Annoying parking of a vehicle

It is often the case that people park their own cars on other people’s private land in Japan. Of course this is really annoying behavior. However, policemen cannot come down on those people because policemen can only manage public space. Since I opened my clinic, I have left the entrance of the parking space open but there was recently a vehicle parked without previous notice. I would like to let you know what I thought and how I dealt with it.

The car had appeared around this January and parked about once or twice a week. It was a big Mercedes-Benz S class colored dark blue with smoked windows. I thought that it would be a temporary matter and the car would disappear at some future day. But, it was parked on many occasions, so I stuck a paper on the windshield written “no parking except patients”.

After then, it was not parked for a while. However, it appeared again and the frequency increased. It was not difficult to imagine that the owner of the car which was a big Mercedes-Benz S class with smoked windows and parked annoyingly would be a gang member. I was debating what I should do.

Around that time, there was a shocking incident in Nagasaki City. A gang member killed the Mayor with a gun because of a private grudge on April 18 2007. This incident made me think that I should stem the annoying parking now. If I leave this issue as it is for a long time and complain in the future, the driver might develop a greater grudge. Therefore I decided to take positive action to solve the problem.

I consulted with the local police on it. A policeman promised to dispatch colleagues if I found the car and called the police. That night, the car was parked. I called immediately, and two policemen came here. They went around and warned the driver against annoying parking using the loudspeaker of their patrol car. After one hour, when I looked, the car had disappeared.

The next day, we put up a rope in front of our parking space when our clinic is closed to prevent future parking. The rope is labeled “No parking.”

If I were not a self-employed person, I would not know what I should do. My job makes me stronger. There might be other many troubles like this. Approaches to achieve a solution are different in each case. However, I would like to advise people to consult with police as well as people to seek solutions by themselves.