I had to call to the County Council offices on the Model Farm Road which were recently revamped I believe. I was directed into the underground parking by an attendant. I drive a reasonably small car but I found the space very tight to manuoevre. I backed into a space with my left wing mirror millimetres from pillar and the white line on each side of car less than a foot from car. I struggled out of the car and there was some light hearted banter about not wanting to be overweight with other people in similar situations. But there is no way I would have been able to get out of the car if I had been very overweight, pregnant or anyway frail. Or if I had been driving a bigger car. Do you the people who "plan" these car parks give any thought at all to the people who have to use them? Rant over.
Car Park spaces that are too small
- Thread starter DeeFox
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I agree...some underground carparks are a joke. The only one I was in which didn't have me worrying about kerbing a wheel or scraping bodywork was one down by the docks in Galway...you could re-enact a scene from The Driver in it !
But most carparks are designed with the max number of spaces in mind, and I reckon there's a minimum width that they're allowed to mark them as in order to be called 'parking spaces'.
No fun if you take pride in your car IMO !
I generally park well away from the throngs if I have a choice (and if it's not lashing rain
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But most carparks are designed with the max number of spaces in mind, and I reckon there's a minimum width that they're allowed to mark them as in order to be called 'parking spaces'.
No fun if you take pride in your car IMO !
I generally park well away from the throngs if I have a choice (and if it's not lashing rain
)SlurrySlump
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I generally park well away from the throngs if I have a choice (and if it's not lashing rain
Yes, but isn't it amazing when you choose a space with empty spaces on either side of you and when you come back to your car, someone has filled those spaces on either side of you despite their being loads of other empty spaces avilable.
My least favourite carpark is in Blackrock; the shopping centre accross from the one that has M&S, don't know if it is called Frescati or is that the other one. Anyway, I hate the dank, dimly-lit carpark, the narrow spaces and those impossible pillars!
not to mention the lack of space between aisles. Dundrum is my favourite, light, spacious and loads of room in the actual parking space and very few pillars.
not to mention the lack of space between aisles. Dundrum is my favourite, light, spacious and loads of room in the actual parking space and very few pillars.
I don't know why people do this kind of thing. Its like when you're sitting on a half empty bus and someone plonks themselves beside you. Or the time recently when I was sitting in a cinema with only about a dozen people scattered around. A couple came in and sat on the seats right beside me and the girl asked me to move my arm so she could put her drink in the holder!!
A
AgathaC
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That always amuses me. Why do people do that, I wonder? I had an experience recently where I was parked in a fairly empty carpark and the next person to arrive went to great trouble to park right next to me.
Complainer
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I often try to park close to (though not necessarily beside) a better car than mine, to encourage any prospective thieves to look elsewhere.
I just use the mother and baby spaces! My mother loves when I am driving her along with my baba because she has a bad back and finds she has loads of room getting out in tight spaces. I have twice had people park so close to my car that I couldnt get in, once when I was heavily pregnant and I just had to wait until the very unapoligetic person got back and wondered when I couldnt get in the passenger side and climb into the drivers seat. The second was recently when someone parked right up to the side of my car where the fixed baby seat is and left her 5 kids in the car while she went in to do the weekly shop. I got the oldest child to ring their mother to get her to come out and the mother said I could wait or I could just climb in the other side and move the seat over to the other side of the car!! I waited until eventually the car the other side moved and then asked a lady to mind the buggy and baby while I reversed out and into the other space.
The key is to park across two spaces! This totally eliminates the chances of people banging their doors against you car and denting and chipping the paintwork. Has worked, touch wood, on my year old car. It is amazing to sit in a car park and observe how often people just bang their doors against the next car without a care in the world!
Couldnt agree with you more!
Its the Blackrock shopping centre,and its absolutly dreadfull for parking .In that the spaces are soo small.I mostly park in frascatti and walk accross due to the size of the spaces.And If I do park in Blackrock SC Im never sure that my car wont be scrapped by some other car trying to squeze in beside me.dreadfull. Agree with you on dundrum,thats a good one and spaces are a fair size.
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Complainer
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True, though their high-tech red/green lights to indicate free spaces get confused by high vehicles (yummy-mummy SUVs and builder jeeps), which seems to be about 50% of the vehicles in Dundrum1
Jasus, bit of a chip on your shoulder there...
It's a pet hate of mine. The selfishness of taking up two spaces is beneath contempt - you should be clamped imo if you are parked across two spaces - what if an elderly person needed the second space ? You're almost as bad as the people without a disability who park in spaces for the disabled drivers - they should also be clamped imo.
+1. Says more about the designers of the high-tech red /green light system than it does about 4x4 drivers.
Agree with this too.
Ive seen empty spaces with red lights on,so dont think its the 4x4s.Its the system ,though have to say in general it works really well .
Ron Burgundy
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I agree it may look selfish, but, I was sick of having both sides of my car repeatedly dented. With regard to disabled spaces, this is a separate argument. Two young lads I work with said they tried the double space technique over the weekend and were thrilled when returning to undamaged cars. The word is spreading. Praise the Lord!
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Absolutely agree - I just hate gimmicky technology that doesn't quite work.
I was so tempted to adopt this parking technique after having to wait for over an hour in a Brown Thomas carpark (which charges over €3 an hour, btw) to get into my car. There was a wall on one side and a car on the other side but so close that it 'flipped' my wing mirror. A skinny 7 year old couldn't get in between the two cars.
The driver of the car next to me in BT carpark was very unapologetic 70+ year old woman who felt that her age entitled her to more space. Sorry, but very little sympathy ever since.
Agree that disabled spaces are a different story altogether.
There is nothing more annoying imo in a packed car park than finding a car taking up two spaces. If I was the selfish culprit I'd be more worried that some other irate car park park user would drag a key or coin along my motor for spite than I would about my motor being dented if I was correctly parked.