Driver's $65,000 parking fee after careless act: 'Never to return'

Removing an abandoned vehicle from a shopping centre car park is a complicated process.

A dirty and abandoned Nissan Maxima seen in Brisbane's Uptown shopping centre car park.
A Nissan Maxima sits in a Brisbane shopping centre car park after it was left there in 2022. Source: The Courier Mail

An abandoned car left in a Brisbane shopping centre car park for more than two years may finally be removed this week.

The Nissan Maxima stands out on the top level of the Uptown shopping centre due to its dilapidated condition. The now unregistered vehicle is covered in dust and grime after occupying the parking spot since mid-2022.

At a car parking rate of $68 per day, it has clocked up an accumulated bill of about $65,000. But it’s a fee that will never be paid. Should the owner come forward and claim the car, there may be a release fee, but given the car has sat there so long it’s unlikely to be claimed.

“It’s not a quick process,” an Uptown shopping centre spokesperson told Yahoo News of the steps to remove the car. “We’re at the end of that process. The priority is to have the space free for customers to use.”

Nothing can be done until six months after a car’s registration has expired. Abandoned cars are a problem faced by car parks around the country. Airport car parks confront the situation regularly as travellers abandon cheap cars and return overseas, giving little thought as to what happens to the car.

The Uptown shopping centre car park entrance in Brisbane city.
The Uptown shopping centre car park in Brisbane where a Nissan Maxima has been parked for over two years. Source: CV Media

Brisbane Airport is reportedly dealing with a Mazda that has been in the car park since 2023. In 2024 there were around 50 cars abandoned in car parks at Brisbane Airport, The Courier Mail reported.

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“Every year, a number of vehicles are abandoned, often by tourists who finish their lap around Queensland, park their car and jump on an overseas flight, never to return,” a Brisbane Airport spokesman told The Courier Mail.

“Frequently the registration has lapsed, and the vehicles are in poor condition.

“Our parking team make every effort to locate owners.”

While the cars left behind are usually cheap vehicles in poor condition, former Liverpool football player Jermaine Pennant abandoned an unlocked Porsche Cayenne GT, worth almost $300,000 at the time, at a Spanish train station in his rush to get to England to sign a new contract.

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Six months went by before he had his former translator collect it.

“No idea what he did with it,” Pennant explained in an interview years later.

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