Who can use 'parents with prams' parking spaces?

• Parents with prams car spaces are not enforced under NSW law. 
• These spaces are provided by the owners of the private property. 
• While car park management could ask someone without a pram or infant to vacate the space, it's not enforceable by law.

We often get asked whether parents with prams parking spots are for pregnant women as well so we investigated the road rules that pertain to car parks. So what does the law say?

Parents with prams parking spots are offered by private car park operators to parents as a courtesy and NSW law does not provide for their enforcement*.

These parking spaces are designated with a distinctive pram symbol. They are usually bigger than regular parking spots; to allow parents more room to manage prams and infants and they are often closer to the entrance, to reduce the distance young children must travel in a high traffic area.

The short answer is that legally there is nothing to prevent a person without a pram, or infant, parking in a pram spot. It is at the management’s discretion how they choose to enforce parent parking rules. Like allocated ‘seniors only’ parking, these spots are provided courtesy of the owners of the property to help customers who are generally regarded as less mobile. So while car park management could ask someone without a pram, or infant, to vacate a parent parking spot, it’s not enforceable by law.

Therefore, the right thing to do comes down to common courtesy. We all have a part to play in keeping roads and car parks safe and fair. It is reasonable that parents with children, as well as senior drivers, need ease of access more than regular drivers. Heavily pregnant women could also fall into this category, which the law does not define (although private car parks may have guidelines for their premises).

However, just because you can’t be punished by the law for parking in these spots, it’s not okay for people who don’t need them to use them. It boils down to respect for others and basic civic duty.

Meanwhile, disabled parking spots are definitely enforceable under NSW Road Rule 203, on the basis that those spaces are for the ‘sole use of persons with disabilities’.

Do you think these parking spots should be enforceable by NSW law?