New neighbours' 'rude' parking etiquette sparks debate
Fierce debate has erupted after a community member shared their dilemma with an age-old parking gripe.
When new neighbours moved into a home on a Canberra street, they unwittingly began parking on the nature strip outside homes that weren’t theirs.
This was despite having six parking spaces connected to the house, plus space on their own nature strip, according to a post to a local Facebook group.
The behaviour has become a “daily ritual” for the new residents, which has apparently made painful work for the rubbish truck driver and postie.
In a proposition to others in the area, the author of the Facebook post asked how they felt about strangers parking on their nature strip, and if they thought it was ever an acceptable thing to do.
Close to 200 people responded with their passionate stances on the matter, ranging from being completely unbothered to vowing to defecate on anyone’s car that appeared on their nature strip.
“If on your property or nature strip, let their tyres down,” one woman responded.
“Personally I think it’s rude. Especially if they have plenty of space on their own property,” another said.
Some suggested an aggressive approach like slashing the perpetrator’s tyres to send a strong message about the nature strip parking.
One said they could be a little less obvious and consider strategically placing bird seed around the cars in question and leave the rest up to nature.
A significant portion of responders said the practice wouldn’t actually bother them at all, so long as they weren’t being personally inconvenienced.
“If it doesn’t directly affect me I don’t care. I’m not going to go to war over a piece of grass or dirt. Apart from mild inconvenience they just might be the best neighbours you ever had,” one wrote.
“If it doesn’t hurt you then don't even worry about it,” another said.
Law in Canberra dictates that stopping on a nature strip in a built up area is prohibited unless there is a parking sign that allows it.
Offending this rule carries a maximum penalty of 20 units.
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