Driver's 'selfish' car park fail ignites fury among Aussies: ‘Don't belong’

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that spotting an American-style pickup truck on Australian roads is becoming increasingly common. But their owners’ reputations for taking up several spaces in busy car parks leave many Aussie drivers contemplating revenge.

This exact scene played out on Friday in a busy car park when the owner of a RAM 1500 Laramie seemingly didn't even attempt to fit in a single space – firmly parking in the middle of two. “In a packed-out car park on a busy Friday, this d**khead is taking up two spaces,” one furious motorist lamented online.

“I looked it up, and if your vehicle can fit in one space then this is illegal. S**t like this makes me want to take to their shitty imported “trucks” with a hammer. These American builds do not belong in this country, it is un-Australian to say the least.”

In Australia, a RAM is considered a "small truck " thanks to its size and weight so fitting into a regular size car park can be difficult. But with a similar scene playing out in Melbourne with a GMC Sierra on the same day, many Australians have been left frustrated.

One Melbourne local described the behaviour as both “selfish” and “entitled”.

Others considered more vengeful responses such as ramming the car with a trolly while another more reasonable Aussie suggested reporting it to the council.

“There's legit uses for the larger ones, like towing etc, but it's incredibly rare to see any of these things kitted out for work, carrying anything in the tray or towing anything around inner Sydney,” said another.

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So is it legal to park across two parking spaces?

A spokesperson for NSW Police told Drive, “It is not legal to park across two parking spaces, but it would all depend on the circumstances.

“In parking bays, which are controlled by council, a vehicle that has not parked wholly within a parking bay or that is using more parking bays than necessary can incur a penalty of $86.”

Meanwhile, Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning said it is an offence with a maximum penalty of $555.

Calls for tax on American-style utes

Monash University lecturer Julian O'Shea, who explores sustainable transport options as part of his work, is one of the many vocal critics of the surge in large American pick-up trucks.

He previously told Yahoo News Australia in August there would need to be significant changes to infrastructure to accommodate these vehicles.

"The question becomes, how do we use this space? If we want to make our car parks bigger, we get fewer of them, we lose space for bike lanes, we lose space for parks, we lose space for shops," he said.

"Some ideas that different countries are using that we could look into are higher parking fees for these cars, which cause more damage to the road because they're so much heavier," he continued.

"And just making more spaces available for other groups. So saying, 'look, if these cars exist, that's fine, but it's probably inappropriate for them to be around schools, or to be inside our CBD where space is at a premium'."

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