Mother (and baby) of car parking outrages
Investigation shows blatant misuse of spaces designated for parents
THEY were introduced to make life a little bit easier for parents struggling with young children and bags of shopping in busy supermarket car parks.
But an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation has found that mother-and-child bays – meant for parents with children under the age of 12 – are being routinely used by people without children.
And while many culprits argue that it’s not exactly a high-profile crime, their behaviour leaves many families angry and could even put young children at risk in busy carparks.
Those who are caught abusing the system could receive a fine from the supermarket or its carpark contractor or could be issued with a parking charge notice.
The MoS spent 30 to 90 minutes in various locations in South Co. Dublin and saw a number of drivers without children occupying the spaces throughout the day.
In Rathfarnham Shopping Centre, some 30% of the cars that parked in mother and child spaces over a 30-minute period did not have any young children with them.
The first woman we observed doing so was driving an 04 Ford. When asked if she had any children with her, she replied, ‘No, I don’t. When I came in here first there were no free parking spaces, otherwise I would have just parked in them.’
The second woman, who was driving a 131 BMW Sport 5 Series, said she was aware of where she had parked but despite the fact that she had no children with her, she said it wasn’t ‘illegal to park in these spaces’. Upon leaving she smiled and waved from her car.
There were similar scenes at the carpark in Knocklyon Shopping Centre, where yet more drivers showed blatant disregard for the mother and child spaces.
One in six of the people who we observed parking in the motherand-child spaces there did not have any young children with them.
Two women in an 08 Mini Cooper with no young children parked in a mother-and-child space and did not return for 30 minutes. When challenged, the driver said: ‘I just dropped my child off, I was in the hairdressers.’ Despite this, there was no visible child seat in the car’s back seat and the MoS did not observe any child entering or leaving the car.
One taxi driver who parked in a designated space said: ‘Do you want to know why I parked here? Because the last time I parked in the other part of the carpark, my wing mirror was broken.’
The spaces are closer to the shops and designed with extra room to make it easier for parents carrying buggies.
Áine Bonner of The Baker Farm blog said: ‘The amount of times I’ve seen people with no kids just park there, leaving people who genuinely need the spots having to cart a gaggle of kids across the car park in the rain, it’s infuriating.’