Oversized ute parks across three spaces in Melbourne

A driver of an American-style ute has been roasted online for shocking parking. Is it the worst you’ve seen? Vote now.

A driver of an American-style ute has been roasted online for parking across three parking spaces, one of which was a disabled spot.

A passer-by snapped a picture of the Chevrolet Silverado’s parking and posted it to social media over the weekend.

“He said he doesn’t fit in normal people spots (and that he might hurt me),” the poster captioned the picture.

It wasn’t long before the comment section erupted, slamming the driver’s careless, and illegal, parking.

“What a bellend. There’s no excuse for anyone parking this way,” one comment read.

“Exactly, my dad daily drove a Ford Trader tip truck for like 10 years and always parked in ways it wouldn’t impact others. If you choose to drive an unconventional vehicle, you accept the inconveniences that come with that, you don’t push them onto others,” someone else said.

“Hey driver, if it doesn’t fit, you park somewhere where it does and you walk to wherever you need to go. You pay the stupid tax for owning something so absurd, not the public and certainly not the disabled people that require that car park,” another person wrote.

“If he’s that untalented at parking, maybe he should have bought a car he could actually handle. Sounds like a skill issue,” someone else said.

Others who require the disabled spots also shared their fury at the ute’s overhang into the disabled park.

“What a f---wit. My partner uses a wheelchair access vehicle with a lift, and d---heads like this guy need to stop doing this sh-t so disabled folk can actually get out of their vehicles,” one user wrote.

“As someone who has a disability and whose mother has a more severe disability that impairs walking (she has a disability parking permit unlike this butthole), this infuriates me. Can’t stand these Big McLargeHuge things,” someone else commented.

A large American-style ute is parked across three spots in Coburg Village.

In Victoria, drivers caught parking in a disabled parking spot without a permit can be fined $192. If the matter is dealt with in court, the maximum court fine is $385.

For those who are parked not completely within a parking bay, the infringement is $38. The maximum court fine for the same offence is $577.

Vehicles that are too long or too wide for parking spaces must park within the minimum number of parking bays required to fit their vehicle. Vehicles exceeding the minimum number of bays will be penalised the same way as those not completely within a bay.

The Herald Sun was able to locate other examples of these types of vehicles — colloquially labelled ‘Yank tanks’ by those online — parked in a questionable manner.

A large American-style ute is overhanging a car space on Lonsdale St.

As the popularity of oversized American utes grows in Australia, some local councils are considering imposing higher parking fees to get them off city streets.

Councils in Melbourne and Sydney have expressed interest in implementing a Paris-style parking tax on super-sized SUVs and pick-up trucks like the Ford F-150, RAM 1500 and Land Rover Defender.

Earlier this month, Yarra City Council voted on a motion by Greens councillor Sophie Wade to investigate “ways to make travelling on Yarra’s streets more equitable and discourage large and heavy vehicles on Yarra’s streets, including by considering proportionate parking fees based on a vehicle’s size”.

“The City of Yarra is a high-density, inner-city location with very narrow streets, which these oversized vehicles often have difficulty navigating and don’t fit in standard parking spaces,” Yarra City Council Mayor Cr Edward Crossland said.

“We want to increase the use of public transport, cycling infrastructure and create more pedestrian-friendly, accessible cities.

“These vehicles have very real safety, environmental and physical implications,” he said.

However, Paul Maric, co-founder of CarExpert.com.au, said Australian councils were “just trying for a money grab here”.

“They’re going for what I call woke-topia, this woke utopia where no one drives anywhere, everyone’s on bicycles or driving around in tiny electric vehicles,” he said.

Australia’s appetite for larger vehicles and utes doesn’t appear to be slowing, with 21,327 utes sold in February 2024, data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showed.

While not typical “Yank tanks”, large utes like the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu Ute D-Max made up three of the top five selling vehicles in February, FCAI said.

The Ford Ranger was Australia’s top-selling vehicle with sales of 5353, followed by the Toyota HiLux with 4403 sales, and the Isuzu Ute D-Max in fourth with sales of 2941.