Listen up dirt bag, just because you’re too lazy to find a parking spot doesn’t mean you can block other people in. Ass.
My Wife and I got to the race (Triathlon) at 5am. Along with hundreds of others. In fact all 1000 racers had to be there by 6am.
We parked where we where told by the nice volunteers. Got a pretty good spot too.
You, a spectator, came later in the day. And you blocked us in. It’s a good thing that all you got was a rather civil note on your windsheild, and not a trip to the body shop.
Jerk.
This also happened to me at our wedding. Someone from the next wedding party blocked my new Wife and I in. Yet there where parking spots not 100 feet away. Prick.
Now the question. This happened at a public reservoir (Boulder CO). The parking lot was a field that the volunteers had divided up into orderly rows. It’s a pretty common thing to do here. That’s what the ski areas do.
So, whoever blocked us in denied me the use of my car. Is there some sort of law against that?
Well, my Google-fu is returning mostly UK cites about parking laws, which I’m not sure is helpful. Still, I’ve seen people towed for this sort of behavior, and I’ve called the cops about it myself, so I’ll summarize my experience for you.
(1) Asshole is parking you in on public property (city streets, for example). In my case the asshole parked across my driveway, rendering it impossible for me to get out. According to the tow company I called, the police have jurisdiction over all public roads; therefore, the cops would have to make the call as to whether or not it could be towed. I called the police and they sent someone out who called the same tow company (heh) and had the offender’s car removed. At the owner’s expense, plus he got a ticket and had to go to court to get his car back.
(2) Asshole is parking you in on private property (parking lot of a store, a farmer’s field, etc). The cops will not get involved unless the property owner requests it. If the owner isn’t involved in the situation, good luck getting the car moved without the asshole’s cooperation, unfortunately. On private land the owner’s the only one who can do anything. If you ARE the owner (heh heh heh), you can make arrangements with towing companies to have the vehicle towed at the vehicle owner’s expense (subject to local laws, I’m sure), and the police will assist you in removing an illegally parked vehicle.
I’m not sure if anecdotes help, but there they are. Oh, and of course, IANAL, YMMV, etc.
In something like 1987, I lived in Atlanta and went to a rock club to see a show (it was either Redd Cross, Anthrax or New Model Army), and some prick blocked me in. But it was a Ford Fiesta. I was standing there lamenting my predicament, when 4 huge black guys came along and said “watch this…”…they proceeded to *pick up the car * and move it over so I could get out…that was cool as shit!
Heard a similar story from a friend. Her father parked his (then) 15 year old Landrover on an otherwise empty stretch of road. One person came and parked a reasonable distance behind him and another total muppet came and parked inches away from his car. He was thus unable to get out of his parking space. His rather neat solution was to throw a blanket over the front of the close-parked car to prevent scratching and to slowly shove it back with the Landrover. Gotta love those old, cars.
