Doncaster driver shamed on Facebook for bad parking admits he parks across two bays to protect himself from "clowns" who can't drive

A Doncaster driver shamed on Facebook for parking over two spaces has said he does it deliberately to protect his car from "clowns who can't park or drive."
Luke Vardy's car on the Parking Like A T**t in Doncaster Facebook page. (Photo: Facebook).Luke Vardy's car on the Parking Like A T**t in Doncaster Facebook page. (Photo: Facebook).
Luke Vardy's car on the Parking Like A T**t in Doncaster Facebook page. (Photo: Facebook).

Motorist Luke Varley was tagged in a post on a Facebook group called "Parking Like A T**t In Doncaster" after shopper Jessica Winder spotted his £16,000 Astra GTR VXR slap bang in the middle of two spaces at a supermarket.

But Mr Varley, 24, has told the Daily Mail he does it deliberately to protect his car - and the technique is known as Clarkson Parking after Doncaster-born TV motormouth Jeremy Clarkson due to his support of all things motoring and is popular among drivers with posh cars.

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He told the newspaper: 'I park like that every time if I am staying somewhere for any length of time. If I am nipping in a shop for a couple of minutes I might not do it, but if I know I'm going to be a while then I will do it.

"If there was a real shortage of bays available then I might not do it as I would see why people would get annoyed. I can see why people get annoyed when they see it. Someone who just can't park properly is annoying but that's not what I'm doing.

"People complain at me and I tell them I have not put it in a disabled bay or anything and it's not harming anyone as there are spaces free anyway. I have had comment from people who say things to my face as I walk away from the car but I generally just ignore it. I'm not bothered about what they have to say.

"Parking like that does work. However it does worry me as someone could be vindictive and deliberately scratch your car as friends have had that happen to them.

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He added: "It was with my old Astra that I started parking like this as I used to park normally but after washing it I noticed that it had really bad scratches and dents on the side of it. I realised it was from being parked in carparks - but no one was leaving a note.

"It really annoyed me. I wasn't having it any more, especially not with my new car when it was £16,000 as a scratch or dent can really damage the look of the car.

'A lot of the time it's because they don't even care about their own car. If they don't give a damn about their own, or know how to drive it, they certainly won't care about denting yours."

In response, Mrs Winder said: "To be honest I have had my car scratched in car parks when parked in normal parking bays and I you own a posh car then I can see where they are coming from. But I wouldn't say it's a good idea. If everyone did that it would be chaos."

"Someone could choose to get revenge on you if they think you're parking like that to be lazy. We are in Doncaster and there are some nasty people about."