As our car door was scratched and dented by an unknown person opening their door whilst we were in a supermarket car park, I am wondering if a campaign is needed to introduce the system used in the States of herringbone style parking. It does seem a lot to expect a driver to swing in at ninety degrees from a not too wide lane and end up centrally positioned all in one go. If you look round any car park the problem is all too clear and you will see drivers reversing out to try in improve their position.

Herringbone parking enables a forty-five degree turn and reversing out is much easier also. Some drivers prefer to reverse into a bay but at a supermarket these boys should be shunned like the plague as to access the boot their trolley has to pushed between the cars where one slip can be the cause of damage. A part of the problem is that when swinging into a bay almost as soon as your front arrives in you lose sight of the lines because of the bonnet - unless you have a high position. It would help if a target roundel were painted at the end of each bay to give you something to aim at so you could arrive centrally placed. This could be a cheap enough improvement.

Times have changed and although we now have many wider cars we are stuck with the standard width bay. Our car park providers need to review the situation as scrapes and dents are costing the motorist large sums directly out of pocket for to claim on insurance is not worth losing a no claims bonus and the cost can be below the excess. For this reason, insurers are oblivious to the situation. If you could give the situation some publicity a gradual improvement might be achieved.