to ask befor making accusations and that she was there to pick up her grand-daughter. I kept an eye out and saw her merrily skipping round the store with a handy shopper then waited and watched as she returned to the car without a child. When she saw me she had the gall to pretend that she was calling to a child to hurry up.
I would like to add some points not yet mentioned:
1. When I was pregnant with my youngest and suffering severe exhaustion and barely able to move, I asked at Tesco if I was entitled to use the P+C spaces and they said "NO, sorry!"
2. When my baby was 2.5 wks old I got a call from my son's school saying he was ill and I had to abandon her feed, rush out to the car and to the school. The school helpfully has THREE disabled spaces, but not one P+C space. I decided to park in the disabled space at the door, being still very sore from the delivery and was immediately set upon by a jannie for parking in a disabled space. I responded that I had just had a baby and was here only momentarily to collect my son, and was told that that didn't count for anything as the space was for disabled users only.
3. Why, oh why, are so many P+C spaces taken up with people, with children, when one parent "nips in quickly" leaving OH and kids in the car? Surely these are the worst offenders as this goes beyond normal ignorance?