Who can use parents with prams car parks?
Picture this: It’s the busy Christmas period and you’re visiting the local shopping centre.
The car park is packed and you drive around for at least 10 minutes looking for a space. Suddenly a ‘parents with pram’ park appears.
You don’t have a pram, or a young child, but you need a car park fast. Do you take the space or leave it for the parent who has a pram, multiple bags and a screaming child? Your second thought is whether you can be fined for parking in a ‘parents with prams’ car park.
What are parents with prams spaces?
Parents with prams parks have a distinctive pram symbol painted on them. They’re usually near the entrance to a shopping centre or supermarket to reduce the distance young children have to travel in a high-traffic area.
These spaces are normally bigger than regular parks so parents can easily unload small children and a pram.
What does the law say?
The short answer is that there’s usually nothing stopping a person without a pram, or a child, from parking in a pram space. It’s unlikely the driver will be fined for parking in a parents with prams space as they’re provided by the owners of car parks as a courtesy.
However, RAA Senior Manager of Safety and Infrastructure Charles Mountain says that for the system to work, it requires people to do the right thing.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to common courtesy, and we all have a part to play in keeping roads and car parks safe and fair,” Charles says. “Parents with children, as well as senior drivers and people with disabilities, need to be able to easily access their vehicles.
“Only park in the pram space if you have small children and a pram to unload.”
Never park in an accessible park. Leave them for disability parking permit holders. Stopping at an accessible park is not only inconsiderate, but it could cost you $433 plus a $99 Victims of Crime Levy.
In some locations, a permit may be required to park in a pram zone. Check for permit zone signs applying to pram parks. Any parking space marked as a permit zone must only be parked in with the appropriate permit.