Since the 1970s, car parking spaces have generally stuck to the dimensions suggested by the Institute of Structural Engineers; 8 feet (2.4m) wide by 16 feet (4.8m) long. While these dimensions may have been appropriate once, modern cars are consistently increasing in size, meaning that these small spaces are becoming less viable by the year.
Director of Operations at Accident Exchange, Scott Hamilton-Cooper, sums the issue up by stating that drivers are ‘having to squeeze increasingly large cars into spaces that generally haven’t got any larger for a very long time.’
In fact, studies found that there are now 129 vehicle models that exceed the dimensions of a standard parking bay, including family cars like the Ford Mondeo, Audi A6 and Volvo XC90. Specifically designed to provide families more room, the issue with available space now lies externally with small parking bays, rather than the vehicle itself.
Research shows that larger cars, such as the Range Rover, now take up almost 90% of a regularly sized parking bay, leaving drivers and passengers just 21cm to exit their vehicle. Range Rovers also overhang regular parking bays by 20cm, leaving them vulnerable to scrapes and bumps. Even cars well-known for being compact in size, like the Fiat 500, have increased in size by a massive 47% since the 1970s model.
With an increased need for stricter safety standards, larger crumple zones and reinforcements, it was inevitable that cars would continue to increase in size, which poses the question, why have car parking spaces failed to evolve similarly?
The answer is simple; capacity. While councils and car park operators have the freedom to resize their own bay measures if they wish, many avoid doing this as introducing bigger parking spaces reduces parking capacity overall. With a focus on maximising visitor volume and revenues as much as possible, it is easy to see why there is little incentive to exceed the suggested parking bay dimensions.
Some NCP car parks, however, have trialled the installation of a number of larger parking spaces in an attempt to reduce the parking space struggle for motorists. Disappointingly, they found that this had a negative knock-on effect on the number of parking spaces available, meaning that parking was still inefficient.
With endeavours to solve the issue with parking bay measurements failing, other problems are beginning to arise.
A study by Accident Exchange claims that parking incidents now account for a worrying 30% of accidents, while over 675,000 parking collisions are now registered every year at huge costs to insurance companies (almost £1.5 billion).
Similarly, when AA polled its members, findings revealed that 43% said they’d had a dent or scratch caused by someone else in a car park.
[Image: Shutterstock, December 2020]
Small Car Park Spaces
Accidents do happen, but a recent study by Halfords showed that while ‘the majority of drivers blamed their scratches on inconsiderate drivers parking too close’, their research concluded that actually ‘the size of the parking spaces left them little choice.’
Their research also found that for each dent or scratch, drivers have to fork out a minimum of £50 in repairs or risk having the value of their vehicle reduced drastically by hundreds of pounds. Car doors were most likely to be damaged, closely followed by bumpers and wing mirrors.
It was also interestingly revealed by Halfords that supermarket car parks were by far worst culprits for small parking spaces, with up to 38% deemed as being too small for most vehicles, particularly when taking into consideration extra space for loading shopping.
And, it’s not just damage to cars that is being caused by small parking spaces. Drivers have also reported sustaining injuries from having to squeeze in and out of cars crammed into tiny parking spaces, with muscle strains and back injuries being the most common complaints.
Although more and more cars are being fitted with parking sensors and cameras, making parking easier, most drivers are still having to deal with the everyday frustrations and anxieties linked to small parking spaces and larger cars. From being unable to find a suitable parking space, to having to fork out for parking-related repairs, or even sustaining parking-related injuries, it is clear that parking spaces designed in the 1970s are no longer sufficient for our ever-growing vehicles.
What are your thoughts on parking spaces stuck in the 1970s? Has your car been damaged as a result of unviable parking space dimensions?
Let us know in the comments.
There are about three times the number of cars on UK roads now than there were in 1970 so there is no logic or rationality in vehicles continuing to bloat in size when the only effect is to increase congestion and reduce the availability of parking space and clutter up the streets.
How often do you see a whole family in one car? Most car journeys are undertaken by sole occupants so it would make sense for cars to get back to the dimensions of the 1970’s.
Try telling that to the manufacturers, Phil. I’ll wait while you do it…..
if we follow that line of thinking maybe we sholuld all reduce our own size as in life thin gs move on and we need to accomodate and upgrade out of date policies
I would suggest that cars in the 1970s were mostly impractically small as well as dangerous. Manufacturers are now more in tune with actual needs and safety. . My parents had a Triumph Herald which was a squeeze and impossible to travel any distance if the dog came along too. Also, getting seriously sideswiped in an Austin 1300 was traumatic and resulted in hospitalisation.
It’s hardly surprising that there are more and more cases of people straddling supermarket car parking lines. They are ridiculously small. It is made even worse by parkers who just drive straight into a parking space and don’t level up the car so one part of their car is usually virtually on one of the lines. So selfish.
For many years I have needed a larger vehicle for employment reasons. On one occasion I could not exit in a previous car – an Audi A6 – in a Morrison’s car park. I left, and made my purchases elsewhere. Both my wife and I have encountered dents made by others in car parks. I now have a Blue badge and find that SUVs often take up the available spaces. I raised the matter with the local council but nothing has transpired. Greed for customers supplants common sense.
The other point concerning the parking of large and even medium size cars into 1970’s size spaces and why the spaces haven’t been increased in size is that this creates a high level of revenue for the car park owners. I recent parked my vehicle so the rest wheel was just 2 inches outside the space because there was simply no room to manoeuvre my vehicle between the adjacent vehicles. As a result I was fined £100 which was reduced to £60 with early payment. Even so this was rather harsh for such a minor error. The company responsible for the car park clearly did not want to listen to my appeal so I had to pay up. These companies are in my view trying to generate as much money as possible as the expense of the shopper. Another reason for the demise of the high street!
Just ignore so called parking fines, these companies can not take action! Despite there claims. Only pay council car park fines most so called photographed evidence of a parking offence wouldn’t hold any merit in court. Car park companies should be stopped from getting data from dvla
Join the discussion…Wrong, wrong and wrong again. THEY CAN and don’t ignore them or you will face a hefty fine. I did nad also picked up a CCJ for my trouble. Just wish I had paid the £60 now.
Yes, Alan, they can – but only if you make the mistake of responding to their letters and helping them by confirming who was the driver at the time of the alleged contravention. A private company trying to enforce parking rules can identify and write to the registered keeper (RK) but there is no guarantee the RK was driving the car when it was parked. As private parking enforcement is a civil matter rather than criminal, the enforcement companies rely on establishing that a contract was formed (hence all the car park signage with tiny letters desperately proclaiming that “you agree to our terms and conditions by parking here” ) and you can’t have a contract with an unknown party. These companies therefore rely on the RK responding, whether to challenge the “fine” or not, and thus giving away information about the driver’s identity. Only once there is certainty about the parties to a contract can the enforcement company have the possibility of taking court action to enforce that contract. So ignore the series of threatening letters – they stop wasting money on postage after a pre-determined number have gone unanswered and there’s nothing more they can do unless they have the information on the driver’s identity.
I ignored mine. I’m not saying anyone one else should. The way they set things up at a shopping centre was confusing. Two different car parks next to each other had different systems.
One, drive in, and number plate recognition. The other, just put how much you think you’ll need, although it didn’t show you how much time you had properly. I asked the car park attendant, and even he agreed that they had set it up to catch people out!
I didn’t pay despite the numerous letters I had to recycle 😀
In fact, I think I had overstayed by 10 minutes and they wanted £60. A very doggy company behind the whole thing tbh.
All this because I decided to not buy a bike over the internet and instead give a (kinda) local shop my business.
I have been getting more annoyed over the years because I have had damage to my car several times and it has cost me a small fortune in repairs to the bodywork due to the person next to me opening their door and hitting mine. This is all due to the fact that, as stated in the article, car park spaces have not evolved with time. I only have a small car and try to avoid parking next to a 4×4 if I can as they have large doors and seem to be inconsiderate when it comes to taking care when opening doors. It is very difficult for older people sometimes to exit a car without having to open the door quite wide and this is another reason to widen spaces in car parks. As stated the supermarkets are one of the worst offenders because they want to pack as many customers in as possible, pure greed. I have often returned to my car to find the person parking next to me hasn’t left a wide enough gap for me to open my door and get in which is just as annoying.
The problem is I can’t see the councils, or anyone else for that matter, taking any notice and I am sure they will be reluctant to spend any money in altering them.
Not sure that I would go along with the idea that drivers of 4×4 vehicles and SUVs are usually less considerate. As an owner of both types of vehicles, I am generally more wary of other drivers bashing my larger car with their vehicles and I try to park next to newer cars.
I have experienced sitting in my car, just about to set off, and children were getting out of their cars next to mine and the car doors were just swung wide open. I understand that sometimes the doors are caught in the wind, sometimes they are just too heavy for a child to hold onto but, whatever the reason, you hear a ‘bang’ and their parents or guardians often just walk away! It generally costs a lot more money to repair a large and/or more expensive car! So, in my experience, we’re more careful in 4x4s than anyone else!
Makes it easier, now that I have a Blue Badge, but sadly, I recently had to stop work and downgrade from the Range Rover and now, ironically, I have more space than I sometimes actually need!
Car parking spaces are ridiculously small and as a holder of a blue badge I see a number of fit drivers using our blue badge areas to park. This makes it extremely difficult to park as I cannot alight unless I have a wide area to the side of the car.
Block them in!
If you have a mobile phone take photos of the vehicle in the bay and the registration number, then report it to the local council as their street enforcement officers will be able to follow up through the DVLA (if its still called that 🙄) as I believe the onus is on the owner of the vehicle to prove their entitlement to park in a blue badge area. Theoretically someone can illegally park in a blue badge area all day, because if they don’t have a blue badge they won’t have the clock card either. So there is no way of telling how long the vehicle has been parked. Local councils should be interested as they are losing revenue not only from the illegally parked car but also in the fines they can issue, which is where the real money is generated.
The onus is on ALL councils to police blue badge parking, but don’t forget if there are no spaces available on the high street you can always park on double yellow lines – providing there are no yellow bars on the kerb at 90° to the double yellow lines. If this results in increased congestion then the reticent council will be forced to police blue badge bays!
Are they fit, or do they just have a hidden disability, as I do?
Not a criticism, just a genuine question and wondered if you had considered that?
You are often told that Blue Badge Holders must park in certain bays, so whether they need space for a wheelchair, or not, they have to park in the same place., even if other nearby parking bays are available.
My disability, among other things, involves my limited lung capacity, and requirement to be near to my nebuliser, which is kept in the car, so not so visible. And, as a young(ish) person, I am regularly scowled at when parking in the Blue Disabled Parking Bays. That is when I am not at home for ten months shielding from the Coronavirus! Oh, how I wish I could go out and be scowled at like normal again! Haha
So far in the last three years, I have received three parking tickets for not parking my 2016 Seat Alhambra within the lines. I appealed each one but stll ened up having to pay. Why was I ticketed? All four wheels were within the lines, but both the front and the rear bumpers were over the lines. as the parking bays were shorter than my car. Each time my appeals failed, I was told I should have looked for a larger bay, but there isn’t a single larger bay anywhere in the area, they are all the same size.
I am under the impression that the councils and private parking firms want to generate as much income from fines as they can, so are not inclined to either make the bays bigger, or show leniency when a car is obviously too large to park within the lines..
After my third fine appeal failed (just a few weeks ago), I refused to pay and told them to take me to court, and my solicitor reckons I will win the case because of unfair parking terms and conditions, i.e., if the bays aren’t big enough for all cars, it is impossible for all cars to park wholly within the lines.
Since the nineteen fifties car parks have been designed using the dimensions and turning circle of the Triumph Herald, which was notable for turning in a 25 foot space. Even sixty years ago this resulted in bays and access routes that were too small, causing difficulties and minor damage for drivers. There is no mandatory or recommended minimum dimension for bays, and you may even see bays marked ‘for small cars only’. There is a clear need for architects and others to have a legal minimum to work to, for ensuring the health and safety of users is protected, and this must be based on modern vehicles, including electric cars.
Steve Brook, thank-you for introducing an historical perspective into this catalogue of personal diatribes. Here’s mine in support.
In 1969 my father bought a 1967 Ford Zephyr Mk IV saloon; the model with the “aircraft carrier flight deck” bonnet. It was 5’11” wide over the flanks, 6’1″ across the wing mirrors, and 15’4″ long. His first experience of its size was when he tried to park it in the garage of our 1968-built home in Maidstone. The internal dimensions of the garage were 18′ long, 7’3″ wide, reduced to 6’6″ by buttresses half-way along the walls. He got it in, but the driver’s door was next to a buttress and he couldn’t open the door far enough to see daylight between its inner skin and the flank of the offside rear door, never mind get out of the car. Thereafter it was parked on the drive in front of the garage. Unfortunately, the Trades Descriptions Act didn’t apply to buildings so he couldn’t sue the builder and estate agent for misrepresenting that outbuilding as “a garage for a family car”. His second experience was in a multi-storey car park in Maidstone: he got in well enough but the exit ramp was a descending spiral inside that of the entrance ramp, with sacrificial halved concrete bollards stuck to the walls to take impacts that might damage the reinforced concrete structure. It suffices to summarise that the car could not pass between those half-bollards without striking one front corner and scraping the opposite rear wheel arch.
In multi-storey car parks, the I.Struct.E’s guidelines for parking spaces were usually used to determine the spacings of the internal columns, decisions that also affect the reinforcement in the slabs that they support. Once built, the only way to enlarge parking spaces is to sacrifice one space in each bay between columns to widen its neighbours: generally reducing the capacity of the car park by 25-33%.
At the risk of ending on an inflammatory note, try leaving the family car at home and go to shops on foot or by bicycle, moped/motorcycle or public transport.
As a new driver we had to get a large vehicle (SEAT Alhambra) to accommodate my disabled husband’s scooter hoist. This makes parking where disabled spaces aren’t available a real nightmare.
My local Lidl and Aldi stores attract my custom as their parking bays are of a sensible size, certainly wider than those in the nearby Tesco and Sainsburys. A sensible Germanic approach.
Couldn’t agree more! Well done for raising this issue – I don’t have an especially large vehicle (Lexus IS250) but the size of the demarcated parking spaces drives me insane, especially at supermarkets. When my car was new it received a dent in the door from somebody opening an SUV’s door onto mine (according to the panel beater) and I had to have a complete new door, as the dent could not be repaired from the inside. It still irks me! Please mount a campaign via the press and supermarkets on this subject – we’d be very grateful!
Interesting when I worked for the Property Services Agency back in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s the standard parking bay on government establishments was 5.0m x 2.5m so fully 8 inches longer and 4 inches wider than the I.Struct E guidelines. That’s about an 8.8% increase in area but also a reduction in income for car park operators.
Relatively easy to adjust the layout on on open ground level car park but the reduction in the number of space in a multi-storey car park would be quite high especially where there are structural columns on the bay-lines.
Parking companies and councils do not want to increase the size of the spaces as it will cut down on the fines they can give out for not parking in the space
It would be far better if car manufacturers made their cars smaller and with better all round visibility. So many modern cars have thick pillars making parking more difficult. Many cars now have extremely poor rear visibility. Alec Issigonis proved many years ago that cars could be smaller without compromising interior space.
Chris, your reasoning is flawed. Modern cars are bigger than their forebears because they have to be “crash-worthy”, i.e. strong enough not to collapse and trap occupants in the event of collisions. In particular, their resistance to side impacts and being dropped onto their roofs has forced manufacturers to strengthen (thicken) doors and windscreen pillars. Alec Issigonis’s Morris Minor and Mini simply would not comply with current safety criteria. That’s why BMW’s MINI is bigger and heavier than an Austin Maxi and Ford Mondeos are wider than any mark of Ford Cortina. The real miracle is that the increases in size and weight have not been matched by corresponding reductions in fuel economy.
Car parking spaces are ridiculously small. In my town there are six different supermarkets however only one ‘Sainsburys’ has woken up to this fact and their parking spaces are considerably bigger than their rivals. This is now the preferred supermarket used by myself and many other patrons that I have spoken to. A wake up call to their rivals surely!
It’s so much nicer when you drive into a nice car park with a decent space. It’s nice to have kids to use the parent spaces. I also wonder why, like in the US and other place, they don’t have diagonally positioned spaces. It makes much more sense. You go in one way and out the other, and it’s easier to get in and out.
My VW Eos, like all convertibles, has very long doors. At the supermarket I have to find a space with an empty space to the right of it, otherwise I can’t open the door far enough to get out of the car. I absolutely adore my Eos, but that long door is a feature I could do without!
WELL DONE TO “ASDA” in WIGAN AS THEY RESIZED THEIR CAR PARKING BAYS BY PAINTING A WIDE HATCHED STRIP ON THE GROUND BETWEEN EACH BAY ALLOWING CAR DOORS TO OPEN WITHOUT HITTING THE CAR NEXT TO YOU. THEY DID THIS ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO AND WE HAVE MADE MORE SHOPPING TRIPS TO ASDA BECAUSE OF THIS.
I suggest one of the reason cars are much bigger today than the 1970s is that the occupants are much bigger today than in the 1970s, try fitting a modern person in an A40 Farina, they would struggle to get in the rear seats.
Two issues. 1. Inconsiderate and incompetent parkers. 2. Increasingly larger cars. Do people really need that big a car??
Here we go! Jobsworth alert! “Everyone is crap apart from me!” And, “Let’s enforce some meaningless new rules on OTHERS, that won’t affect me.” Lovely stuff!
Get a life FFS!
I do. I hurt my back and needed a higher car, but I also have more than 2 children 😀
These days parking spaces will become less as they implement wonderful public transport and only electric cars are allowed. On the flip side, when the weather is nice I’d rather ride my bike than take a car.
Top marks to our nearest Aldi store, their car spaces are very wide, no trouble at all opening doors.. Lidl’s reasonably wide but Tesco Weston Favell Centre is one of the worst unless you can find a bay with a support column on drivers side and can park askew for passenger side to open. Not helped when people park off centre of their bay.
Perhaps it’s time for an enterprising solicitor or barrister (maybe even the insurance companies themselves) to raise a class action suit to sue the car park owners for the damage caused by them refusing to supply adequately large parking spaces. It’s time these greedy S.O.B’s were hit where it hurts, in their pockets.
Surely this bit is comes under the ‘bleeding obvious’ – you don’t have to do a trial to reach the same conclusions.
‘Some NCP car parks, however, have trialled the installation of a number of larger parking spaces in an attempt to reduce the parking space struggle for motorists. Disappointingly, they found that this had a negative knock-on effect on the number of parking spaces available, meaning that parking was still inefficient.’
Its also not just parking spaces – garages in new homes are mostly of no value for their intended purpose. Clearly needs legislation to force changes – otherwise corporate greed will prevail.
Corporate reed does usually prevail! It will only change when consumers realise they have some muscle, & take their business elsewhere.
Happened locally where developer & council made a hash of the parking & customers found it was the only supermarket in town where you had to pay parking charges.. Developer, landlord & council not interested.
Supermarket eventually refunded Parking on a spend of £5 plus.
Didn’t work, supermarket pulled out of contract at first opportunity, followed by many others. The whole development is now half empty,& car park vastly underused. Developer & Council caught a cold, just goes to show consumer muscle can work.
Most people do NOT need larger cars. They only think they do. Perhaps things will change with home deliveries after Covid.
I also find it annoying when someone parks next to me when there are ample parking spaces. Some people behave like sheep.
It is not only the big 4X4cars or family sized estates that need wider bays. I have a small 3 door hatchback, I am very short and in 70s so less flexible than I was. I have to open the large heavy door wide to wriggle round the steering wheel and exit or shoot the seat back to save the wriggle and a few centimetres on door opening. I often get muscle strains as a result of this. Should anyone be in back seat they need to exit before parking and in some cases do does the front seat passenger so the driver can park off centre to enable a painfree exit. It’s also necessary to drive into a bay to enable access to boot, inconsiderate drivers park too close behind and there is insufficient space to wheel the shopping trolley between vehicles to unload.
This discussion starts off, at least, by pointing out the inconvenience to owners of large vehicles. It fails to point out the fact that small vehicle owners cannot open their doors sufficiently when parked next to a large vehicle.
Totally agree with this article that car parking spaces in many places are too small, but I doubt the owners will do anything about it though. I have an older XJ6 and find that even parking as far as possible forward my car protrudes about 1 meter longer than the parking slot. I live in South Wales and find the best parking slots to be in Saint David’s Carpark in Cardiff and also Costco, both have ample space either side of the parking slots.
Sainsbury’s and Costco near me have new wider parking double lines between cars and this makes parking a lot better
I was fortunate to live and work in the USA in 1970-80’s. Car parks then had identified spaces for Large and Sub-compact cars. Sorry it is the greed of Councils and Car Park owners, just to get that EXTRA vehicle in the park
Also, many car parks are placed diagonally. Much easier to get in and out of. In the Middle East to. But then, those are 2 places people rarely walk…
1 Structural engineers are primarily concerned with designing and constructing buildings and structures that are safe.
2 What size 1970’s car were the 8 feet (2.4m) wide by 16 feet (4.8m) long car parking spaces suggested for.
Well done Petrol Prices, this is a subject which badly needs leading by a motoring organization. I recently went to a brand new Aldi in Medway Kent and left without shopping due to very tight parking bays. I went instead to Morrisons who have a larger car park and used the quietest part of the parking area, although the bays were still quite small. When will retailers wake up modern trends in car design?.
Most supermarkets i suspect think they get more customers in their tiny car park spaces equals more overall customers shopping with them,
but I for one would always use supermarkets that provide a sensibly sized parking bay width over the tight squeeze bays we are forced to use at present!
I now avoid any car parks with small parking spaces, my car sticks out over a metre in most car parks and have difficulty get out of the car as well. Its like playing sardines, also some people cannot park?
Not all suermarkets are equal we parking bay sizes are convernned.You must select one that is suitable for your car and stick with them. As many have saif probably a Lidl/Aldi who with their latest shops have reasonable sized spaces. I have a Mondeo estate and a Kia Piccanto but I choose teh latter to do our shopping unless I am buying something very large and heavy – compost etc. but this is not a frequent trip and teh garden centra has reasonabe spaces.
As an Audi A6 owner this has been a problem for years particularly as it
s such a long car. Its sheer greed not making parking spaces biggerMy car, along with most 2-seaters, has wider doors so it is always more difficult to exit in a narrow space as the gap isn’t big enough for two legs………
I have to try and find an end space which will allow my door to open.
My ‘68 Corsa is fine, no problems, even purchase of our abode recently was dictated by the size of the garage .
One of the biggest headaches is when idiots park while the car is obviously still rolling.
Why cannot parking spaces be in a chevron position . much easier to drive into and exit.. I have a bad back and find very difficult get in and out of my car, i have to push my seat back to give myself more room. I drive a Skoda Rapid not a very wide or long car,
Costco has the best parking set up.