Ute driver roasted over ‘entitled’ parking act at Melbourne shopping centre

A motorist has been branded 'self-righteous' over an arrogant park that has angered many Aussies.

A driver parked his dark blue Ford Ranger above three parking spaces in the Coburg North Village shopping center in Melbourne's north this weekend.

The image of the car taking up several parking spaces was posted on social media, where it understandably angered people.

Although the poster acknowledged that the mall had a “tight parking lot,” social media users couldn't suppress their disgust.

Many have labeled the act as 'entitled' and 'selfish', with one user saying: 'A self-entitled Ute driver. What a shock.'

The Ford Ranger took up three parking spaces in a shopping center in Melbourne's Coburg North Village

Another commented: “Park in one spot. Do your shopping and then go home. That guy's a clown.'

One user commented about all drivers of these types of vehicles.

'They also never understand where their car is on the road. Never leave enough room,” they wrote.

Another was more in awe of the feat of finding empty parking spaces in a shopping center in the first place.

'How did he find three in a row there? I can hardly find one when I go,” they wrote.

It is believed the driver was 'protesting for change', with one social media user saying drivers of large vehicles were pushing for larger spaces.

'They are currently lobbying for larger parking spaces for these cars. This is their form of protest,” they said.

According to Budget Direct, more than 50 percent of cars sold in Australia in 2021 were SUVs.

Social media users criticized the ute driver who parked in three parking spaces

To make room for the popular vehicles, Standards Australia believes the length of a standard car park should be extended by 20cm, with the width remaining the usual 2.2 to 2.6 metres.

This would make parking spaces in Australia no less than 5.6 meters long.

While this would prevent larger vehicles from taking up multiple spaces, people believe this solution ignores the safety of others on the road.

This includes pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of small cars who do not feel safe with SUVs and large trucks on the road. It would also mean that there would be fewer parking spaces available.

Monash University lecturer Julian O'Shea told the story Yahoo in August, accommodating larger vehicles also means changes in infrastructure.

He prefers the idea of ​​higher taxes on these types of cars.

Standards Australia has proposed increasing the length of parking spaces by 20cm, with critics instead wanting higher taxes on the purchase of SUVs and large utes (stock image)

'The question becomes: how do we use this space? “If we want to make our parking garages bigger, we get fewer, 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 at are higher parking charges for these cars, which cause more damage to the road because they are so much heavier.'

Some on social media offered a simpler solution, with one saying: “If you can't park it, you can't drive it.”

Another commented: 'They're not cars. They're trucks. They should just ban them from car parks.”