Shoppers heading to get their weekly food shop with children in tow know the struggle of herding the whole family through the process. Luckily, parent and child parking spaces are designated close to the store for drivers who have tots with them. These spaces are there to help parents who have to clip children in and out of car seats, put together pushchairs and juggle bags of shopping at the same time. Unfortunately, it seems many parents are left dismayed to discover these spaces are often hogged by child-free shoppers.
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According to research by Confused.com, 71 percent of drivers have spotted a parent and child space being misused by drivers, either with much older children or even no children at all, according to Gloucestershire Live.
Meanwhile, one in 10 UK drivers who don’t have children under the age of 12 and weren’t travelling with a child at the time have come clean about using a parent and child parking space.
The survey went on to uncover that the highest amount of incorrect parking occurred in the North East, with 64 percent of people misusing the bays.
The lowest was in the South West, with only 5 percent of people parking incorrectly.
When asked, 31 percent of people told us they parked in these bays because they couldn’t find a space. Another 31 percent said that there were plenty of parent and child parking bays available.
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Furthermore, while many car parks offer disabled spaces for blue badge holders, it seems some sneaky drivers even utilise these to their advantage when they don’t require them.
Confused.com found 156,821 drivers were fined in 2018 as a result of incorrectly parking in disabled bays.
However, the survey found that often these spaces end up being taken by parents because their designated bays are taken by other drivers.
Not only does this action cause a massive dilemma for those who genuinely are heading to the supermarket with a little one, it could also see shopper’s faced with a hefty fine.
Surprisingly, though, breaking carpark rules isn’t actually against the law.
Most shoppers will have noticed signs that are dotted around supermarket car parks specifying the rules around parking in a parent and child bay, while disabled bays are easily spotted due to their signage.
Many supermarkets employ external agencies to keep an eye on the car park and ensure everyone is parking where they should be.
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Unfortunately, this isn’t always the easiest thing to police, though shoppers can report their rule-breaking counterparts.
On average, fines for flouting the regulations can see drivers faced with fines up to £70.
The general consensus seems to be that so long as your child is under 12-years-old, parking in the designed bays is fine.
These bays are usually marked by a sign with the white outline of an adult standing next to a small child in a pushchair.
There is some confusion, however, around expectant mothers. There are no rules to say whether pregnant women can or can not use these convenient slots
When Confused.com asked supermarkets to explain their rules on parent and child parking bays, Tesco was the only store to mention pregnant women.
It said: “It’s up to the store whether they penalise a pregnant woman for using the parent and child parking bay.”
However, in order to clear up specific rules, Confused.com reached out to some of the UK’s most popular supermarkets to find out what the rules surrounding parking in each one were.
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Aldi
The budget-friendly grocer does not employ an external agency and therefore it carpark is under the watchful eye of staff. Customers are encouraged to notify the staff on duty of anyone misusing car parking spaces, however, the supermarket also points out that this can not be heavily policed due to limited staff in-store.
Asda
Asda employs an external agency to keep a lookout for driver’s breaking the laid out car parking rules. Regular checks are enforced by parking officers, and a parking charge is issued for anyone found in breach of policy.
Lidl
The European supermarket states that it does not have the capacity to employ a specific car parking inspection team. Instead, they rely heavily on the honesty of customers to speak up when they noticed someone parked in the wrong space.
Morrisons
The yellow-signed supermarket decides to take a “polite” approach to combat rule breakers. Morrisons staff say they will “politely” ask them to move from an incorrect space, or place a sign on the driver’s windscreen.
Sainsbury’s
Parent and child parking bay misuse is handled directly by the store and its employees. However, a fine is still in place for those deemed to be parked in the wrong place.
Tesco
The grocery store employs an external agency to police their car parks. If any drivers are found to be breaking the specifications the agency are able to issue a parking charge notice.
While rule flouting car owners can face eye-watering fines, those issued by a private agency might not hold the same level of authority that parking fines issued by local councils do.
In fact, car parking firms issued by private firms, while under contractual law, are often less likely to be followed up. According to KentLive private companies hold “no legal power”.
The news website states: “These may look official but parking charge notices are more like invoices rather than fines.
“It’s important to know, however, that they are still enforceable under contractual law, but it’s claimed that most private companies will not take drivers to court over these notices.”
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