Illegal Parking
Published by deviousdiva December 19th, 2007 in Odds and Ends.From Reuters
Could this happen anywhere else ?
A pedestrian has been charged with damaging property after walking over a car that was parked illegally on the sidewalk in Greece’s congested capital.
“I could not get past the vehicle, a four-wheel drive, which had been parked right on the pavement so I got angry and just walked over it, slightly denting its hood,” Tasos Pouliasis told state television Tuesday.
Greeks are notoriously unruly drivers leaving their cars on sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and even hospital entrances.
The owner of the vehicle in Athen’s Exarhia neighborhood saw him and called police who arrested Pouliasis and his girlfriend and briefly detained them in a police cell.
“Now I will be tried for property damage but police did not even bother giving the car owner a parking ticket,” Pouliasis said.
The owner of the illegally parked car called the police!.
I know, you’re right …
I have no sense of humour.
Green Space by deviousdiva on May 24th, 2006
I heard about this some time ago, from Greek friends. They also mentioned that it copies a trend in Germany, of punishing owners of illegally parked cars by walking over them. Of course, the difference between Greece and Germany is that in Greece the criminals are thought to have some strange rights [e.g. the right to park your car iillegally, the right to free speech which is racist, etc]. The crucial point is that nobody in this country from the Prime Minister down gives a **** about the law and it seems that they never will. This is how Greece functions, and Greeks are very happy with it. Otherwise, wouldn’t they try to change things?
At least the Greeks are civil enough not to do what some Americans will do. In the states, if you park your car in more than one space, or park very blatantly offensive, you may find your tires slashed, air taken out, or your car to be keyed when you return.
I certainly don’t approve of any of these measures, but one wonders what goes thru the mind of someone arrogant enough to park their car in the manner above.