Tamara Bush with her twins Charlie and Ruby at the Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre. 88958_06 Picture: DONNA OATES
By LIA SPENCER
A MOTHER of young twins wants it to be mandatory to have designated parking spots for parents with prams at shopping centres.
Tamara Bush, 38, said she was furious after the ‘parent with pram’ parking spots at Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre were removed. The Gembrook resident said she visited her mum who lived in the area every Friday and had shopped at the centre for years.
Ms Bush said it was difficult to remove her 13-month-old twins safely from her vehicle while parked in smaller undesignated car parks. She said there were often people speeding through sections of the car park at the shopping centre and thought it would be safer to have an area where parents can park and get their prams out without the fear of being hit by another car.
“I’ve got twins and it’s hard enough to get one baby out of the car quickly – let alone two,” she said.
“There are hoons that rev up their cars and it’s the bane of my existence. A large majority of the people who go to the shopping centre are parents with prams. (The shopping centre) has three disabled parks but didn’t give us parents any other option.”
Ms Bush said she also thinks it should be illegal for people who do not have small children to park in the parent with pram spots.
“If you park in disabled car parks you get a fine – so I think it should be the same with parking spots for prams,” Ms Bush said.
“It’s as simple as issuing a ticket to a parent which is valid until the child is two, because they are walking by then.”
Since the parent with prams spots have been removed, Ms Bush has been parking in two car spots to make a stance and has been putting a sign on her parked car to let others know she is upset with the shopping centre’s decision. She encouraged other people to do the same.
Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre did not return requests made by the News before it went to print.
