Disabled-parking row boils up into war on jerkism

A wheelchair-bound man calling himself Saba ignited the latest round of anger at inconsiderate motorists when he posted a two-minute “Don’t Take My Space” video showing two cars jammed into the disable parking area where he’d left his own vehicle at Makkasan Station on the Airport Rail Link.

Saba says he’s grateful to the authorities for providing two parking bays for disabled drivers, but he was incensed one recent day to discover that a Toyota Yaris and a Honda Jazz had been parked tightly side by side next to his own Toyota. One idiot parking in a space reserved for the handicapped is bad enough, but this confederacy of dunces meant that Saba could barely get into his car. 

It appears that the Yaris driver arrived first and tucked into the open spot, and then the Jazz owner squeezed in between. There’s hardly any room left for Saba to wheel his chair up to his car door. He manages to slide in far enough, but then, “I can’t open the door!” he says. Finally, he manages to get in without slamming his door into the Jazz, as one might well be inclined to do.

Saba’s plight generated a great deal of sympathy and a lot of comparisons. Many people have commented on idiot motorists taking advantage of disabled parking areas at shopping malls and airports. When Mega Bangna opened a couple of years ago, it made sure there was ample parking for the handicapped near the entrances, clearly marked with wheelchair signs and blue paint on the asphalt, but far too often they’re gobbled up by insensitive jerks.

These morons are now the subjects of follow-up videos and mobile-phone snapshots submitted by irate witnesses, some of whom wait for the car owners to return so they can be identified. One clip shows two women in their 30s evidently late arriving for a party. The driver grabs a blue parking space, thrilled to be so “lucky”, and they jump out and fly inside. You see everyone from college students to businessmen in Mercedes doing the same. 

In Brazil a fuming crowd covered an entire car parked in a disabled bay with blue Post-it notes and used white ones to form the wheelchair-symbol outline. In England an inconsiderate BMW owner returned to find the word “wanker” spray-painted on the side.

Saba wasn’t trying to start a revolution. At the end of his video, after he’s squeezed into his car and has hoisted the folded wheelchair into place, he declares, “I’m strong and healthy. I don’t need your help.” 

Then he starts the car and pulls away, adding in the caption, “But don’t take my space!”

See the video at www.YouTube.com/watch?v=sxpnQgka6SE.