A homeowner in the UK was shocked and furious when he woke up one morning to find a stranger’s car parked on the driveway of his family home near Manchester Airport. Zekarias Haile, an engineering lecturer, said he had to wait four days for the owner of the car to come and remove the vehicle as he believes the driver went on vacation and used his driveway as long-stay parking, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Stranger leaves car on family's driveway near Manchester Airport for days https://t.co/8f5zJuBo7q
— Heather buckley (@lornah1) March 19, 2022
- Haile lives with his wife and two children in Woodhouse Park. The home is close to the airport, which is a busy travel hub with extremely expensive parking prices. However, he’s never had anyone try to use his driveway for free parking.
- The stranger’s car was there for four days. As he told the Manchester Evening News: “I just went out and it was there. Then it was there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. On Monday morning when we woke up it was gone.”
- The car caused a major inconvenience. Because the driveway is so narrow and the Range Rover parked there was such a tight fit, it meant that Haile and his family couldn’t access their own garden or their own bins throughout the time the vehicle was there.
- The police refused to help him get the car moved. Officers informed Haile that it wasn’t a criminal offense to park in someone else’s driveway and that there was nothing they could do about it since Haile’s car, which was parked on the road, wasn’t being blocked. “I was very angry but I resisted doing anything to the car – just. I definitely didn’t feel all right about it. We couldn’t access our garden and we couldn’t take out our bins,” Haile recalled of the experience.
- Haile believes it was a rogue parking company that was responsible for the incident. His family has lived in the area for 14 years and have become aware of rogue companies claiming to offer legitimate, cheaper parking solutions for travelers, only to take the vehicles and park them in residential areas. “A lady who was out the front when it was left told me the driver was wearing a high-viz jacket so I do believe it was one of those companies,” he said. “My worry now is that, because I couldn’t do anything about it, it will happen again. There are rogue parking firms who claim they are meet and greet and they just park in our area. It’s a violation of my private property.”
