3 October 2008

Friday night parking gets tight at Belconnen Mall

| Kramer
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It must be hard to get a park for Friday night shopping at Belconnen Mall these days…

    MisParked Car
    Bad Parking Spot

BTW- this is the second time I have seen a car parked on this railing – probably a good thing its there, otherwise the driver might have stopped in the bus lane a few meters below.

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Bungle said :

I’ve heard of a few other cases where someone has used the wrong pedal. Unfortunately these were a few levels up in a multistory car park and resulted in either a plunge into the street below or someone teetering on the edge.

multistorey carparks are classics for the old “nah, don’t need to check my brakes, they are fine” incidents. the best one that I ever saw, in my good old trolley boy days was a guy who hit the wall at the bottom of the myer (grace bros) car park, you could see his number plate in the concrete.

I have seen people wedged in the pedestrian ramps as they tried to take a short cut, and the old trick of moving a mini or moke from its original parking position to elsewhere on the levels.

from my college days, the best trick was “wedge the mini in between 2 trees” – and watch the owner try to work out how to get it out….

Ouch!!

*wince*

I’ve heard of a few other cases where someone has used the wrong pedal. Unfortunately these were a few levels up in a multistory car park and resulted in either a plunge into the street below or someone teetering on the edge.

Stuff happens to us all. Pulled up at the shops on the way home from work, started ferreting around in my change box ’cause I only wanted a bottle of coke, got out of the car and it started to roll away. No park, no handbrake……..jumped back in and stopped it in time to avoid a rear ender, but not in time to avoid the emabarrasment of three nice ladies chuckling away merrily at my near miss.
When I first bought a 4 wheel drive about 15 years ago, I decided to drive it through a dirt gutter, rather than reverse out of the car park. Rolled gently down, selected 4 wheel drive, low range and first, and proceeded to go nowhere for about five minutes. Eventually, guy with tears streaming down his face pokes his head out the window and says “Have you thought to lock the hubs?” I go”Huh?” He gets out of his car, shows me the manual locking hubs, I drive out of the ditch, revert to road settings, and drive away with a face red enough to lead S4anta around for the whole year, never mind no stinking reindeers.

some people were destined to ride the bus..

Loquaciousness8:58 pm 03 Oct 08

sepi said :

why did your mum lend him the car again??

Well, she doesn’t anymore 😛

L

Love is blind?

why did your mum lend him the car again??

Still laughing, L!!

*guffaw*

Loquaciousness7:14 pm 03 Oct 08

Hehe Granny – good one. I’ll share my own story (well, not my own, my brother’s … but hey, that’s what siblings are for, right?)

Mere days after getting his P plates, my brother and a mate decided to stop off at a fast food restaurant (I won’t say which one, for fear of recrimination). They were in my Mum’s car, my brother at the wheel. He decides to park nose in towards the building. So he’s very carefully nudging it in, worried about the front bumper and all. Slowly, slowly, just tapping at the accelerator. He stops. Thinks. Decides to go in a little more. Then – suddenly – thinks “whoops! Better not go any further!” and hits the brake accelerator. Hard.

Consequence?
Completely toppled the corner of the brick wall, which, incidentally, was a critical bit of wall holding up the entire front roof. The restaurant was closed for a few days and under repair for weeks.

As for the car, well he rolled it three weeks later and wrote it off, so it never was much of a problem.

L

That is an awesome story Granny!

Anytime people do the old ‘wrong pedal’ thang it’s usually pretty funny.

One girl at my College had her L plates but decided to take her folks new car to school, by herself, on day to show off I guess.

She hit the wrong pedal while trying to park. She ran head-on into a tree. After going up a gutter. Niiice.

I ride a motorbike most of the time – I don’t often get confused between the ‘go’ and ‘whoa’ controls on that.

My most impressive park was performed shortly after I got my licence. I was on my way to visit a bereaved friend when I got a phone call from Quackers’ at school saying I had to turn up to the office in person to sign her in. Somewhat concerned about the time, I pulled in right out the front of the building and ran for it!

When I returned I had been parked in by no less than four ACTION buses, chartered for a school excursion. After a few choice expletives, I decided to try and make my way over the rough between the drain and the fence. Half-way along I changed my mind, as is my womanly prerogative. I plotted a masterly course and drove myself into the ditch, intending to drive back out the other side … and stuck fast nose first in the mud. Who knew??

At this point, before you could say the word ‘bbq’, all the men in a one mile radius became intensely interested in the situation, including said bus drivers, and manifested before my eyes.

It was highly embarrassing, but exceedingly fortunate!

They proceeded to tie my bumper bar to a land rover with some rope, whilst warning me that it would probably only serve to pull the thing off. Nevertheless, I was desperate, and beggars can’t be choosers. Besides, it was so crazy that it just might work! “Damn the torpedoes, men!” I shouted, “Let’s get on with it.” Ok, the actual wording may have varied, but that was the vibe.

Incredibly, I watched my car emerge from the ditch, shedding gum leaves and twigs in her wake. Red-faced, I waved farewell to my benefactors and sputtered away from the scene of my shame.

I was surprised that Quackers had been happily playing at recess throughout my ordeal, and later asked if she’d been embarrassed. “Oh no,” she replied, “I just thought somebody was stealing the car.”

I saw the leftovers of this on my way home tonight. Hopefully there was no one walking up the ramp or riding past at the time. If they didn’t get hit they’d at least have to get a change of pants.

Looks like a classic case of hitting the wrong pedal.

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