Idiot in my space

[petewood]

have you ever come back to your car to find some ditzy woman trying to buckle up her kid in the back seat, with the door of her car slammed up into yours? I know I have. They don't seem to understand that I really don't give a s**t about making HER life easier. .

I used to feel like this before I had kids, but when you are a parent of small kids you realise just how difficult everyday chores become. Things also take much longer and they can really drive you scatty.

Maybe one day you will have kids of your own and after you have had yet another ruined nights sleep you will have to change nappies, clean up accidents, spend 20 minutes getting them into the car and strapped in for a 10 minute drive and then spend another 10 minutes getting them out and into the buggy while one of them is screaming for some unknown reason. Then when you turn round to close the car door you realise that the reason for the tears is that they dropped their chocolate biscuit on the back seat and spent most of the trip sitting on it.

In other words, have a bit of consideration because you will need some yourself one day

 

[AdamW]

Oh, I see that parents have a hard time with it and I appreciate that. It's just that when I see someone grinding their door against mine as they retrieve their sprogs from the car, they are not showing my property any respect. It's THAT which annoys me, the rudeness and lack of respect for others.

They obviously think that getting kids into and out of buggies is far more important than the state of my paintwork. I am fine with that opinion, and it doesn't upset me that someone merely thinks "It's only paint, what's the problem?". What DOES annoy me is when they demonstrate this belief.

They probably don't care too much about their own paintwork either. So, if I were to return the favour the nearest equivalent I could offer would be to open my door against their toddler... and I'm sure that they wouldn't think that was an acceptable amount of damage for a car park.

 

[kendor]

Oh, I see that parents have a hard time with it and I appreciate that. It's just that when I see someone grinding their door against mine as they retrieve their sprogs from the car, they are not showing my property any respect. It's THAT which annoys me, the rudeness and lack of respect for others.

They obviously think that getting kids into and out of buggies is far more important than the state of my paintwork. I am fine with that opinion, and it doesn't upset me that someone merely thinks "It's only paint, what's the problem?". What DOES annoy me is when they demonstrate this belief.

They probably don't care too much about their own paintwork either. So, if I were to return the favour the nearest equivalent I could offer would be to open my door against their toddler... and I'm sure that they wouldn't think that was an acceptable amount of damage for a car park.

Maybe all the parent and child spaces had been taken up? several people on here admit to using them when not entitled.

 

[Nige F]

The obvious answer is to make all the spaces bigger so you can actually open a door ..Now if say , a whole school years worth of parents got together and took up 2 spaces @tescos en mass...with precision timing...maybe the dickhead managers would realise that a 300 space park is as useful as a 500 one,on the same site....nah they`re all too busy spouting rhetoric on obscure "forums".

 

[pipme]

Most cars have a 'detent' door stop position partly open .. don't they?
I have done the biz with two sprogzintheback child seated etc. With the seats properly fitted no problem, just do not reach from one side of car to the other... In fact, at times twas easier to strap 'em in their seats, then fit the seats into car.
Ladies with large posteriors and equally large bags, why do they plant the bags on the front passenger seat, park up, climb out, then lean across driver's seat to collect bags ? The bottom wags side to side, invariably nudging door against adjacent vehicle... Luckily if they are too lazy to walk around to passenger door, they are too lazy to walk very far, so the partial answer is.. park well away from entrance doors ..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

To the mirrors, but the F40 dimension was "total width" too.

OK - I was just trying to put it in perspective - my Renault Scenic is 2004mm mirror-mirror, and I don't find parking spaces too small.

There are wider cars, of course, but apart from the XJ220 I've never heard of one that's too wide to fit between suburban width restrictors (which Transit vans fit between, BTW).

People who drive 2-door coupes can also have problems, not because of the width of the vehicle but because the doors are long and therefore need more space to open.

But overall I don't think there's a pressing need to make most parking spaces wider than they are.

Even if you park between the white lines it doesn't guarantee good parking. If someone parks right up to the line then instead of two feet to open your door you have 12 inches.

This is why I said it needs everyone to park sensibly.

Sensibly means always reversing into spaces, since it's easier to manœuvre into a space backwards and out forwards. Doing it the other way round is harder for both operations, and I can never understand why people don't realise that. (I'm talking about orthogonal spaces, not "chevron parking").

Sensibly means everyone positioning the left hand side of their vehicle up against the LH side of the space - that way both sides of the car have as much space as possible available to them. It also works for LHD vehicles.

The only problem arises if the left-most space in a row has an obstacle on the LH side (wall, bushes etc), then the driver has to let his LH passenger(s) out first and the space is no use to LHD. Apart from that, it seems the best scheme.

 

[ms2004]

Because cars are quite costly to buy and maintain I subscribe to the theory that I will look after it, service it and clean it regularly in the hope of extending its life past the point where Ive finished paying off the finance 5 years later. I also add to this by parking right away from the store when I go shopping where there are no other cars parked so as to minimise the possibility of someone putting a dent in my door with theirs.

So why is it that when I return from the store, despite there being dozens of spare spaces everywhere, some w****r has parked next to me and put a dent in my car.

 

[securespark]

Sensibly means always reversing into spaces

I always reverse into spaces, onto my driveway, etcetera, but have come to realise (it's only taken me 20 years of driving!) that it is not easy in the majority of supermarket spaces to fill up the boot when you have reversed in. In fact, it's a PIA!!

You can't get the trolley down the side and if you can, there isn't enough space to off-load it comfortably into the boot.

That is why I think the majority of shoppers park nose in.

 

[Diyisfun]

ban-all-sheds


Sensibly means always reversing into spaces, since it's easier to manœuvre into a space backwards and out forwards. Doing it the other way round is harder for both operations, and I can never understand why people don't realise that. (I'm talking about orthogonal spaces, not "chevron parking").

I think people drive in cos they have normal got someone up there Ar**. If you take winter conditions & rain, by reversing in you can then leave without having to de-ice & de-mist the rear screen.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You can't get the trolley down the side and if you can, there isn't enough space to off-load it comfortably into the boot.

I very rarely have that problem. I avoid spaces where there is a wall at the rear, and can nearly always get the trolley behind, or very close to the car.

I use 3 supermarkets and 1 shopping centre on a regular basis, and lots of others irregularly. Mix of open air and MS car parks.

Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky day after day, week after week, year after year.....

 

[securespark]

Well, as I said, it has taken two decades for this problem to dawn on me, so either I have the brain of an amoeba( no comments, please!), or I have not faced this problem every time I shop...

 

[petewood]

The bottom wags side to side, invariably nudging door against adjacent vehicle:

Sounds like you have been doing some close observation on this one!

 

[AdamW]

Reversing into spaces is easier, and I prefer doing it where appropriate (specially when parallel parking). However it is totally inappropriate in a supermarket carpark, unless you have a VW Beetle (i.e. the boot at the front). Otherwise you would have to squeeze your trolley up between two cars to get to your boot.

This is why I reckon another improvement to supermarket carparks (other than wider spaces) would be a kerb at the front of each space to stop those lazy s*ds who drive through spaces in order to avoid having to engage reverse gear when leaving... How do they plan to get the trolley to the back of the car? 10/10 for laziness, minus several thousand for forward planning.

A while ago I had to watch through the windows at the checkout, whincing, as a daffy cow tried to squeeze her trolley up the side of my car to get to her boot. Luckily her spatial ineptitude was not too offensive, from the lack of new damage she seemed to realise it wouldn't fit BEFORE hitting my paintwork, but it did offer some explanation as to the more intriguing war-wounds on my paintwork.

I must be fair. Because I have seen the same people damage other cars, I assume that my paintwork is mostly damaged by daffy "I don't give a t*ss about the car you saved loads of money to buy because my uterine eflux is crying and wants its crisps and cola" woman-types. However the only time I have ever witnessed someone ding my paintwork at close quarters, it was a man. A particularly fat, ugly, smelly and boring-looking man with an equally fat and ugly woman with him. But a man, nonetheless.

 

[ohmygodwhathaveyoudone]

why oh why do people mount the kerb when parking forwards by the side of the road?all you have to do is stop just past said space and reverse in.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Depends on the length of the space, and how sure you are that you'll be able to back in.

Have you never had the situation where even though you'd started indicating, and started slowing down long before the space, when you do stop just beyond it so that you can reverse in, the cretin in the car behind you has stopped too close to you for you to be able to do so?