Penalties with a system

Next parking scandal: sinfully expensive 2 minutes

Two minutes of parking costs 290 euros here.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/privat)

Only on Saturday we reported on the case of a young man from Graz who was asked to pay 250 euros for three minutes in a private parking lot. As a student, he was able to obtain a 50 percent discount. A woman from Deutschlandsberg was less "lucky".

She recently received a letter from a lawyer that left her speechless. She had parked her car for a few minutes in a company parking lot opposite a fast food restaurant in the district capital at the end of September. The photos of the evidence were prepared even faster than the food next door, and things took their course.

A quick stop in a deserted parking lot
The driver had not even parked, as can be seen in the images from the surveillance camera, but had parked the vehicle for just two minutes in the almost empty parking lot. This belongs to a storage technology and shelving systems company.

2.51 p.m.: The West Styrian woman's car is parked at an angle to the markings on the rear left of the parking lot, which is occupied by just three other cars ...(Bild: privat, Krone KREATIV)

2.53 p.m.: The driver leaves the parking lot again.(Bild: privat, Krone KREATIV)

Ten days' notice, otherwise action for disturbance of possession
She had "disturbed my client's quiet property", the short-stay parker had to read in a letter a few days later (see below). She had to refrain from "such acts of disturbing possession" in future and pay "an amount of € 290.00". The payment deadline is less generous than the amount demanded: ten days.

As is almost "good form" in such cases, there is a threat of an action for adverse possession "without further correspondence" if the payment and the cease-and-desist declaration are not made on time. Keyword good tone: The lady had to "apologize" in writing and vow "not to engage in such behavior again in the future".

Click through the lawyer's letter(Bild: privat, Krone KREATIV)

(Bild: privat)

(Bild: privat, Krone KREATIV)

The company boss explained to the "Krone" that since the fast food restaurant opened in July 2023, there have been increasing problems with third-party parkers who regularly leave their garbage behind and even defecate. Numerous attempts "in good faith" had failed, there had also been several verbal derailments and once an intruder, whom he confronted, had even driven towards him in his car when he tried to take down the license plate number.

Company wants to take action against "pack parking"
A structural solution with a gate was not possible due to the cramped road conditions, so in the summer the company decided to systematically charge parking offenders. The main aim was to counter the phenomenon of "pack parking" - i.e. more and more drivers joining in as soon as an uninvited guest parks their car. After a three-digit number of letters from lawyers, the situation has actually improved somewhat.

The case in Graz, in which a student was also charged 250 euros for a few minutes of illegal parking in October, ended, as reported, with a compromise: referring to his income situation, he was at least able to halve the amount in a telephone conversation with the other party.

Appeal futile
After making inquiries with her lawyer, the woman from Deutschlandsberg refrained from making such an attempt: hopeless, according to the expert's assessment.