Should you be allowed to park an oversized vehicle in a parking bay and overhang its white lines?

When you have a massive car you have to be sensible with parking it.
When parking my dad's Model S everybody gets out the car before before I park it. If my niece is in the car her child seat goes behind the driver seat. You the park to one side of the bay.
As for overhanging the length of the bay the bumper does a little sometimes. I would not park in a space if I thought it would cause an issue to anybody but mainly as I don't want anybody hitting the car.
Never had a ticket and am pretty sure almost all cars can fit their wheelbase in the space.

I'm all for giving tickets to people who just park badly be that through pure laziness or arrogance/self entitlement.

 

When you have a massive car you have to be sensible with parking it.
When parking my dad's Model S everybody gets out the car before before I park it. If my niece is in the car her child seat goes behind the driver seat. You the park to one side of the bay.
As for overhanging the length of the bay the bumper does a little sometimes. I would not park in a space if I thought it would cause an issue to anybody but mainly as I don't want anybody hitting the car.
Never had a ticket and am pretty sure almost all cars can fit their wheelbase in the space.

I'm all for giving tickets to people who just park badly be that through pure laziness or arrogance/self entitlement.

When I had a model S I would have to let people out before I parked, and I used 'summon' to get the car out.
The problem was that the people I parked between could not open their doors, when they returned to their cars.

 

I think there's a more basic problem - too much money in certain parts of the population, and car manufacturers begging for their business. 99% of the country won't even see these "obese cars"

 

99% of the country won't even see these "obese cars"

If by that you mean 99% of the country isn't road or car park, and therefore won't see those cars, I'm with you. If you mean 99% of the population won't see them, I disagree. If what you mean is 99% of the population won't own any of those in the near future, then I probably still have to disagree.

Sainsbury's in Alperton have changed their car park to accommodate current cars. That reduced the number of parking spaces by quite a bit (I'd imagine between 10% and 20%), but makes the place much nicer to visit. On the photo below, look on the right hand side to get a good idea of how the spaces now look on the car park. I wish more car parks used that design, similar to what @Abercol mentions above.

 

I'm all for giving tickets to people who just park badly be that through pure laziness or arrogance/self entitlement.

You mean someone like this guy? 😂😂😂

 

I would stick a trolley on top of that.

 

Old cars leak, they probably keep it in a garage, so that is perfect.

No signs saying not to do that!

 

It’s got a sign of car directly on top of the canopy, so nowt wrong with parking there.

 

Problem is the british are much bigger than they used to be and therefore need bigger cars as a result 😆 a partial joke but it is an issue obesity is far more prevalent and here in France the french are much taller (and sadly increasingly catching up the british for obesity) than they were on average 50yrs ago due to the better nutrition after WW2 we can see the same with the Dutch.
I am very reluctantly buying an EQE I find my current car exactly right for my needs it can accomodate all the animal feed etc and pull a trailer for heavier things when needed plus is comfortable for4 adult passengers plus is accessible for my older friends. The EQE is not too much longer just 30mm but it is a tad wider and weighs the same albeit the battery offers 10kwh more but I would prefer something lighter and the same size in terms of internal space as my existing car especially as from 2025 the french weight tax will start applying to battery vehicles But there is nothing on offer from Mercedes at the moment.
At the end of the day consumers buy what is offerred, manufacturers offer what they think consumers want and governments are the people who have the control via legislation to tame and fashion what is offered as the french demonstrate very well With their bonus malus system which targets C02 output, weight and as of next year the pollution in production and transportation to the french market. All factors which (will) affect a levy paid on first registration of a vehicle so it concentrates the mind as it is not included in any Finance deal etc and is a one of tax payment to register the car.

 

You do also have an issue in the U.K. of lack of space and everything being squashed into the space available with an idea to cram as many in as possible.
We stayed in Chartres recently and parked in a great public underground car park with lots of space perfect parking in my view though the access through the barriers was tight as usual as were the ramps up and down between the floors set off the car warning chimes all the time🙄

 

Yup, cars have been getting ever bigger, rightly or wrongly, however, UK parking regs are set in antiquated 1960 rules that allow builders to make tiny parking spaces and garages and just make life difficult for all.

I far prefer the American system of having a space, then a gap, then the next space, plenty of room for everyone. Go to Costco and see this layout in the UK and realise it’s just common sense.

 

It is an issue. Have to confess mine is a whale and as a result, at Sainsburys I park it way up the top end of the car park. Two reasons I guess ... to be fair to those with smaller (more sensible size cars) and secondly to avoid the otherwise inevitable dents that many seem to incur. And add a few steps and calories to the day.

I'd rather the 30 second extra walk, not hog space, annoy folks and keep me car in good shape.

Same at airport. If I drive down in the Micra I can dump it anywhere in short stay ... it's not going to impede anyone and it grins at all the posh cars and holds it's own . Go in the EQS and I'm either on deck 7 or 8 (no one parks there anyway) or I drop it at valet park and they park it in nice wide carefully managed spaces. At a stinging price of course. That said, it's often a good deal cheaper than pre book short stay as it's not always so popular. Think it's called dynamic pricing ... like in hotels. Depends on the demand. Can be a bargain if smart.

So considerate parking or lazy expensive options, it still works out. You have big old bus of a car, park it further away.

 

According to recent research by the RAC¹, average car width over the period 1965 to 2020 increased from 1.5m > 1.8m and length increased from 3.9m > 4.3m but as mentioned, statutory and recommended car parking dimensions don't reflect this. Similarly, the standard garage door width still remains at 2.1m, leaving only 10cm gap each side for the average car.

There's a large public car parking area (for at least 40 cars) outside my gym that has no markings. People seem to manage perfectly well without any lines at all. I very rarely see instances of stupid parking. I often wonder whether it wouldn't be easier to have no lines, or substantially reduced linage (e.g. just to indicate where cars are to line up.).

Other interesting stats, some of which relate to EV home charging:

• 62% of domestic garages are not used for car parking although 68% of English households outside of London have the capability for off-street car parking (in Greater London it's 44%).
• 90% of households using on-street parking are more than 5 minutes walk away from a public charge point.
• 80% of EV charging is done at home²
• Domestic cars are in motion 4% of the time, 96% of the time they're parked.
• Outside of London, 8 million UK households have no off-street parking (out of 28 million).
• Outside of London, 76% of English households have more than one car. Within London, it's 55%.

¹RAC Foundation Report 'Standing Still' July 2021
²Energy Saving Trust, 2019

 

There's a large public car parking area (for at least 40 cars) outside my gym that has no markings. People seem to manage perfectly well without any lines at all. I very rarely see instances of stupid parking. I often wonder whether it wouldn't be easier to have no lines, or substantially reduced linage (e.g. just to indicate where cars are to line up.).

I used to live in a flat which had a parking area without marked spaces. If car parked close to each other you could fit six cars in. The problem came when someone turned up and just parked at 'random', i.e. not adjacent to another car or the end of the row. You'd end up with bigger than necessary gaps between the cars meaning that instead of six, only five or sometimes even only four cars could fit in.

As there were eight flats, this was not ideal. It meant people ended up parked on the access road, which in turn meant the bin lorry could not get through so our bins didn't get emptied. The situation was much improved when the management company marked out spaces.

 

The problem isn't new! What you need is a car like my Midget. It's based on the A30/35 and it's tiny, especially in width. I can touch the outside of the passenger door while sitting in the drivers seat with my right arm on the door - great for squeezing through gaps!

This isn't mine but shows the comparison...

 

The problem isn't new! What you need is a car like my Midget. It's based on the A30/35 and it's tiny, especially in width. I can touch the outside of the passenger door while sitting in the drivers seat with my right arm on the door - great for squeezing through gaps!

This isn't mine but shows the comparison...

View attachment 180815

I think there is a very good case for narrow cars. Improve aerodynamics, thus reduce energy consumption, etc..

In general, it is the modern desire to have comfortable personal space in a car that is at play here, space enough not to be bumping shoulders with your passengers.

There are solutions such as staggered seats, but it is a tad too unconventional for some people.

 

Despite having one of the smallest cars available (Smart EQ) it has enormous doors that can not be fully opened in most parking bays. The overstrong hinge springs only add to the problem of opening the doors without damage to my own or adjacent cars.

 

According to recent research by the RAC¹, average car width over the period 1965 to 2020 increased from 1.5m > 1.8m and length increased from 3.9m > 4.3m but as mentioned, statutory and recommended car parking dimensions don't reflect this. Similarly, the standard garage door width still remains at 2.1m, leaving only 10cm gap each side for the average car.

There's a large public car parking area (for at least 40 cars) outside my gym that has no markings. People seem to manage perfectly well without any lines at all. I very rarely see instances of stupid parking. I often wonder whether it wouldn't be easier to have no lines, or substantially reduced linage (e.g. just to indicate where cars are to line up.).

Other interesting stats, some of which relate to EV home charging:

• 62% of domestic garages are not used for car parking although 68% of English households outside of London have the capability for off-street car parking (in Greater London it's 44%).
• 90% of households using on-street parking are more than 5 minutes walk away from a public charge point.
• 80% of EV charging is done at home²
• Domestic cars are in motion 4% of the time, 96% of the time they're parked.
• Outside of London, 8 million UK households have no off-street parking (out of 28 million).
• Outside of London, 76% of English households have more than one car. Within London, it's 55%.

¹RAC Foundation Report 'Standing Still' July 2021
²Energy Saving Trust, 2019

Good call.

A lot of folks here decrying the increase in size of cars and whilst I sympathise to a degree it’s a global phenomenon, not just a British thing.

We had smaller cars in years gone by, but they also rusted, had terrible brakes, engines that needed rebuilding often and had horrendous crash and crumple zones. A lot of them were deathtraps.

By and large the majority of the ordinary modern cars on the road today are very safe, people often walk away from serious accidents which would have left them crippled or dead a few decades ago.

Progress is a good thing - we just need to update British parking space sizes to keep up and globally as well as with car sizes.

 

Progress is a good thing - we just need to update British parking space sizes to keep up and globally as well as with car sizes.

I agree, the solution is to make parking spaces bigger to accommodate the bigger cars on the roads today. But that brings its own problems - a lot of car parks in town centres, or at railway stations, can get full at busy times. So if you take 10% of the spaces away in order to make the other 90% bigger, where do those cars who can no longer get a space park? Or take residential parking - if there are eight homes and eight parking spaces, who gives theirs up to make the other seven wider?

 

There was a new shopping centre where I lived 20 years ago, and a quirk of the structural design meant not enough room for full sized spaces by the entrance on each floor. So they made them "supermini" spaces, just under 4m long, in the most convenient place. Fines for overhanging. I'd love to see more of that - generous spaces in the least convenient and less used areas, more smaller spaces in the more favourable areas.

I think the only way to really control car sizes though is the Japanese way - you can't buy a car bigger than the parking space you have for it (many in cities rent a space, they come in various sizes, have to be within 2km of your house). Public parking is often charged by size too. Overnight street parking is generally not possible in cities. We have an imported Honda Stepwgn and despite being an 8 seater (6 realistically) it's narrower than a current Fiesta and shorter than a Focus estate. Cars have got bigger here because they can.

 

If you start to apply wider bays retrospectively you could get dramatic improvements in width in old multi storey car parks. Where there were four bays between columns there will now be three bays 33% wider! Total carpark capacity reduced by 25% though.

10% improvement cannot be done!

 

That’s roughly what’s happened in one of our local car parks - it has 12 floors but a small town centre footprint. In some cases the positioning of a pillar near a ramp means that two spaces have gone down to one - I had to stop someone trying to park their (admittedly small city) car in the gap between spaces in front of the pillar recently!

As someone who is circumferentially challenged and therefore needs to open the driver’s side door wider than others may, I have to say that it’s bliss parking there, even though there are fewer spaces. That, however, also aligns with Guildford’s planning principles - they want fewer cars in the town centre anyway.

 

10% can be done on top level. I'd like that: people with monster cars unfit to go into those city centre multi-storey get sent to the roof. Doesn't work quite as well for underground multi-storey, but well...

 

Is fair enough. Is what I elect to do freely anyway. It's just about being reasonable.

There's a natural progression here anyway .... drop & pick up bay, disabled spaces, family with kids spaces, normal spaces. It's not so much of a stretch to add .... spaces for folks with large units at the top of the end (or top level) of the car park.

There will sometimes be ways to circumnavigate that ... like valet park at airport as mentioned earlier. But the car owner needs pay for the privilege. Many with choose not to and park on the top deck or far end.

Strikes me as a reasonable and natural evolution for those taking larger cars.

 

I drive a van - and like all vehicles it involves compromises. The trade off for all the loadspace and towing capacity is that I need to be careful where I park it.

Our local carpark has some long spaces and I can generally get one of those. In a supermarket I park it in an empty row, well away from the door, it helps that we often shop at unfashionable times. I've never had it in a multi-storey car park. Height barriers are an issue. It is 198 cm tall so a 2 metre height barrier can be a challenge, but a lot of them are 2.1 metres.

When camping in France / Spain a lot of campsites have good cycle tracks running near them, so we can park up on site and cycle into town.

 

I am back having a car I actually care about (I had forgotten how stressful it is.nnthere is a lot to be said for a car just as a tool to get you from A to B and nothing more. I looked after it mechanically but didn't sweat the small stuff.

but why is it (and perhaps am going a little off point but it is related.... I know my car is big so I tend to accept i park at the far end of car parks out of the way.... but why is it that even in a half empty car park where i park away from everyone..... as many times as not some bugger comes and parks right next to me giving me only a few inches to open mine - and theirs - car door?

 

.... but why is it that even in a half empty car park where i park away from everyone..... as many times as not some bugger comes and parks right next to me giving me only a few inches to open mine - and theirs - car door?

Cars are a threatened species so the Darwinian instinct of flocking together gives them safety in numbers.

Humour aside, the idea is not so far fetched as I first thought. If you parked your car at a certain position you must have believed it had some advantage over all the other positions so I'll park my car as close as I can to yours.

 

but why is it (and perhaps am going a little off point but it is related.... I know my car is big so I tend to accept i park at the far end of car parks out of the way.... but why is it that even in a half empty car park where i park away from everyone..... as many times as not some bugger comes and parks right next to me giving me only a few inches to open mine - and theirs - car door?

This point cropped up in another thread a few months back with some suggesting people do it to be bloody minded would never surprise me. But it is true it does happen like that. I also park well away from others as much as possible and have experienced the same, it is bit like why can you travel miles on an empty road yet you will meet another car and a cyclist all at the same spot, or there is always a lorry on an empty motorway just at the point of the exit you want to take, somehting to do with a certain Mr S and his law😆

 

I think there is a very good case for narrow cars. Improve aerodynamics, thus reduce energy consumption, etc..

In general, it is the modern desire to have comfortable personal space in a car that is at play here, space enough not to be bumping shoulders with your passengers.

There are solutions such as staggered seats, but it is a tad too unconventional for some people.

I suspect it’s partly down to a desire of car companies to make world cars ( the same design everywhere) including the USA where they like big fat cars. I had a mk1 Ford Focus which I loved ( kept for 11 years) and the replacement later design of Focus was about five inches wider. That extra width added frontal surface area which reduced mpg and weight which did the same. Internal wise it did nothing particularly better. What they later did to compensate was lower the roofline which reduced frontal area but made it harder to get into. I‘m quite long / tall in the spine and there’s quite a few cars I struggle to get into with any sort of elegance or comfort as I have to tilt my head right over with the low roofline. My friends modern Corsa for instance is terrible to get into but there‘s plenty of others.

Cars have become fat and bloated and not everyone wants an SUV. Have you seen the width of the current Nissan Micra for instance, it looks almost as wide as it is long. I’m fed up with just about every road test comparing boot size. Not everyone wants a five seater with loads of luggage. Give me an EV the size and width of say a Ford Fiesta that I can get into with ease and I’d be very happy. I tried a Renault Zoe which seemed tolerable for size but because the battery extends up under the front seats they’re very high. My line of sight is therefore partly obscured by the top of the windscreen so it wouldn’t be comfortable on a long trip. I’ve noted that its replacement, the Renault 5 recreation is …. much wider.

 

Of course cars have become much safer and that required them to be on average larger to make space for extra reinforcement and airbags, etc. While the UK housebuilders still seem to think the average car is a 1970 Mini, so they can offer a (useless) garage, there's no excuse for shopping centre/grocery store parking lots to be so narrow. It's not as if they operate at 100% capacity. While I also owned a 1971 MG Midget, and today have an MX-5, I'd prefer to have a shunt in the MX-5, which is considerably larger but offers if anything less usable space

 

It’s one thing making spaces in large car parks bigger but something I don’t see mentioned is the problem of parking on streets. Some of the streets in the towns hereabouts used to be comfortably driven with cars parked at the side but now it’s getting to be a bit of a squeeze.

 

Especially for larger vehicles. The street I used to live on was Victorian terraced houses with no driveways. People park on both sides of the road. There are regular complaints about the bins not being emptied. The council say it's because the bin lorry can't get through between the parked cars. The residents then stop complaining about the bins, because the only viable solution would be to restrict parking on one side of the road.

 

The residents then stop complaining about the bins, because the only viable solution would be to restrict parking on one side of the road.

Sounds sensible. If you can’t get a bin lorry through the street, then fire and other emergency services might struggle too.

 

I know, although I think in an emergency the fire brigade won't be too worried about scratching a few cars and knocking a few wing mirrors off.

The price of parking restrictions would be loss of half the parking spaces, on a road which has houses on both sides, many of which own more than one car. There is already a shortage of space, with some people having to park on surrounding streets (which all have similar problems). Other options might include narrowing the pavements, introducing herringbone type parking spaces, and introducing a one-way system. Or demolishing a few houses to make a car park! Essentially for the residents it is easier to put up with the bin not being emptied some weeks and hope there's never a need for a fire engine, than to deal with the loss of parking spaces.

 

Of course cars have become much safer and that required them to be on average larger to make space for extra reinforcement and airbags, etc.

Perhaps on average but it’s not absolutely necessary in all cases. My Mk1 Focus for instance had either 5 or 7 airbags ( can’t recall) but it included side airbags. The passenger cell of the body shell was very strong and rigid. It had traction control, ABS etc. Now it may not have had lane departure but lots of people turn that off anyway as it can be annoying. Safety doesn’t necessarily need super wide, just good design. Larger means heavier and harder to stop, and often more pedestrian impact

 

Perhaps on average but it’s not absolutely necessary in all cases. My Mk1 Focus for instance had either 5 or 7 airbags ( can’t recall) but it included side airbags. The passenger cell of the body shell was very strong and rigid. It had traction control, ABS etc. Now it may not have had lane departure but lots of people turn that off anyway as it can be annoying. Safety doesn’t necessarily need super wide, just good design. Larger means heavier and harder to stop, and often more pedestrian impact

Sure about that?

2019 Focus - NCAP report -
Pedestrian
The bonnet provided predominantly good or adequate protection to the head of a struck pedestrian, with some poor results only on the stiff windscreen pillars. Protection of the pelvis was also good or adequate, with the bumper scoring maximum points for its protection of pedestrians' legs. The autonomous emergency braking system performed well or adequately in all tests of its pedestrian and cyclist detection, in daylight and low-light conditions.

1999 Focus - NCAP report -
Pedestrian
The car’s front end was very stiff, particularly around the bumper, and the bonnet gave too little protection where a child’s head would most likely strike.

 

Here’s an article in The Guardian newspaper today about bloated cars, though largely on increased pollution from such cars.

 

Is it also not a matter that we have bloated cars for bloated people? People are also bigger and heavier than they were too.