# Parking spaces.



## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

And another thing...……………………………….

Bluddy parking spaces everywhere now are so small you can't get out without touching the next car with your door. It's always been tight but it's getting worse. 
Our new (4 years) car now has several very small dents and chips both sides about door projection height. It's most annoying when we try to park away from others or within the lines to try and avoid being 'touched'. And I never park beside a two door car or one with a child seat in back. They are the worst for opening their doors onto the adjacent vehicle.!!!

Grrrrrrrr :serious:Ray.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi ray

dont think the spaces are getting smaller

i think that the cars are getting bigger look at the so called mini its got massive or even the fiat 500


barry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Ha ha I guess you are right Barry. But even our smaller Golf still attracts the odd door knock or trolley scars at supermarket parking.
The French (and others) have an "I'm all right Jack" attitude and park to the right of the allotted 'box' so they can open their drivers door wide and to hell with the bloke in the next bay who now has even more limited space.


Ray.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Two things bug me Ray.


1) Small scratches and scrapes caused by shopping trolleys in Supermarket car parks.


2) Yummy Mummies who pull up on a busy road and take the little treasure out of the car seat ... on the road side, not the kerb side. :surprise: Have they got no sense at all or is there some traffic violation if they fit the car seat on the nearside of the vehicle?


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

This doesn't help...……………………………………………………. Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

raynipper said:


> This doesn't help...……………………………………………………. Ray.


To be honest Ray I park as far away as poss and park just like that, more so in the van (usually 4 spaces) I'm not leaving space for some Richard Cranium to slam their doors into mine.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

What you on about Ray? You live in Rural Normandy in France. I dont think I have ever been in a French supermarket car park apart from some of the really busy places and not found it easy to park a 7m van across 4 bays at the back of the car park. Face it, you just cant be arsed to park further back. 

Cars have certainly got bigger here, I agree with Barry. Morrisons in Barnard Castle is always awash with Chelsea Tractors and what indeed happened to the Mini? Its the size of an 80s Range Rover!

The one thing I will say about that ridiculous i10 I bought though is that it is easy to park. There is a spot outside the chippy which is between a lamp post and a bollard which is really only big enough for a motorbike, it fits in there, just.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I find Albert needs to let me out of the car before parking

I can no longer get out of the car unless the door is fully open , there must be many like me who can no longer manoever out of a half open car door

One of the reasons I no longer drive, although I could park I couldn’t get out (or in) the car in the spaces provided 

Sandra


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes Sandra we are finding it's easier to get out and in if we move the car out of the slot. Not because we have limited mobility, the spaces are just too cramped.

Agreed Barry but it's always my aim to park bang outside the door or first stall at a boot sale. Theres no point parking in the far corner as when we return there is always someone who wants to cosy up alongside.

Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

To add another dimension to this, Both Liz and I have walking difficulties, mineare more acute, last years MRI scan showed up some lesions on my spine, confirmed by two CT scan since, when we went away in February, I was in a lot of pain if I walked too far, this trip over the last two weeks shows I have gotten much worse, I now need a stick even for a short walk, it seems to be degenerating fast, I'm okay when seated, but any kind of lifting is now out, even a shopping bag is too much, I just mowed our little patch of lawn 3m x 3m and I am in agony from it, vacuuming is a nono, I think because of this I should at least be able to apply for a blue badge, but I know people who are far worse than I who have been refused.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

I think you and Sandra should have a Blue Badge by the sound of it. Go and apply for one, just make sure you dont dumb down how bad you are.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Ha! When my father applied many years ago and after much persuasion (he suffered a heart condition which killed him in the end) he had to climb 4 flights of stairs to the office!

And of course, because he did (tho I've no idea how long it took him), they deduced he didn't need a badge!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

My mum at 88 started to have trouble walking more than 5 mins in the shops. So I suggested we get a yellow badge then. But she said "What do I need a badge for?" It was me that always had to drop her off and go collect again so she saw no reason.

Ray.


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## HurricaneSmith (Jul 13, 2007)

jiwawa said:


> Ha! When my father applied many years ago and after much persuasion (he suffered a heart condition which killed him in the end) he had to climb 4 flights of stairs to the office!
> 
> And of course, because he did (tho I've no idea how long it took him), they deduced he didn't need a badge!


Ditto Jean.

A friend fell foul of exactly that logic in a town here in East Sussex and also lost his blue badge.

PS Car park size recommendations have remained unchanged for years. 2.4m x 4.8m with an additional access strip of 0.8m for disabled and parent & child. 
.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Well the moral of the story is if they ask you to come in for assessment when you apply tell them you cant do stairs! Fall out of the car in the car park of the assessment centre and writhe about on the car park floor a bit looking like a landed haddock, that should do it.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

barryd said:


> Well the moral of the story is if they ask you to come in for assessment when you apply tell them you cant do stairs! Fall out of the car in the car park of the assessment centre and writhe about on the car park floor a bit *looking like a landed haddock*, that should do it.


You would need to be run over first to look like that.:wink2::laugh:


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

nicholsong said:


> You would need to be run over first to look like that.:wink2::laugh:


You forget it's Barry we're talking about Geoff


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Kev_n_Liz said:


> You forget it's Barry we're talking about Geoff


Oh, you reckon there is not a vehicle with enough ground clearance?


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

When my elderly mother was asking for disability benefits, she was told not to fill out any forms herself. There is a technique for filling them out. She was helped, in the end, by a person from the RNIB (she was virtually blind). One of the questions was "can you dress yourself?" Mum's natural answer would have been "yes" as she could physically manage to put clothes on. The right answer was "no, because I can't see the colour scheme and/or whether the item is clean or not" 


I would imagine that similar answers apply to the blue badge application. So if the answer to, "Can you walk 100yds" is "yes" then have you considered that you would have to walk back again? Or, when you have walked the 100 yards, can you wait in line or hold a conversation etc.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

In that case I am very disabled being deaf and partly colour blind. The only benefit I have managed is to choose my seat on BA. Great now I don't fly.

Ray.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Maybe one could apply for a Blue Badge on this basis -

' My eyesight is such that I am unable to identify from 10m a parking space large enough to park my 2.3m wide vehicle and open the door within the allotted lines'


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Watch out it doesn't lead to your license being revoked Geoff.

Ray.


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

raynipper said:


> Watch out it doesn't lead to your license being revoked Geoff.
> 
> Ray.


Ray

Give me credit - I did write 'Maybe one.....'

Anyway, I have a 'licence' not 'license' - you have spent too much time in USA and it has infected you.:grin2: [You are one amongst many who cannot get it right, and cannot distiguish between the noun's and the verb's spelling]

[Just had a thought. Since even a passenger can get a Blue Badge, does one have to declare whether one is a driver. and do the issuing authority communicate with DVLA, since there is a general rule that Departmental information cannot be shared with other departments, without Parliamentary approval?

This post has been mainly idle chatter - after the relief of a very stressful 4 days of family. Thankfully we are off to Greece for 2 weeks on Saturday.

Geoff


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Guilty as charged Geoff.
Never can get English spelling right especially with Microsoft help. Weather, diesel, metre, etc.

Ray.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

nicholsong said:


> Oh, you reckon there is not a vehicle with enough ground clearance?


Not sure I go that far  

Bugger it, yes, spot on...


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

barryd said:


> Well the moral of the story is if they ask you to come in for assessment when you apply tell them you cant do stairs! Fall out of the car in the car park of the assessment centre and writhe about on the car park floor a bit looking like a landed haddock, that should do it.


You forgotten a little essential thing

I can fall to the floor, writhing about a bit

But I dam well can't get back up

So as far as possible I avoid the floor

What a difference a couple of years of arthritis makes , when joints no longer respond the way they should

Sandra


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

raynipper said:


> In that case I am very disabled being deaf and partly colour blind. The only benefit I have managed is to choose my seat on BA. Great now I don't fly.
> 
> Ray.


I'm struggling to think why your disabilities would allow you to choose your seat??


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I will explain when next you are here Jean.

Ray.


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

*Poor design of shopping trolleys.*



747 said:


> Two things bug me Ray.
> 
> 1) Small scratches and scrapes caused by shopping trolleys in Supermarket car parks.


These (UK) trolleys are a particular hate of mine. Both our last two cars suffered dents, apparently from these monstrosities. One we know was damaged when in a car park as it was fine when we left it & dented when we came back.
The problem with these trolleys in the UK is they fit four castor wheels. This means they move sideways in reaction to any slight slope, particularly when heavily laden. It is very difficult to resist this motion. Result, dent in any adjacent car. Also, trying to resist the sideways motion twists your upper body.
Frustratingly, it is quite easy to fix this problem but for some reason all UK supermarkets use the same style trolleys. In contrast, when we lived in the USA all the supermarkets had trolleys with two fixed wheels & only two castors. This meant you could control them without any problem, steer them where you wanted to go & no cars were dented.


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