REVEALED: Gympie's tightest car parks

"I think they'd get a lot more business if they had better parks.”

IT'S the age old question - does size really matter...when it comes to car parks?

The answer was a yes from those using car parks around Gympie yesterday morning, but, as always it's more complicated than that.

It's not just the space of the bay; the size of the vehicle the driver uses makes a difference and also how the car parks are lined up.

"For a normal car the parks are ok," Gympie shopper David Dewar said yesterday.

"But some car parks for a 4WD are a bit tight."

After taking to the CBD's parking bays with a tape measure, The Gympie Times can reveal the size of 15 popular parking spots in Gympie.

From the most frequently used Gympie car parks, KFC and the Gympie Town Library took out the lemon prize as the most narrow car parks (2.34 and 2.32m, see full list below) out of the 15 measured.

They were 25cm smaller in girth than those in Mary St, which came in at the most generous in width at 2.57m, followed by the car park underneath Cullinanes Plaza at 2.55m and Woolworths at Southside at 2.54m.

GETTING MEASURED: David Dewar helps measure a Gympie CBD car park ion The Gympie Times quest to find the most generous car park in Gympie. . Picture: Renee Albrecht

The Goldfields Plaza car park, which has historically been the brunt of the 'too small park' complaint surprisingly came in at a tied sixth spot with its upstairs car park at a width of 2.51m. The downstairs car park though, measured at 2.45m or 2.34m for those car parks that had a pole intuding. 

Landcruiser driver Ashleigh Williams said she refuses to park at Goldfields Plaza due to the tight squeeze, both upstairs and underneath. 

"I think they'd get a lot more business if they had better parks," she said.

A Gympie Regional Council spokeswoman said dimensions for car park bays are determined by Main Roads in line with the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, where sizes are categorised depending on a user class system.

The lengths and widths of parking bays are related to vehicle dimensions. In Australia, 85 percent of cars measure less than 4.74m in length and less than 1.86m in width.

For street parking, high turnover areas such as shopping centres are required to have larger sized bays and aisle widths at 2.6m in width, compared to long-term use car parks such as commuter parking and employee parking with a recommended width of 2.4m.

The Gympie Times is awaiting comment from Main Roads as to how these guidelines apply to private car parks.

HOW GYMPIE CAR PARKS MEASURE UP

1. Mary St

(outside Cullinanes Plaza): 2.57m

2. Under Cullinanes Plaza:

2.55m

3. Woolworths, Southside:

2.54m

4. ALDI:

2.52m

5. Town Hall car park:

2.52m

6. Nash St car park:

Top story- 2.52m

7. Hungry Jacks:

2.51m

8. Gympie Marketplace

(IGA): 2.51m

9. Goldfields Plaza:

Upstairs: 2.51m Underneath: 2.45m, with pole 2.34m

10. Gympie Central:

Upstairs- Downstairs- 2.42m, Upstairs- 2.46m

11. McDonald's:

2.44m

12. Gympie Aquatic Recreation Centre:

2.4m

13. Civic Centre:

2.38m

14. KFC Gympie:

2.34m

15. Gympie Town Library:

2.32m

Bays were randomly selected in car parks and measured with tape measure.