Neighbour's wild reaction to divisive parking act: 'Doesn’t belong to you'
Finding a parking spot in a busy suburban street can be a frustrating experience, but one Aussie has been called out after taking extreme measures.
Parking can be a nightmare, particularly in busy areas. But one Aussie's controversial move has sparked debate after he seemingly reserved a parking space on the road in front of his house with traffic cones.
Resident Aimee Parker exposed the dodgy tactic after he asked her to move her car, which was parked outside his house, and then proceeded to use the orange traffic cones to block off the area to give him space to reverse his truck and trailer out of his driveway.
Parker, whose street is just 400m from a popular beach, said there was ongoing construction work that has made parking notoriously difficult to find. What's more, her Jeep Patriot is too big to fit in the garage under her apartment complex, meaning street parking is her only option.
“There is limited parking as it is,” Melbourne woman Parker told Yahoo News Australia.
“I was parking out the front of my neighbour’s house across the road, who has a big truck and trailer that he's trying to reverse out this morning, and almost like, smashed into my car," she explained, sharing her gripe to social media.
After receiving a message from her neighbour, Parker said she moved her vehicle and parked inside her complex, which was not allowed, but there were no other available spots.
“I get out of the car, and he's putting witches hats out,” she explained. “I said, ‘You can't be serious.’ They're not even in the gutter, they're on the road, taking up a huge amount of space.”
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Parker said her neighbour told her no one would be parking in front of his house anymore, despite it being a public street, while he parked his second vehicle in front of another neighbour's home.
“And I'm like, that's okay, you drive off and what I'm gonna do while you're away is throw all of those witches hats onto the roof of your house,” she joked.
Parker said another neighbour used orange cones to mark out space on bin day, while ongoing and poorly planned construction work had made it virtually impossible to park in the street. She even received a fine, which was overturned, for temporarily parking in a 'no stopping zone'.
And while the move is divisive, Parker admitted to Yahoo she thought it was “funny” he decided to take such drastic action — claiming the pair were friends.
"Maybe we should all put cones out," she added. "The street is just chock-a-block with cars, and it's not just our street but surrounding streets. There's no parking for residents. It's hectic around here at the moment.”
Post sparks debate over street etiquette and legality
A spokesperson for City of Kingston Council, which is responsible for enforcing the local road rules, told Yahoo News the neighbour's act is an offence under local laws.
“Reserving parking areas on public roads is not permitted unless a Road Occupation Permit is obtained from Council," the spokesperson said.
While there is no suggestion the truck and trailer in question was a 'heavy or long' vehicle — with a gross vehicle mass of more than 4.5 tonnes or 7.5 metres or greater in length — the spokesperson said they “cannot be parked on a road in a built-up area for longer than one hour unless the driver is engaged in dropping off or picking up goods”.
“Parking on a public road is allowed in accordance with the restrictions in place in a particular area,” they added.
Aussies reacting to Parker's video were divided in their opinion of the situation.
“Nothing worse than people parking in front of other people’s houses”, said one while another agreed, adding it was “respectful” not to do so.
However, a third said, “Seriously, the parking spot in front of your house doesn’t belong to you.”
One more wrote, “He has created an illegal traffic hazard. He cannot stop you from parking out the front of his house unless it's obstructing his actual driveway.”
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