I left notes asking the driver to call me. He ignored them. Sometimes I found the notes crumpled on the ground. After ten days, I was done being polite.
Then luck handed me a plan: my colleague was going on paternity leave, my brother was leaving for Canada, and I suddenly had access to an extra car and an extra space.
I waited until late Friday, then parked my brother’s car directly behind my space, blocking the stranger in. I called the parking company, registered my brother’s car as permitted, and mentioned that a red Ford Fiesta kept parking illegally.
On Monday morning, I arrived to find a sweaty, furious man arguing with the parking officer over a £100 ticket. The officer explained that the car blocking him was properly permitted, so there was nothing they could do. Since his car was parked illegally, the fine stood.
The next day, he got another £100 fine. Then another. And another.
For the next month, my brother’s car stayed exactly where it was. The parking officer came by at least 18 more times, which meant the Fiesta driver owed around £2,000, probably more.
He came into our office almost daily asking if anyone knew the owner of the car blocking him. Everyone in both offices knew exactly what was happening, and it was a real struggle not to laugh.
Even after my colleague returned, I kept parking a ten-minute walk away just to let the lesson finish properly.
When my brother came back from Canada, we moved his car on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, the Fiesta was gone.
It’s now Thursday, and it hasn’t been back since. Maybe he’s learned his lesson.
Was that fair revenge, or did he take it too far? Either way, it is hard not to admire the patience behind the plan. Share it with someone who has strong opinions about parking spaces 🙂
