A parking war has boiled over in an Aussie beachside suburb as a family who were “doing the right thing,” have had their boat vandalised despite parking it legally.
Parking is often a point of contention across many Australian suburbs that turn into neighbour battles.
A recent Youi analysis revealed that “parking conduct” was one of the highest values when it came unofficial neighbourhood etiquette.
In fact, 61 per cent of respondents said blocking driveways was one of the biggest issues to cause neighbour tension.
Where boats should, and legally can, be stored is an query that time and time again, seems to exacerbate neighbourly unkindness. Especially when tensions are already high on streets where its hard to get a parking space.
In the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, a family has been left with their 4.9 metre inflatable boat vandalised after it was parked out the front of their home, despite the family claiming they were “doing the right thing.”
Maroubra local Karine told Yahoo News that she had worked hard to earn her boat but has endured months of angry anonymous notes from neighbours about how it should – and shouldn’t – be parked.
It has now been vandalised to the point where it can’t be fixed, she claims.
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The now damaged boat.
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One note accused her of being “a bit dog” for leaving her boat parked on the street.
“Hey boat owners! Everyone on this street struggles to get a park, and as you use your boat only rarely – it’s been sitting here for two weeks, please move it to a quieter street for example Marine Parade,” the note read.
“It’s a bit dog to just leave it sitting there.”
Karine said she regularly moves the boat, roughly every two weeks, to take it out as well as appease neighbours. Despite this, she’s repeatedly been asked to move the boat away from the front of the building they live in.
After consulting with a Randwick City Council ranger, she said they were told the boat should be parked as close to their home as possible.
“We tried moving it to a different street, only to receive another council letter telling us it needed to be parked closer to our home,” she said.
“So we followed the rules, tried to do the right thing, and there was simply no solution that satisfied everyone. And now … this”
A note that was left on a Sydney locals boat before it was vandalised.
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The boat was first slashed a week ago, but Karine managed to repair it. It was “stabbed” again overnight, and Karine said last week it is now unfixable.
“This time we can’t even fix it anymore,” she said. “We worked hard to get this 4.9-metre boat, and now it’s dead.”
She doesn’t believe the culprit will be found as there was no CCTV footage of the incident.
A Randwick City Council spokesperson told Yahoo News they were “very concerned” to hear about the vandalism and encouraged the family to report it to the police.
“Under NSW legislation, registered boats, caravans and trailers can be legally parked on residential streets,” a spokesperson said.
“We take a commonsense approach when investigating complaints, and if a registered trailer is parked near its owner’s home and appears to be under their supervision, it would generally not be considered unattended.
“However, trailers that are not registered, parked unlawfully, or not parked near an owner’s residence may be subject to move-on provisions under relevant legislation.”
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