To have been upset by this encounter today

As I understand it, disabled parking is covered by the law but there is no legal requirement for P&C places.

I don’t think the possibility of someone being under stress is an excuse for the bullying behaviour you describe, Beswitched. It never gains anyone anything.

reallyPatsy70 life is one stressful thing after another for most families now
.Maybe this was the straw that broke the camels back for the young woman .
I know my daughter often had a hard time because she doesn't LOOK disabled and got shedloads of abuse off elderly folk for parking in "their" space .It works both ways. .
She often called me in tears because of some wee eegit who thought he was more entitled than she was .
Sadly my daughter isn't allowed to drive anymore so its not a problem but I can assure you there are a lot of entitled older people around who can make others feel stressed too.
Maybe just understand that life is more than hard for a lot of us before taking sides in any carpark

I used to take my elderly mother shopping and she had a blue badge. Often tricky to find space in disabled parking, so legitimately, I think, parked in p&c space!

Well done Beswitched, it’s horrible to witness this sort of thing. Younger people don’t comprehend the problems those who have blue badges face when trying to find a designated space. When my Dad was still driving, he used to insist on going out very early as that was the only time there would be free blue badge spaces in any of his local supermarkets and this was over 10 years ago. Of course, when I (and I expect a lot of others on GN) had our babies and young children, there weren’t parent and child spaces. However did we cope?!!

I think you did the right thing, Beswitched. Why are people so angry all the time? There really is no excuse for rudeness Doodledog.

Beswitched, yes, that's exactly how I understand it. Still, there's always the 'Me, me, me!' brigade with no manners and no respect. I would have waded straight in with my opinion, though, before informing the staff.

I have a blue badge, and I wouldn’t park in a p&c space. It’s never occurred to me that do so. I don’t drive now, so if we can’t find a disabled space Mr. B will drop me off and park elsewhere. I appreciate for those who don’t have a Mr. B to chauffeur them the situation must be very different.

Yes both of my parents needed disabled spaces in their later years. I don't think some people realise how essential they are, and how much more necessary than p&c spaces. The latter are helpful of course, but not the lifeline that disabled spaces are.

No parent should ever use a disabled space as a substitute for a p&c space. The other way around is perfectly justified.

I have a blue badge and I’ve had this dilemma. In my experience at my local supermarket, parents have no problem parking in a disabled space if there are no parent and child spaces left, so if there are no BB spaces left I have no problem taking a P&C space. I’ve even been confronted with pregnant women parking in disabled spaces. I’m a wheelchair user and I don’t think people realise how difficult it is to manoeuvre a wheelchair in an ordinary parking space - the wider ones are so that a wheelchair can be unloaded and the user can get around the space and access doors etc.

Beswitched

A young mum was having a go at an elderly man who had parked in a p&c space. He was trying to explain he had a blue badge and I could also see an elderly woman in the car beside him
He remained courteous throughout while she became shriller and shriller. I complained to customer services and they said they would sort it out.

But what makes people behave like this? It was so rude, aggressive and unkind.

As I was leaving the man's car was in the space and the self entitled young mother had presumably been told to park elsewhere.

Good for you..?

No, you are not being unreasonable. Witnessing any kind of confrontation is upsetting regardless of the circumstances; all the more so if it feels unfair.
You made a great call to get help from the store rather than wade in yourself - not sure I would have been so clear thinking.

Doodledog

It sounds as though it was a horrible thing to witness.

We don't know the backstory though. The young woman might have been at the end of her tether for some reason. Perhaps her child was also disabled, or she was ill, or any number of things, and this was the last straw.

She might have just been intolerant and unpleasant - but there again, so might he.

No he was very polite and kept trying to explain to her. She just kept shouting.

Well

We’ll done to you and to the Store manager?

It sounds as though it was a horrible thing to witness.

We don't know the backstory though. The young woman might have been at the end of her tether for some reason. Perhaps her child was also disabled, or she was ill, or any number of things, and this was the last straw.

She might have just been intolerant and unpleasant - but there again, so might he.