Although public parking lots operate on a first-come-first-served basis, some individuals feel they can reserve one by using their bodies to chope the space. A woman blocking an available parking space at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) for her husband got into an altercation with an incoming vehicle. She even said she would get the police involved.
SG Road Vigilante posted dashcam footage on its YouTube channel of one of the latest parking chope incidents on May 15 at the MBS carpark. A woman in yellow appeared as the cam car approached a seemingly empty parking slot. She took her stance in the middle while the cam car positioned itself to reverse into the slot.
Despite the cam car driver’s clear intention of taking the parking space, the woman didn’t budge and began gesturing at the driver that it was unavailable.
“She say that she chope the lot for her husband, but there was no car there, and there was also a curb at the rear side, as you can see in the video; she also said that the husband was going to park his car,” the caption noted, citing the driver.
The cam car driver continued reversing slowly, forcing the woman to step aside. She then began knocking on the vehicle continuously.
“After that, the lady walked towards the driver’s seat window and said you were driving towards me,” said the driver.
Undeterred, the driver continued inching backwards until he could park fully.
“I insisted that we should get the security, but she said she will report it to the police,” the driver noted.
“She proceeds to walk away and says, ‘I will see you next week.’ Walao, first-time encounter,” the driver added.
Netizens commended the cam car driver for the victory, unlike other instances where vehicles lost to the individuals stubbornly reserving a parking slot.
“You did the right thing. We can’t be intimidated by such acts of bullying,” said YouTube user Uncle Salty.
“Cam driver, we support you. She has no right to chope the car park lot. Make a police report on her for trying to damage your car,” added another netizen.
Meanwhile, one Jonathan James Chapman-Lim had a public message to share:
“To all Singaporeans or foreigners or whoever that’s driving in SG out there, remember, doing what this lady did is not right. If you’ve missed the opportunity to get the lot, just accept it and move along. You can’t use a ‘human’ to chope a lot. You think it’s like hawker centre where you put tissues to chope?
Hawker centres are a different situation. Coz you need to buy food and eat at a table. This is a parking lot. Different. Please, lah, don’t embarrass yourselves like this. Still dare to bang on people’s cars. Luckily can see that this is a tough 4×4. Sigh.”
Here are other moments when people used themselves to chope a parking slot. /TISG
Two women “chope” parking lot, block motorists in Changi Village