Non-Parent 'Steals' The Last Parent And Child Parking Bay So Mother Blocks His Car In

Have you ever driven around the car park of your local supermarket looking for a parent parking space, only to spot someone with no kids nipping into one? If so, you'll understand the frustration of a mother of two who says she "flipped" when she spotted a man with no children taking the last parent and child parking bay in the car park of her local supermarket.

Claire Ramscar, whose two children were travelling in the vehicle with her, double-parked her car behind the veicle of a man who parked in a parent and child parking bay, deliberately blocking him in.

She told the Daily Mail:

'I followed his car in to the car park and watched him pull in to the parent and child bay ahead of me,' Ms Ramscar said. 

'He clearly didn't have any kids so I just sat behind him. I had two young children with me and I wasn't blocking anyone else. 'I asked him what he was doing and he just told me to shut up and walked off. I flipped, I'm not proud of it but I just left the car where it was.' 

She then reported him to staff inside the supermarket, but was promptly asked to move her vehicle as it was blocking the car park.

The Mail reports:

But rather than reward the vigilante mother for her report of his breaking of the rules, she claims to have been briskly told to move her own car. 

'The next I heard from them was over the speakers asking me to move. I couldn't believe it,' she added. 

'They were making the whole thing out to be my fault.' 

As a mum of three, I understand how frustrating it is when the parent and child parking bays are occupied by non-parents - trying to remove an infant car seat from your vehicle to attach to a travel system pushchair frame is nigh-on impossible in many 'normal' parking bays - but I think this mother went too far.

Asking the non-parent to move his vehicle was a reasonable gesture, and reporting him for not doing so also seems fairly harmless, but blocking the car park and double parking behind his vehicle surely only put her kids and those of other car park users in even more danger. In her shoes, I think I'd have parked elsewhere and possibly reported the driver's registration number to supermarket staff.

But even then - isn't life too short to get so het up over such things? A parent and child parking bay is, after all, a luxury rather than a right. Sometimes I think the pressures of parenting can make us lose perspective, creating a sense of entitlement that isn't really justified.

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• rjilly

  i think she did right. I have twins and it is virtually impossible to get them both into the pushchair when not in a parent and child parking bay. This man will be the kind that would also park in a disabled bay just to get nearer to the door. Shame on him.

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• Petti1

  Of course you were in the wrong, this was just as selfish as the man in the wrong parking bay. Yes it is annoying that people park in the baby and disabled spaces, there are always the idiots that do this, but you cant block them in as then you are in the wrong. Life it too short to worry about such trivial things like not being able to park in a parent space!!!

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• Rachyx

  Petti, clearly you haven't got more than one child under the age of 2 and a 3 door car! Good on the mother making a stance!

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• Lozwelch

  Totally agree with what she did, how selfish of this man, he should have been banned from the supermarket for not obeying the signs, if he was parked in a disabled space or on a loading only area they would have dealt with him differently. I would have taken a pic of him and his car and named and shamed him. Rant over, back to calm peacefulness!

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• nantymoelboy

  Today's news. Parent and child parking spaces are to be banned by supermarkets. http://www.madeformums.com/school-and-family/parent-and-child-parking-spaces-to-be-banned/37604.html Problem solved if they enlarge all parking spaces so that we can enter and leave our cars with doors fully open. (some hope).

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