Wider cars squeeze to use parking spaces set 50 years ago

MODERN cars have grown so big that drivers have as little as 21cm of room to spare in a parking space, research has revealed.

The study by Cargurus, the comparison site for motorists, found that the country’s most popular cars were as much as 55 per cent larger than they were in the Seventies, while the standard parking space has not grown in size at all.

The firm said this meant drivers had to be “parking Houdinis” to get out of their vehicles. It urged the Government to update its guidance for councils on space size to take into account of the burgeoning scale of cars.

Chris Knapman, UK editor of Car gurus, said :“It’ s understandable why cars have grown so much over the years. The dramatically improved safety standards of modern cars versus those of years gone by is an obvious benefit. However, as many motorists will no doubt confirm, it ’s disappointing that parking space guidelines haven’t been updated accordingly.”

The Department for Transport said it had not given guidance to councils on parking since 2016, and that this was the responsibility of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Mr Knapman pointed out t hat many modern cars were equipped with sophisticated technology to assist with parking, including sens ors, reversing cameras and automatic parallel parking functions.

But he added: “No matter how easy the technology makes it to park, if the space i s too small for your car, none of it will help you physically to squeeze out of the driver’s seat.”

Cargurus compared the dimensions of the 23 most popular cars on the road today that had an equivalent available in the Seventies.

It said the models had continually grown in size to reflect not just the additional safety features available, but the increased size of drivers.

Research suggests that millions of drivers scrape their cars each year trying to park in cramped spaces, with average repair bills running to hundreds of pounds.

The biggest grower in the study was the Mini Hatch, which is now 55 per cent bigger and takes up 20 per cent more of a parking space than the original, manufactured between 1959 and 2000.

Meanwhile, the generation of Honda Civics made t oday is 1 . 8m wide, an increase of 44 per cent on its Seventies counterpart, taking up nearly three quarters of a standard parking bay.

The size of a parking bay is 2.4m by 4.8m and has not changed in 50 years, according to Cargurus.