I hate car parks

[Rob]

It's like a military operation when I enter a car park these days. The 1st thing I do is have a drive round to asses all the option, looking for ideally the end bay where I can leave as much room between me and the other car. If that space is not an option the next thing I am looking for is the most expensive car there on the assumption that they to will be ultra careful when opening their doors whilst also taking in to account how visible the van will be to deter wannabe thief's (by this time the wife and kids have got out because they and sick of waiting) before finalising on which space to park (obviously in none pay and display car parks I just take up 2 spaces then problem solved) After I have gone through all that all I do is spend the time away from the van panicking that the car next to me as moved and some old people carrier full of kids in the back using me van as a door stop.

Think I might start taking the bus.

 

[StudleyGlass]

oh im glad its just not me then ! just drove to the top floor of the multi story in my wife's new car to avoid all that , only to get moaned at about the walk to the race for life ! wheres the logic in that.

had to get the car and pick them up when they had finished ......give up

 

[Californiaman]

Yes it's a problem that I've grappled with since my T5.1 was new back in 2011.
I've solved the problem by buying a big old Mercedes Sprinter, couldn't care less about that! I appreciate that might not be the solution for everybody though

 

[Rob]

I have the same issue in the van and wife's car but today I decided that 2 spaces were better than one.

 

[Pauly]

I'm not going to post a pic of the large door shaped dent my van is currently sporting but its there and I'm definitely not ok with it.
Going in bodyshop week tomorrow to get it sorted plus a couple of other bits, and it turns out the £200-300 I invested in full HD front and rear dash cameras recorded absolutely nothing.
Impact recording works provided its a bus that hits you head on

 

[Pauly]

On a positive note, whenever we go to supermarket my wife insists the van is parked in the furthest away space possible preferably not even in the car park

 

[Caravellet6]

On the up side more and more car parks have spaces for rv's I just use one of them.

 

[Scruffy]

I'm not going to post a pic of the large door shaped dent my van is currently sporting but its there and I'm definitely not ok with it.
Going in bodyshop week tomorrow to get it sorted plus a couple of other bits, and it turns out the £200-300 I invested in full HD front and rear dash cameras recorded absolutely nothing.
Impact recording works provided its a bus that hits you head on

I have a similar dent in the side of my T6. Done by a young lady in a beat up Micra. My normal reaction would be to kick the offending car has hard as possible but , a- I was in flip flops, and b- the Micra was beyond damaging.

 

[Caravellet6]

There was a time in my life that would have been a good excuse to swop phone numbers

 

[T6dder]

I park in Waitrose and walk over to Asda (next door) as Waitrose has more empty spaces and slightly wider markings. Only trouble is the more elderly folk in Waitrose really like to swing their doors wide open. #swingsandroundabouts

 

[BigBarn]

Despite the fact that I love driving my van I insist on taking our little fiesta anywhere that requires parking in public carparks. I even crammed, two children, the missus, the dog, wetsuits, beach stuff, cool bag and kayak equipment into the fiesta, stuck the kayak and paddle on the roofbars just because I knew the beach car park would be packed and dusty and full of grockles on bank hol monday! Its also a challenge dealing with tourists that don't know how to drive down Devon country lanes and can't reverse!

 

[VanBlanc]

Be careful taking 2 spaces - managed car parks, i.e. Supermarkets, Motorway Services and so on, tell you to park between the white lines and if you don't their car park SS will hound you forever.

I had this problem in a Sainsburys a few years ago and they wouldn't give up for ages. In the they had to because it was a company vehicle and they had no idea who was driving it so they could not make out who, if anyone, the contract to park was with Anyhow I feel as if I have had the last laugh because we haven't shopped in a Sainsbury since

 

[Caravellet6]

Despite the fact that I love driving my van I insist on taking our little fiesta anywhere that requires parking in public carparks. I even crammed, two children, the missus, the dog, wetsuits, beach stuff, cool bag and kayak equipment into the fiesta, stuck the kayak and paddle on the roofbars just because I knew the beach car park would be packed and dusty and full of grockles on bank hol monday! Its also a challenge dealing with tourists that don't know how to drive down Devon country lanes and can't reverse!

Had to reverse 50 yards up a one way track last week cos an elderly gent wouldn't back up 10 feet to a passing place. What I found was with DSG and reversing camera you can back it up at quite a lick, I went backwards faster than he went forwards!

 

[a11y]

I'm dreading when the time comes that my kids are too old to plausibly use the wide parent and child spaces. Pre-van life I had severe issues with parking (always end of a row), it's going to be worse with a bigger/wider vehicle.

 

[andythom188]

Had to take our youngest son to the hospital for appointment yesterday was dreading the car park there as usually a nightmare to park , drove around the car park found 2 spare spaces together was very tempted to position the van to take up both spaces and pay for 2 spaces for a hour .
Is this possible to use 2 spaces if you pay for 2 or are parking attendants going to be petty ?

 

[VanBlanc]

Had to take our youngest son to the hospital for appointment yesterday was dreading the car park there as usually a nightmare to park , drove around the car park found 2 spare spaces together was very tempted to position the van to take up both spaces and pay for 2 spaces for a hour .
Is this possible to use 2 spaces if you pay for 2 or are parking attendants going to be petty ?

They are going to be petty