WARNING Prolonged rant approaching
I park my bike in West India Quay carpark in Docklands, the owners of the carpark allow us bikers to park for free and have allocated an area for bikes which is signed and surrounded by red & white tape. Since the congestion charge started the car park (which is outside the CC area) has become a lot busier and consequently there has been an increase in the amount of cars using the bike spaces. I'm not too bothered by this as I treat the free bike parking as a privilege and I just park in any space, but what gets my goat is the arrogant attitude of the car drivers. They have taken to pulling down the "motorcycles only" sign. I know this 'cos I heard a driver argueing with an attendant, the attendant said the driver had been "repeatedly asked not to park there" and then said that the signs keep getting pulled down. A few weeks ago while locking up my bike a young thrusting chinless graduate banking type (these are common in Canary Wharf) parked his BMW in the bike spaces, as he walked past I said "excuse me, did you know that these spaces are meant for bikes?" and I pointed at the signs, "er, um, Why do you park here and not outside?" he replied arrogantly, I recognised his strategy and immediately countered with "because there is no street parking any where in Canary Wharf and because the carpark owners very kindly let us park here" still walking he says "you should park somewhere else" and off he went
So, this morning I arrived just before 0700 to find 10 of the 12 spaces allocated for bikes occupied by cars. I parked right up close to the drivers door of a silver BMW Z3, there was a car parked the other side so the driver will be able to get in and have to climb across the seats ( of a Z3 MMWWHHUUHAHAHA !)
All this is building up to one of my most hated parts of todays society( actually make that two hated parts) lazyiness and the fact that people are always to rushed to consider others.
The reason that these car drivers park in the bike area is because it is nearer the exit, so it is pure laziness. These are the same type of people who routinely park in disabled spaces and would not consider the difficulties faced by people in wheelchairs. I have to say that non-disabled people that park in disabled spaces are selfish scum, this selfish, arrogant, lazy attitude is prevalent today.
If you are someone who parks in disabled spaces then please justify your actions by commenting, I would be interested to know why you think it is acceptable. Before you think about parking in a disabled space try picturing yourself in a wheelchair, due to accident or illness, and see how you'd fucking like it!