An elderly woman has been branded a ‘Karen’ after she blocked a motorist from taking the last empty parking spot in a full carpark.
The astonishing incident was captured on dashcam as the driver turned into a parking lot in the Newcastle suburb of Jesmond north of Sydney on Thursday.
With all the other spots occupied, the driver spots a single empty angled bay.
As the car started to nose its way into the spot, a woman standing near the markings appearing to reserve the bay moved in front of the car to stop the driver from taking it
She pointed and waved her hand to indicate to the driver that they couldn’t park there.
Eventually the driver moved on and later shared the footage online of the ‘Karen’- a slang term for a person perceived as entitled or excessively demanding.
‘Just a Karen trying to reserve the spot for her husband,’ they captured the video.
Dashcam captured the woman blocking an empty car spot on Thursday
Many viewers agreed that the woman was in the wrong.
‘It’s a massive fail, please tell me you did not let her get away with it! Just start driving in, she’ll move,’ one viewer commented.
Another added: ‘What a Karen, I hope you drove in.
A third wrote ‘I can’t believe anyone thinks this is okay. Although I have a couple of older family members who would do this.
Others believe the woman should have copped a $78 fine applicable for the offence in NSW.
The woman moved gestured to the driver to find somewhere else to park
While there are no specific rules about ‘reserving parking spaces’, the Australian Road Rules, which are the basis for NSW legislation state ‘pedestrians ‘must not cause a traffic hazard by moving into the path of a driver’.
The rules also state pedestrians ‘must not unreasonably obstruct the path of any driver’.
