I'm sure most of us having similar problems. My new car pristine bodywork has been scratched in a Aldis car park. Why oh why with cars getting wider don't supermarkets widen thier parking spaces. I'm getting sick of it. As luck as it I'm a blue badge holder so disabled parking spaces are alot winder but spaces are limited. All parking spaces should be at least 6 inches wider, 300 mm. To save our expensive cars getting damaged.
I'm afraid it's a combination of things, industry advisory dimensions for parking bays are decades old (guidance published in 2016 and based on even older data, for private car parks, and even older for street parking!), way back to when cars were MUCH smaller. And, supermarkets and the like are trying to cram as many customer spaces into expensive acreage as possible! AFAIK, there are no regulation minimum dimensions for public or private bays, it's down to the parking space owners to mark out as they see fit!
I regularly use a council car park that is so tight, you cant make a single swing into a bay, it takes shunting to get in, then the bay is so narrow it's a struggle to get out of your car, and my car is not huge, has good steering lock, and not oversized doors! ... and the front and back of my car reach the delimiting end of bay white lines! Clearly laid out for cars of the dimensions of original Mini!
.... as to damage to our cars, look at all the disclaimers of liability, 'Park at own risk' signs!
Very true Monty, cars have been getting bigger for many years. If you compare the current mini with one from the 1960s, the new ones are nearer the size of the old Austin Cambridge, which was back then considered to be a large family car. Mini? I don't think so!
The best supermarket car park in our area is Sainsburys, where they have double white lines between the bays and you have to park within the inner ones. Still not massive bays though. I think many car park bays were designed around an Austin 7 or Morris 8 from the 1940s.
Standard parking spaces are presently 2.4 m. Edmund King of the AA has proposed they. should be increased to 2.6m but no one seems to take it up to make it statutory
I remember seeing a picture of the original Mini compared the the current Mini and the original would fit inside the new with space to spare. I am always quite selective where I park but it depends how far you want to walk? We have a newish multi storey here in MK and whilst the bays are probably the standard width they also have a thick white line between bays which tends to lead to people parking better.
.. as to damage to our cars, look at all the disclaimers of liability, 'Park at own risk' signs!
These signs arnt worth the paint used to say it.
The law says.
People who are invited or have permission to enter your property are classed as visitors, and under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 tjey have a duty to you and your property, to take reasonable care to ensure their safety when using their property for the purpose for which you are invited or permitted to be there.
I used this law against Aldi when abandoned trollies scratched my car whilst I was in store.
They paid up...
Our Aldi has comparatively large spaces. I can certainly swing in and park and (usually) get out of my 2 door car. I did once have the next person park so close to me that I had to get in through the passenger door, but that was a one off.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
I have always driven scruffy looking cars, that are past their best.
I always park properly and are carful of other drivers cars, but I do tend to find people give my car a wide berth in car parks.
Quote: Originally posted by birdman101 on 27/10/2024
Standard parking spaces are presently 2.4 m. Edmund King of the AA has proposed they. should be increased to 2.6m but no one seems to take it up to make it statutory
When I was designing car parks for work in the 1980s, the width was 2.5m (far easier to do the calculations than 2.4) & 5m long. Never statutory (ie the law), just standards set out in the accepted guidance like Spon’s landscape handbook. Similar standard dimensions set out for coach parks (one I did at a park is now used by horse boxes), turning circles for HGVs etc.
I suggest cars have got longer too: I couldn’t avoid sticking out into the circulation route at a hotel recently because the car behind had come over the rear line & it had a tow bar, and our Škoda is almost as long as our MH. Thankfully it has a reversing camera - and again, that’s something that’s become standard on new (wider) cars.
And beware buying an older house with a garage…
Most Aldis I use have disabled parking next to the entrance and being wider bays you can walk and push a trolley between the parked cars. They are also close to the trolley bays, so a trolley gets pushed back full and empty. Its also where taxis will pick up.
I always park at the far end of the car park, number of trolleys passing the side of my car, zero. Park in front of store, number of shoppers passing the car, dozens.
I know what you mean about garages Fiona. I currently rent a council lock-up, goodness knows when they were built. I mainly use it to store a motorbike and a trailer, along with all sorts of other junk, so I can't get my car in because of that. If I cleared it out I could probably get my 2008 X-Trail in there, but I doubt whether I would be able to open its doors to get out.
We have a garage in a block for 6 houses, and an adjacent car park where there is room for our caravan. OH struggles to get out of the car in the garage. Plenty of near misses in supermarket car parks.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 28/10/2024
If I cleared it out I could probably get my 2008 X-Trail in there, but I doubt whether I would be able to open its doors to get out.
The office rented a garage for the pool car we used for site visits, a lumpy 4WD Subaru. We had to put both wing mirrors flat in order to reverse in, with mm to spare. (Take everything out of the boot & back seat first.) And a real wriggle to then get out of the driver’s door & exit the garage walking sideways whilst breathing in.
Perhaps fewer and smaller cars are the answer ? Most of my neighbours are currently struggling to fit their 3 or 4 vehicles on their driveways that were designed for 2, as back then a 2 car family was a sign of immense wealth.
I've got a 2 door Mx5 and try and park in the empty bit of a car park as the doors are long and need to open wide to let you out. Why does someone then think it's a good idea to park right next to the car in a sea of other spaces?
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Topic: Damage to cars in supermarket
via mobile 27/10/2024 at 12:58pm
