Drivers in one of Canada’s biggest cities are taking to social media after a legal parking tip went viral on Facebook.
Christina Schmitter said she had been struggling to find a spot to park her car in a McDonald’s lot at a high school in Toronto. “I didn’t have a receipt and I didn’t know it wasn’t the student lot. It was really taking a long time,” she told CTV News.
After a few days the confusion resolved when the college principal let her park in the student lot, but Schmitter just wanted to make sure that she wasn’t the only person that had a problem.
So she sent a YouTube video of the poor parking in the McDonald’s parking lot to her Facebook friends, and in just 24 hours, it was viewed more than 2.6 million times.
“I can’t believe this far. Really, I cannot,” Schmitter says in the video.
In the parking lot, there are five designated spots with marks on them. Cars and trucks that drive in accidentally hit the marks and park in those spots. When drivers find themselves parked in a space, they can then face an electronic ticket ticket.
“This is not supposed to happen. I thought I was in the right spot, and one day I went to pay and saw, ‘New parking ticket,’” said Michele Basetti, a protester.
Video: The thing that annoyed us the most is the line that the camera operator in the corner is clearly watching us as we pulled in.https://t.co/POGt48fE6e — Meaghan Kenny (@meawenny) May 18, 2018
They are meant to be for people using the student lot or for those looking for parking more than other people, a community affairs manager with the City of Toronto, Jessica Timmons told CTV News.
Timmons said the school doesn’t have its own parking department, so it is up to the city to provide space in the student lot.
But residents are disgruntled that there is no sign of when a space was reserved.
“It’s our designated student parking lot, that is what they say and I have never seen the signs. Who’s going to not see it? And if it’s supposed to be there, it should be there,” said Brian McIntyre, a parent.
The city spokesperson says they have worked with the school to set up signs and messages, and update them in the near future.
“It’s not ideal if they’re going to be surprised each time they pull in, but it is what we have,” Timmons said.