My default position is to park well away from other cars even if it means adding ten seconds to my walk. If the car park is very busy I would reverse in, any shopping is only in bags that I can walk to the boot. I've seen plenty of near misses especially when two cars are reversing out together.

1. Unless raining, park far away from entrance because.....

a) likelihood of plenty of spaces.

b) brisk walk to and from entrance is good excercise, especially for sedentary pensioners.

c) less chance of trolley, door, person or vehicle collision.

2. Nose in. Then continue forward into the next 'back-to-back' space so you can drive out forwards. Saves time, fuel, wear on transmission items - and easier for those drivers with, ahem, reversing difficulties.

3. If waiting for S/H/TWMBO, useful time to do underbonnet checks 5mins after arrival as SCPs are usually level.

Edited by John F on 20/11/2022 at 15:18

One of these ‘extreme gizmos’ stopped me reversing a brand new car into a 1m tall post next to a charger last week when it saw it and I hadn’t and put on the brakes.

I suppose the gizmo may be almost essential since the stylists put less and less window area to see out of larger and larger chunky cars - and much of it is tinted too ?

There are still some things in favour of 20th-century cars :-)

... the neighbour has an impenetrable hedge up to the end of their garden and my driveway - they refuse to chop it, or allow me to.

Clearly there are neighbourly considerations, but the neighbour doesn't have to 'allow' you to cut any parts on your side of the legal boundary. If you have asked and been refused, life may be difficult, but that is the position. Some people bankroll lawyers to an amazing degree sorting out feuds of that kind.

One wouldn't mind how fat and long cars have grown if only there was a proportionate increase of passenger space.

Was thinking of this thread yesterday, when seeiing how small the foot print of my Landcruiser was compared to a colleagues Audi A6 estate (whatever model name it goes by), the thing is huge, i would not want a car so wide on our roads.

Supermarket spaces like all maneuvers, unless its herringbone parking spaces on a one way road i'll reverse in, only exception is on an end bay if behind me is a wall, in which case i'll drive in because only need to reverse a couple of feet and drive out on full lock.

You'll not find a long term lorry driver who will drive into a space unless the exit is obvious as above, force of habit, you try driving an artic into a tight space, if you do succeed try getting it out again.

Only one comment alludes to the core issue - ever-growing cars.

Parking spaces sizes aren't going to change, as they drive customer footfall (or is that drivefall?).

So, for those who can't place their probably big car consistently and safely in a car space, either practice more or consider getting a smaller car.

Most cars have parking aids, some have very sophisticated ones. Perhaps drivers either don't trust them and think they know better? Or they just can't work with them

That may be ok for some cars, but some these days are so large that they either don't fit at all in the space or you cannot get in/out of the car unless you park next to a much smaller (narrower) car that happens to be parked either in the middle ot to the other side away from yours.

As I said, it's even worse because of sheer amount of vans, double cabs and big SUVs / 4x4xs parking in 'car' sized spaces designed for the (much smaller) average car 40+ years ago.

What many larger vehcile owners do is either park over the line so that only very small cars can park next to them, or completely straddle the space next to it, reducing capacity. That plus the narrow aisle roadways,(often) sharp turns and poor road design makes parking, loading and getting in/out much longer, leading to delays, more fuel used and more scrapes, accidents and even physical altercations (see that quite a bit).

Not really efficient or useful. The money 'saved' by the car park (land) owner will then be spent by users instead. Like with tax rates, people have their limits to what they can take before taking action, whether voting with their wallets or literal on-the-ground action because they are fed up.