You duck to the shops for 5 minutes without the kids (SHOCK HORROR!) and you spot a pram parking space nice and close to the shop door. Can you park there?
We look into the rules around parking spaces with a pram symbol.
There are numerous stories around online of parents being abused for parking in a pram space.
Like this Mum who discovered a ‘nasty’ note on her car for using a pram-only spot despite having a baby onboard.
The Mother-of-three had dropped her husband and three children – including her one-year-old child – at the entrance of a shopping centre and parked her car, when she returned she was shocked to find a horrible note under her tyre abusing her for parking where she did.
‘YOU SHOULD NOT PARK HERE. YOU GOT NO PRAM OR BABY WITH YOU, YOU FAT PIECE OF S***,’ the note read.
But can you park there or not? The short answer is YES!
What is the law?
According to the NRMA, the parking spaces with a distinctive pram symbol are not enforced under the law.
“Parents with prams” car spaces are provided by the owners of parking lots as a courtesy and unlike disabled parking spots, are not enforced by law.
“The short answer is that legally there is nothing to prevent a person without a pram, or infant, parking in a pram spot. It is at the management’s discretion how they choose to enforce parent parking rules,” the NRMA website explains.
Any driver can legally park in these spots – but car park management have the right to ask someone to vacate the space if they don’t have a pram or infant.
It’s at the management’s discretion how they choose to enforce parent parking rules.
NRMA said the right thing to do comes down to ‘common courtesy’.
Fiona Mackenzie, the General Manager of Chadstone shopping centre in Victoria revealed that the pram parking policy relies on customers to do the right thing.
“Our parking and security teams manage our car park 24 hours a day, however these spaces are offered as a courtesy by Chadstone and rely on other customers to do the right thing.”
What our mums say
We asked our mums if they thought it was OK to park in the pram parking spaces. Many of them said a straight out NO while others seemed to think it was OK depending on the circumstance.
No I would not. I even have a car seat in my car for my granddaughter but I never park there.
I use them all the time as I have a disable parking ticket and there is never a park for me they should make half of the pram parks for disabled people.
Always used while kids were in car seats.
NO! But I think there needs to be more disabled parking and get rid of pram parking as it’s not such a necessity.
Sometimes at night when they are all sitting there empty. They are just a courtesy park. You cannot be booked if you park in them.
Never used one, ever. Wish they would get rid of them.
