Does anyone else have a issues living in apartments in Canberra??

There is a VERY easy solution. Require adequate parking for ALL streets, ALL units, ALL new developments, ALL apartment blocks, ALL government buildings. I have lived in other, larger places, and YES it can be done. Canberra is rapidly becoming the most congested, stressful tiny town in the world. You fight for a space as though you are trying to park in downtown Manhattan! I suspect poor, flawed, inadequate, and woke/Green planning might have something to do with it.

Someone parked in my designated car space this evening and I am p%ssed off! I therefore googled to find out what my rights are and how I can in force them. I read your responses here and whilst funny (especially taking the wheels off) they did not provide a answer without committing property damage or theft. I believe I have the answer – wheel clamp!

I have read the Crimes Act 1900 and Crimes Code 2002. I can not apply stickers or paint because I would be committing property damage. I can not have the car towed because I would be inducing the tow truck driver to commit theft. I can however apply a wheel clamp because I am not dishonestly taking the car (it is still there officer) with the intent of permanently depriving the owner of it (just inconveniencing him/her for a while officer). I am also not “driving” or “riding” in the car either which are two elements of car theft.

I have also reviewed the current territory statutes and can not find one regarding “wheel clamping”. I am going to write to our Minister for Municipal Services, Shane Rattenbury, for clarification. He said in August that wheel clamping was an option for private car park owners. I will keep you posted.

Dracon388 said :

We have the exact same problem at our appartment block in bruce – very small visitor parking – so communal drivway gets blocked up – as well as the disabled spot – sometimes by residents (you see them parked in the underground carpark at other times)

frustrating if nothing else.

I think you’ll find it’s the same apartment complex 😉

JessicaNumber said :

My old apartment block had a maintenance guy who was pretty turned on to this stuff. He had the big brightly coloured stickers that went straight over the driver’s side and had very difficult to remove glue. He also had the right kind of solvent but most people were not brave enough to ask, they would just spend a few hours removing their stickers and remember never to do the wrong thing again!

^ I have been told by my Body Corporate that this is actually illegal as it defaces the vehicles.

The same thing happened at my apartment block. The cars would block the garage doors for the bins and so the garbage man couldn’t empty them. We erected signs up but people sometimes still ignore them. I think the main culprit moved out as their car is no longer parked there.

We have the exact same problem at our appartment block in bruce – very small visitor parking – so communal drivway gets blocked up – as well as the disabled spot – sometimes by residents (you see them parked in the underground carpark at other times)

frustrating if nothing else.

If you know someone with a device like this, you could put their car pretty much anywhere you want.

My old apartment block had a maintenance guy who was pretty turned on to this stuff. He had the big brightly coloured stickers that went straight over the driver’s side and had very difficult to remove glue. He also had the right kind of solvent but most people were not brave enough to ask, they would just spend a few hours removing their stickers and remember never to do the wrong thing again!

UrbanAdventure.org said :

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…. I used to have this problem a lot as I lived in a block of flats near a busy shopping centre that had very limited parking. Each flat had a designated car parking space. I’d work shift work and come home to find cars parked in my space. Usually I just parked my short car in front of them and when they came knocking I’d ask them politely not to do that again. Most people were considerate, and never parked there again. Some were polite, but still parked there now and then. Others got irate and yelled and screemed about how inconsiderate I was for parking them in.

One of my mates told me to toughen up and said he’d deal with it. So the next time he was around and some one parked in my spot he pulled out my jack and lug wrench and proceeded to remove each wheel of the car one by one, shoving them underneath the car so the car was resting on four wheels that laid flat on the ground. It was a BMW if I recall rightly.

Then we sat across the road in a shop and waited for the owner to turn up. They arrived about half an hour later and looked at their car. It was deeply amusing to see the look on their face. They tried knocking on my door. Got no response there and eventually called the RACV to put the tyres back on their car. Oh yes we were young and somewhat immature but it was fun and no harm done.

But the simpler soloution I adopted was to put a small but obvious sign that read “Cars parked in this space will be charged $10 per minute or will be towed away at owner’s expence.” Never had a problem after that.

LOLz Awesome !

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…. I used to have this problem a lot as I lived in a block of flats near a busy shopping centre that had very limited parking. Each flat had a designated car parking space. I’d work shift work and come home to find cars parked in my space. Usually I just parked my short car in front of them and when they came knocking I’d ask them politely not to do that again. Most people were considerate, and never parked there again. Some were polite, but still parked there now and then. Others got irate and yelled and screemed about how inconsiderate I was for parking them in.

One of my mates told me to toughen up and said he’d deal with it. So the next time he was around and some one parked in my spot he pulled out my jack and lug wrench and proceeded to remove each wheel of the car one by one, shoving them underneath the car so the car was resting on four wheels that laid flat on the ground. It was a BMW if I recall rightly.

Then we sat across the road in a shop and waited for the owner to turn up. They arrived about half an hour later and looked at their car. It was deeply amusing to see the look on their face. They tried knocking on my door. Got no response there and eventually called the RACV to put the tyres back on their car. Oh yes we were young and somewhat immature but it was fun and no harm done.

But the simpler soloution I adopted was to put a small but obvious sign that read “Cars parked in this space will be charged $10 per minute or will be towed away at owner’s expence.” Never had a problem after that.

Multiple park in. Call your friends, and really box the bastards in.