Damn the Chelsea Tractors - full speed ahead!
In
the news: Pensioner backed into wife while trying to get out of
parking space.
Sounds
funny, but it’s not. Poor old chap had to get in the car from the
passenger side because there was not enough room to open the driver’s
door.
Accident ensued when he inadvertently started the car whilst
it was in reverse – narrowly missed his wife and crashed into a
parked car behind him. Ho! Ho!
Except
it’s not quite that simple.
Readers
everywhere in the UK are now remembering similar situations.
Why?
The
main reason is because supermarkets, among others, try to cram in as
many spaces as possible. In general there is not enough space
allowed between cars. Now, add the Chelsea Tractors into the mix and
you have a perfect storm of inadequate car parking space leading to
car-park rage, dinged wings, smashed mirrors, unreported accidents
and possible death my misadventure – or negligence.
I
see this everyday when I go to Roys of Wroxham. Take two 4x4’s
park them with an empty bay between them, stand back and watch the
mayhem develop. No-one can open their door in this scenario.
Tempers flare. Strange manoeuvrers ensue. Contortionists limber up.
Oddly,
most of the opprobrium is usually heaped on people who park in
disabled spaces illegally – or in the Parent and Child bays without
a child in sight.
The
real culprits are the planners who allow such a squeeze by the
owners/operators and the lack of planning by the supermarkets. They
do their customers no favours by cramming in extra spaces which
cannot be used.
Solutions:
special slots for Chelsea tractors, light vans and other wide
vehicles; simply make the bays larger, even if this means you have
less parking slots.
Put
the customer first.
