Car ownership can be an incredibly thrilling experience, what with the mobility and freedom that it affords us with in going anywhere we please at our leisure. But there are more than just a few frustrations that come with getting behind the wheel, chief among them being finding a parking spot in the Klang Valley.
Oftentimes incredibly scarce, especially in highly populated areas such as shopping malls and convention centres, it can be a pain having to circle a multi-storied car park repeatedly just to find a place to leave your vehicle in. But worse still is thinking that you’ve found an empty parking bay, only to find someone standing right in the middle of the spot just as you pull up to it.
Man refuses to move from parking spot after ‘chupping’ it
This is none other than the nasty habit known as chupping parking, which one Malaysian woman has had the misfortune of experiencing recently while attempting to park her car to attend the 2023 MATTA Fair. In a clip that was shared by user larojtfl to her TikTok account, she took to documenting her encounter with a man who stood irreverently in a vacant parking spot to ‘book’ it ahead of the arrival of his car.
Understandably frustrated, the netizen proceeded to audibly confront him over the very impolite (and illegal) offense.
“Serious ah, chup parking ah. Really? Really bro? Bro really? Chup parking, seriously!” she could be heard saying.
And yet, all the man did was grin with his arms folded over his chest, before pointing at the distance to claim that his car was ‘just behind’.
“Yeah, your car is ‘actually’ just there. But it’s not there wor. Bro, I know you wanna go MATTA Fair, I also wanna go MATTA Fair, but cannot like this la bro.” she adds.
The man remained defiant all the same and insisted that his car was nearby, even when the woman explained that regardless of where his car happened to be, he had no right to chup a spot in advance.
What’s more, he even went so far as to claim that she was ‘making such a big deal’ over a small matter, to which she said that it is a big deal as other drivers were also trying to look for a spot legally all the same.
Realising that there was no talking sense into the man, she promptly wished him well before the clip cuts out.
‘Chupping’ a vacant spot is a prosecutable offense
Many have since praised the woman for remaining relatively calm and composed when confronting the man, and agrees that he had no right to chup the vacant spot as he wasn’t driving a car.
“Just call the police. He has to leave. There’s an act, isn’t there? Fine RM2,000 or jail time [for those who chup parking].”
For the record, the act of ‘chupping’ a parking spot is indeed a prosecutable offense under Section 50(3) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which states that:
“If any person, otherwise than with lawful authority, remains on any road or at any parking place for the purpose of importuning any other person in respect of the watching or cleaning of a motor vehicle, or for the purpose of directing any driver of a motor vehicle in respect of parking on such road or at such place, he shall be guilty of an offence.”
So yes, it can be a pretty big deal, especially when it’s against the law!
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