Motoring Discussion > Parking spaces could become bigger Miscellaneous
Thread Author: VxFan Replies: 21

 Parking spaces could become bigger - VxFan

Car parking spaces in the UK may be about to get bigger under a new plan aimed at addressing the issue of modern cars being too big to comfortably fit into bays.

Ministers have agreed to support the new plan that would increase the size of parking spaces from their current norm of 2.4m by 4.8m to a larger, as-yet-unspecified size to better accommodate the swollen dimensions of modern cars.

www.driving.co.uk/news/parking-spaces-larger-cars/
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Zero
Wont happen, its down to developers and m2 costs money.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Terry
Dream on - at best it will apply to new developments and possibly when the lines are repainted for on-street parking.. Existing car park layouts need too much work to easily adapt - length being the main constraint.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - CGNorwich
Have a two tier system and charge 50% more for parking for those who insist on driving these hideous SUVs
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Bobby
SUVs ain’t the problem. It’s just the folk who can’t park.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - CGNorwich
>> SUVs ain’t the problem. It’s just the folk who can’t park.
>>
Quite often the same. In my experience

Seriously vehicles are getting bigger and bigger. Very few people actually need a a vehicle the size of a small truck. We are an overcrowded country with narrow urban road and limited space for parking on our roads our car parks or indeed our driveways. We can do without these things.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Bobby
My 2016 BMW X1 SUV is 5 cm longer than a current Ford Focus.
And the same width.
The Focus is the same size as the Qashqai.

Last time I looked, the height of vehicles weren’t the issue in parking spaces.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - tyrednemotional
>> Last time I looked, the height of vehicles weren’t the issue in parking spaces.
>>
...it can be in multi-storeys...

(try my motorhome ;-) )
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Bromptonaut
>> Seriously vehicles are getting bigger and bigger. Very few people actually need a a vehicle
>> the size of a small truck.

All of that is true but...

Today, en-route home from Dover with the caravan, we stopped briefly at Beaconsfield Services on the M40. Having actually located the caravan parking spaces - no mean feat as you're well on site before they're mentioned - they're just long enough for our outfit of a Berlingo and a tiny Xplore 304. A longer estate car (Skoda Superb?) and an ordinary 4 berth Bailey and you'd overhang both ends.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - legacylad

>>
>> Seriously vehicles are getting bigger and bigger. Very few people actually need a a vehicle
>> the size of a small truck.
>> We can do without these things.

Totally agree. Very few people need a sitty uppy SUV from a practical point of view. If you regularly tow a caravan I can understand the appeal of a 4WD SUV.

Most small households with only 1 or 2 occupants only need a 3 door hatch, or a 5 door hatch if more than 2 folks...maybe an estate if you need the space for moving stuff around.

I seem to be coping ok with a small 3 door hatch as my primary mode of transport.

( oh the irony)
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Manatee
I don't know why so many bang on about "SUV's". If they mean Rangies, Discos and similarly sized things being used as everyday runabouts then fair enough, but every other car now is sitty uppy and takes no more room up than many saloons.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - legacylad
Very true. A lot of SUVs were the same length, if not shorter, than my Focus estate.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Terry
The main problem is width, not length. Door beams, electric window motors, big wing mirrors, speakers etc have all added to the width, together with fatter people needing bigger seats and central consoles for cup holder, ICE, phone storage etc.

Comparing (say) a Ford Anglia with a current Fiesta (sort of a descendant):

Anglia - kerb weight 737kg, length 390cm, width 143cm

Fiesta - kerb weight ~1220kg, length 407cm, width 174cm
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Kevin
>Have a two tier system and charge 50% more for parking for those who insist on driving these hideous SUVs

And another 50% on top of that for drivers of vehicles whose manufacturer has fiddled their emissions figures thereby creating an army of holier-than-thou deluded PITAs?
 Parking spaces could become bigger - bathtub tom
I find new ALDI places have larger parking spaces.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Bobby
>>I find new ALDI places have larger parking spaces.

Agree with this actually - the one nearer me definitely has bigger spaces than the Lidl. However due to the design of the Lidl car park, there are 3 spaces that are wider than the rest as they are on the curve of the car park. I always aim for one of them.

In fact, I think its safe to say at any car park that I park in, I always look for a space that looks sensible from the protection of the car perspective. Annoys my wife who says why you driving past this space and that space? The space needs to be right, right?
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Falkirk Bairn
I am with Bobby -

I never try to get near the entrance of a supermarket - I park away from the melee.
I park in end spaces whenever possible (50% reduction in ding damage).
Always reverse in.
If no end space I reverse in where the cars on either side have reversed.
I do not park beside bangers, MPVs, cars with kid seats ............

I have 2 small dings in one door - runaway trolley - obviously the carpark had a slight slope. I can polish the area but it it still there, slight ding and 2 small pin heads of missing paint.

New Lidl carpark - bigger spaces than the one it replaced BUT it is also busier than the rundown shop it replaced.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - Terry
I agree with most of this, but reversing in quite likely means that you and those parked adjacent will attempt to push the trolley between the two parked car to get to the boot/hatch.

Bigger probability of dings than driving in forwards!
 Parking spaces could become bigger - tyrednemotional
..we pulled into the (newish) ASDA in a nearby town last week, on our way home from an amble along the canal.

Mrs nE was convinced I'd pulled into the "mother and child" area, as the parking bays were marked with peripherally white-lined "islands" between. Possibly only 18 inches or so, and the bays themselves between the islands were little wider than normal. Nope, all the spaces were thus, with the disabled and "mother and child" ones additionally marked (and possibly slightly wider).

It does seem to cajole (most) people to parking in the centre of the spaces, rather than heading to one side, and there was a noticeable improvement in parking discipline and space between vehicles, than the norm.

I wonder if it's an ASDA thing for their newer stores? (normally, of course, I would only be seen in Waitrose ;-) )
 Parking spaces could become bigger - bathtub tom
Went to a DIY shed yesterday and got the last place in the shade of trees. It looked a little odd with every space in that part of the car park full, while there only a few cars dotted around the rest of the car park.
 Parking spaces could become bigger - smokie
I'm given to understand that's how dogging car parks might look :-)
 Parking spaces could become bigger - tyrednemotional
....a "friend" told you....?
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