i always try and park next to a shiny well looked after car as to me thats far safer, and i must admit on a couple of occasions when my brothers baby's seat has been left in my car i've parked in the parent spaces even though baby isnt with me!

heres a question for everyone, my partner is 8 months pregnant, can i park in the baby spaces as she is now too big to get out in the normal spaces and the baby spaces give her more width, also she cant walk (well waddle) very well now. and technically baby is inside her

heres another fact for you, the standard size uk car parking spaces is based on a mk2 escort, which i believe is 4013 mm long and 1600 mm wide, compare this with a couple of modern day cars such as a mk2 octavia is 4572 mm long and 1973 mm wide ok length wise isnt too important, but width wise an octavia is over a foot wider than the car the spaces are built for. another example is a mk 5 astra is another 9 inches wider than an octavia and thats before you open the doors in these spaces, ( i drive an astra and didnt realise how wide it is no longer i find it tight in car parks, almost 2 feet wider than the car that the spaces was designed for) the astra is 7ft from edge of mirror to edge of mirror, and a standard uk garage entrance is only 7ft wide

the rules -

Never park near the shop entrance, cash machines or on a corner

Park close to, but not next to, a trolly bay.

Park at the top of any slope

Never park next to -

• A rough car
• A car likely to be driven by the living dead (the elderly)
• Anything with kiddy seats
• A 4x4
• Anything parked squint
• A 3 door hatchback (you can never get the long doors open far enough)

Always park next to

• A well polished car
• A car worth more than double yours; as long as it doesn't conflict with the 'Never' rules

I tend to do the same as you usually, but doesn't the fact that people even need 'rules' on how to park say a lot about how bad society is on the whole now anyway?

Trouble with the rule about parking next to cars worth double yours means I'll be parking next to BMW, Mercedes and Audi drivers and they couldn't care a toss about other road users (sweeping stereotypical statement, I know) so I have to conclude they probably wouldn't be bothered about dinging my Skoda due to their prejudice and badge snobbery (my only car park ding was from a BMW driver... and that was when I drove a Jag...)

Ignorance and total disrespect. Sums it up.