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Free-style Parking
September 2006

Marivi and I go shopping in Betanzos about once a week. Betanzos is a small town of maybe 10,000 that's 12 km. from us. It has a lot of stores for such a small town and even has a large underground parking garage in the middle of the business district. Street parking (legal street parking, that is) is at a premium, like it is in most Galician towns and cities. But we always use the parking garage and find it very convenient. It's a two-level garage and the lower level is usually empty when we arrive.

The garage doesn't appeal to everybody, though. And those who can't find a legal street parking spot will park just about anywhere. For a long time now, I've been observing some of the illegal parking while I waited outside stores while Marivi was inside shopping. On three occasions recently, I brought along a camera so I could show you some of their parking jobs. The pictures below barely scratch the surface of the variety of ways Galicians violate the unenforced parking laws.

On the curb
Half-on, half-off the street. A common practice here.
This car at least left a little room for pedestrians
to use the sidewalk. Not all sidewalk-parkers do that.

Bus-zone 1
Bus-only zone. That's an inter-city bus stop across from
our vet's clinic in Betanzos. The sign on the right says
"No Parking - Bus Zone". The other sign is the bus schedule.

Bus-zone2
Another day, fewer cars in the bus zone. Plenty of space
available but one guy was apparently unsure
of his ability to parallel park at the curb.

Bus-zone3
Another day, different cars in the bus zone. But that green
truck is there again. I can't tell if it's ever been moved.

Handicapped only
Handicapped zone outside our favorite fruit/vegetable shop.
I waited until the driver came back to see if he looked disabled.
He looked pretty healthy to me.

Locked in
My favorite, so far. 50 feet from the police station.
I didn't see who got here first but I'll bet it was the blue car.
A local policeman was approaching so I waited around to see what he'd do. All he did was walk slowly around the car on the right, take out his ticket pad, look at it, and walk away.
Out of necessity, most larger towns and cities make some attempt at parking enforcement. But in places like Betanzos, local cops just ignore it. After all, they're acquainted with most local folks and don't want any confrontations with people they know. Marivi and I think that municipal cops ought to be hired from out-of-town so that they're not so inhibited about writing tickets for traffic and parking offenses.