Charging My EV in a Charging Bay. Parked in by Truck Driver, Asked Him to Move. AITA?

Had to do a quick round trip to Sydney over the weekend (about a 500km round trip). Needless to say, I had to top off the EV in Sydney for the return journey. Pulled into the Seven Hills DC fast charger, plugged in and went for lunch.

Upon returning to my vehicle some 30 mins later, I saw that I was parked in by a garbage truck (and I mean "really" parked in, like cant go forward or backwards). I asked the guy "mate, how long you going to be?", and he didn't answer… I gave it another minute or two and asked again, "Hey, mate. Can I just get you to move forward a bit so I can get my car out???" Driver didn't even glance sideways… Waited another 2 or so mins and asked again "Mate, just how long are you going to be?" and he just went about his work, ignoring me the whole time. In this time, a Polestar also turned up to charge, but saw the truck there. Waited 5 mins and left as well.

After about 15+ mins, the driver finally got back in his truck and backed it up about 10 meters and I could finally get out.

I posted these photos and explained about the incident on a dedicated forum to the scolding and laughing at drivers who ICEhole or otherwise block EV parking bays. Much to my surprise, everyone (bar about 2 people) said I should pull my head in and that the guy was "only doing his job" and that I need to "get a life" and that "15 mins isnt going to kill you" to being told "was your leaving based on you needing to attend hospital???"

So, am I the a#%ehole? for asking this guy to move his truck?
Is 15 mins for someone to do their job "reasonable time to wait"?
Was I not the a$&ehole, and it was reasonable for me to want to leave on my time schedule?
What would you have done? Just waited it out, called the bikies, or chucked a "Karen"?
Is parking over an EV charging bay ok, but across a driveway at the local servo blocking access to the fuel pumps not ok?

Some photos and the obligatory MSPaint diagram…
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3

MS Paint depiction
Google map satellite image with overlay of scale outline of truck and where truck was parked and where they could have parked that hindered nobody.

Poll Options

  • 52
    You ARE the a-hole. Guy is just doing his job.
  • 975
    You're NOT the a-hole, but damn that truck driver is.
  • 34
    Meh, neither here nor there, it's only 15 mins.
  • 13
    Bikies... This definitely required bikies...

Comments

  • +46

    Don't worry, self driving trucks are coming, then these iceholes can retire or do something with their lives.

    • +90

      2025: Charging My EV in a Charging Bay. Parked in by Self-Driving Truck, I Literally Don't Know Who to Ask To Move. AITA?

      • thanks for the belly laugh !

      • +7

        Dear ChatGPT, who is the a-hole in the following situation….

        • +7

          @pegaxs, you are not the bad guy for asking the garbage truck driver to move his truck so that you could access the EV charger. It is understandable that you needed to charge your vehicle and that the truck driver was blocking your access to the charger. You were polite and patient in your requests, and it is reasonable to expect that people be considerate of others and not block access to essential services.

          It is also important to note that blocking EV charging bays is not only inconsiderate, but it is also illegal in many places. In some areas, there are fines for blocking EV chargers, just as there are fines for parking in disabled parking spots without a valid permit.

          It is unfortunate that some people on the forum were unsympathetic to your situation and reacted negatively to your post. However, it is important to remember that people have different perspectives and opinions, and not everyone will agree with you. It is also worth considering that online forums can sometimes attract negative and unhelpful comments, so it may be best to take them with a grain of salt.

          In summary, @pegaxs, you were not in the wrong for asking the garbage truck driver to move his truck, and it is important for people to be considerate of others and not block access to essential services like EV charging stations.

          -ChatGBT

        • I asked ChatGPT, this was its thoughts on the scenario…

          Based on the information provided, it seems like the garbage truck driver was acting inconsiderately and unprofessionally by ignoring your requests to move his vehicle and not responding to your questions. However, it is difficult to definitively label someone as an "(profanity)" without knowing their motivations or intentions. It's possible that the driver was preoccupied with their work or simply unaware of the inconvenience they were causing you. Regardless, their behavior was frustrating and inconvenient for you and the other EV driver who left as a result.

      • Depends, do you mean 'Am I the (profanity)?' or 'AI the (profanity)?'

    • I've said it before, but I think these self driving trucks will often be owned by the same truck drivers. When first gen self driving trucks start rolling out who is more likely to buy it, the people who already drive trucks and have a system to maintain them and contract it out. Then when those self driving trucks are finally allowed to drive by themselves the owners will sit at home and just pay a minimum wage worker to sit in the truck and babysit it. Big corporations will surely buy their own fleets of trucks, but the much of the rest will be owned by truck drivers, kind of like how a lot of taxi drivers own their own taxis.

      • +2

        Not really. Anyone could buy one and put someone in it. If there’s money to be made there will be more cashed up investors than truck drivers.

      • +2

        more likely big companies will own the capital, not the lowly workers

  • +141

    Why would there be anything wrong with asking the truck driver to move? Of course that's fine.

    Not sure why they didn't respond but there's a huge big company name and number on the side that you can file a complaint to.

    • +22

      And that's exactly what I'd be doing. Or complaining to whoever manages the property that this happened on, they probably wouldn't be too happy that their customers are being impacted by an idiot that could've moved the truck and do the job an extra 3m away.

      • Same. But without video, not much will happen. Ideally OP would've filmed his interaction with him to show that they were being unreasonable.

      • +11

        In situations like this, complain to whoever manages the property. Cleanway is operating one of those return and earn machines and if there's constant issues of being blocked in/out of parking when they do their pickup, management would probably like to know and threaten removal of the machines. Hit them where it hurts, their wallets.

        • +2

          I didn't even get that… not even a nod to acknowledge I was even in the same area and saying something.

          • +9

            @pegaxs:

            there's a huge big company name and number on the side that you can file a complaint to.

            This is what I'd be doing. Plate is clear in the 3d photo. You've got the date & time.

          • +6

            @pegaxs: Hope you reported/complained to the company in question, pretty rude actually.

    • -3

      But complaining to Ozb is more fun, especially when you got an EV :)

    • +3

      I don't know if anyone who is deaf can be a truck driver in Australia. My dad is 99% deaf and hearing aid does no help. Unless you speak to him face to face, he 'ignores' anyone beside and behind and puzzles a lot of people who don't know his condition. This also creates a lot of misunderstanding. I made him wear a white hearing aid just to let people know that he's deaf. It's not even powered on sometimes.

      Could the truck driver be deaf as well?

      But then again all trucks has got the highest priority on the road in my book. They can take as long as they want to stop as often as they want.

    • +3

      Not sure why they didn't respond

      This part of the story is a bit suss. No way would someone completely ignore you if you calmly walked up to them and asked them a question.

      • +2

        Have you never encountered rude people, or just people who want to take the piss with you?

        • +1

          I have encountered plenty of both, but I've never had a person completely ignore me when I was in their face asking a question.

  • +48

    The guy is just doing his job, but that doesn't warrant being an a$$hole and parking you in. Doesn't help that he was straight up ignoring your questions/request.

    File a complaint to the company and move on.

    • +7

      ^^^This.
      The guy absolutely was just doing his job - by parking illegally and causing huge inconvenience to other drivers.
      A screw to the tyre might have magically appeared had I been the one parked in…

      • +1

        I'll have you know, SlavOz was just doing his job.
        He was angry that some snot-nosed rich pansy driving his Tesla was being a Karen and distracting him!

    • +21

      The guy is just doing his job

      BS, it was deliberate. I've been parked in dozens of times by trucks, as soon as they see you it's "I'll be right there mate" or "Give me a sec to move" etc. Calling out to them and being totally ignored is them sending a message.

    • +13

      100% lodge a complaint with the company. He is representing the company while driving that truck and definitely needs a warning.

    • +4

      If you really want to twist the knife you can buy a single share and lodge the complaint as a question to the board at the AGM. Be sure to ask the CEO why they require their drivers to break the law.

    • +2

      you can at least answer and respond people when they address you, his mum should have taught him that, if he was just doing his job and knew he would sit there, he could just respond to move on.
      I think its opportunistic and deliberately to piss someone off.

      file a complaint with the company

    • +1

      The designers intentionally layout the parking and the bins that way, so that such scenarios can occur… both the trucker driver and OP were marionettes, played by the faceless people.

  • +35

    I would have started waving in his face going "HEELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" long before 15 minutes was up. Maybe that's me going full Karen but 15 minutes is way too long to leave someone blocked in without even acknowledging their existence.

    • +22

      You should know by now that most of us with smartass comments here trolling forums 24/7 for e-penis, are IRL just an antisocial freak who don't even have balls to attend Ozb annual meets and show our faces, let alone confronting real people in the face.

      We are tough with comments here against others but a wimp in real life.

      • +5

        Of course, which is why if the truck driver tried to punch me I would have backflipped away from the punch then kicked him so hard into his truck it would have gone flying backwards, freeing my car and letting me drive away.

        Everyone would have applauded.

        I have found as I get older I confront people more. Never EVER enter someone's personal space, that's just asking for trouble, but most off the asshats I've met in real life are really antisocial freaks as well who generally don't want an argument either. Unless they're wearing adidas trackpants or are a drunk brit, then they're more interested in throwing a punch than anything else.

      • +5

        I buy expensive keyboards so I can be the best keyboard warrior. How dare you, sir?!

    • +7

      I would have started waving in his face going "HEELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

      Next thread, I got punched in the face by truck driver…

      • +8

        All my teeth got knocked out by a truck driver with a metal bar after I yelled at him to move. Any advise on a good dentist in Sydney…

        • +1

          I dont have private health, can people make donations for me.

    • +35

      That doesn’t really excuse his lack of communication. It is not okay to just completely ignore someone when you’ve parked them in

        • +52

          Not hard to say “sorry mate I’ll be out of your way in a couple of minutes” how is OP to know if he’s going to be 5 minutes or 5 hours otherwise. We live in a society that functions with communication. Honestly find it kind of strange you’re advocating that it’s ok for the person driving the truck to just completely ignore OP.

          The fact you’ve tried to generalise people who own EVs and ride bikes into some entitled category is pretty telling.

            • +4

              @GordonD: If I were to generalise like you did, I'd observe the one more likely to be violent and/or antisocial is the truck driver - he already exhibited antisocial behaviour.

        • +17

          Lol what a load of rubbish. Either move the truck or communicate that you will be x amount of mins. Not sure why this is an ev and bike riders argument. Are you the truck driver?

        • +4

          EV drivers and bike riders do share a belief that they are morally superior to the rest of us and so are always in the right in every circumstance.

          Imagine if an EV parked in ICE vehicles at fuel pumps….. the rage that would unleash would be interesting to see.

          • +1

            @DashCam AKA Rolts: esp one where its too narrow for the car behind to pass. I'd like to imagine an EV parking up at a pump, clean the windscreens, going inside to the loo and buying some snacks all whilst the car behind fills up pays and then waits in their car. All whilst the EV driver looks at them waiting behind but doing nothing to acknowledge they're holding them up

            • @JDMcarfan: Or, park their EV in front of the fuel pumps and just go shopping for 2 hours… or watch a movie… or just going to work for the day…

        • Oh, right! We all know GordonD was right there when the OP started talking to the truck driver and the tone he used. Saying he's gonna be there for a few minutes doesn't 'waste' his time.

        • +9

          not engage with aggressive people

          I would like to point out, that at no time was I aggressive. I find that there is no point to being aggressive in this position, as it would have just been met with more aggression and less of a willingness to help. I remained polite though the whole encounter because I treat people as I would have them treat me.

          For the record, I am also a truck driver, and I would never do this to anyone, regardless of where they were parked.

          The fact that I bought up that it was an EV charging bay was because it is illegal in NSW to block access to EV charging bays with fines ranging from $120 up to $2,200.

          If it helps you sleep at night, change "EV Charging bay" to "blocked the driveway to the only fuel station for the next 15km so no one could get in or out…"

          Enjoy your negs.

          • +1

            @pegaxs: Please send the photos to the council to enforce the no blocking policy with a warning or fine for the company.

        • +1

          Imagine being this wrong

    • +1

      the fact you admit most bystanders sympathised with the truck driver

      Where has the OP stated that "fact"?

    • Why don't the truckie wait until the car is gone? Why not park somewhere else?

      Oh yeah easier to blame on other, right truckie? Waste your time, not mine.

    • +4

      suggest you might be exaggerating how long you had to wait.

      The time stamp on the first photo was Sat 25 @ 2:04pm. This was after I had already been stranding there for 5 mins and had already asked twice. I thought taking the camera out and taking a photo might have prompted him to at least say something… It didn't.

      The time stamp on the last photo was 2:11pm, some 7 mins later. I stayed another 5 or so minutes after this. I watied to take this photo because to take it I would have been getting in his way to take it and it seemed unsafe to take it with large waste bins rolling around and a garbage truck being loaded.

      So, even at it's minimum, it was 7 mins…

    • +2

      Some people have to inconvenience other people to get their job done. That's life. Sometimes we've all got to put up with that.

      Nope. You don't get to block someone's car in, and then just ignore them when they ask to get their car out. That's not how it works.

    • -1

      Looks like you’ve outed yourself for being the jealous and ignorant type. The down bites speak volumes.

  • +6

    Is there a phone number on the back of the truck eg.

    Cleanaway value safe driving. For any incidents call 1800 xxx yyy

    • +7

      Nope, but there is a really BIG number up the side of the truck… That may get me through to someone. We are a cuistomer of tyheirs at work, so I put through a request for customer service to respond to me.

      • +3

        We are a cuistomer of tyheirs at work

        Are you okay pegaxs?

        • +12

          Did I make a typo while I was using a hammer to type out my response? :D

          They are not typos, but intentional copyright traps so John Cadogan doesn't steal my work to use for this bogan rousing news network.

          • +1

            @pegaxs:

            Did I make a typo while I was using a hammer to type out my response? :D

            You did - uncharacteristically, hence my (toungue-in-cheek) comment :)

            They are not typos, but intentional copyright traps so John Cadogan doesn't steal my work to use for this bogan rousing news network.

            I was actually beginning to think you were Cadogan's OzBargain account, so no copyright risk there :P

      • I’m speaking with them too. Unacceptable behaviour. Can you confirm exact date and ideally time this occurred?

  • +5

    Had a similar incident with a long truck wanting to remove an excavator from a nearby plot. He blocked me in for more than an hour. In fact, more I asked him to move, slower he worked. Luckily I was home and just had to wait for his highness to move on.

    Some poeple enjoy being difficult. Maybe you can file a complaint with his company since you have photos and the rego plate?

    • +10

      If it was public road I'd call the cops. Blocking traffic without a permit is an infringement.

      • +5

        It was a public road and there was plenty of racism involved too from his side. But how much crap do I deal with (police, evidence, etc) and do I want to make my life hard for the next year when builders come and go to the plot that's two doors down? I'm in the right but in real life that hardly matters.

        • +1

          Builders won't do crap if they know you'll get the cops involved. They don't want issues for them slowing down their job. If they constantly cause issues they can also lose their builder's license.

  • +7

    I'd say the truck driver was lucky you didn't put a crowbar through his windscreen. But thats just my take.

      • +21

        LOL, ok champ… And you are right… I dont own "a" power drill… I own several… ALL battery powered!!! :D

        And there is a big step between "asking someone when they will be moving their truck" to "willful criminal damage".

      • +2

        The OP is also a truck driver, lol.

      • +4

        Ah you're one of those men desperately trying to prove how macho he is, projection at its finest.

    • +2

      Internet muscles… WOOHOO!

      Next thread…. I'm in ICU after smashing truck windscreen that parked me in…. and driver didnt take me doing it well… who pays the hospital bill

      • I might pay to read that thread

      • who pays the hospital bill

        The taxpayer generally.

  • +12

    Just call cleanaway and complain. You have phone number on the truck, photos, date time and the license plate. If not satisfied, you could perhaps leave them a google review of your experience interacting with cleanaway.

  • -5

    Should of helped the Garbo and you could leave faster

    • +38

      I was there charging well before he turned up. If I turned up after he arrived and was emptying the bins, how the (fropanity) do you think I got my car in that parking bay? Fast and the Furious 13: EV Charging Bay Drift'd it in there?

      The truck could have: (Feel free to pick any)

      • Parked 3m further down to allow me access to leave
      • The opposite side of the driveway against the brick wall
      • Pulled up parallel to the containers
      • Since the truck was already running, he could have jumped in, moved it 3m down, let me out and drove it back
      • Could have just said "Sorry mate, didn't think you were going to be back this soon, I'll just be another 5 or 10 and I'll get out of your way"…
      • +2

        I was there charging well before he turned up. If I turned up after he arrived and was emptying the bins, how the (fropanity) do you think I got my car in that parking bay? Fast and the Furious 13: EV Charging Bay Drift'd it in there?

        I believe Brian McGee was meaning that you returned to your car and the truck driver was already removing rubbish, vs you returning to your car and the truck has only just arrived.

        My question is where is this that they have so many bins that the truck needs to be there for 15min. Cleanaway needs to get onto that inefficiency…

        I agree with you pegaxs that the driver could/should have at least said something to you.

        • +3

          Your car is still plugged in and you're harassing him to move?

          It would take me 15 seconds to disconnect my car and return the plug to the charger. I would be disconnected and in my car before he even got to the cab of his truck. I was disconnected about 30 seconds after this photo was taken.

          He is clearly also working in the pictures you've shared.

          Didn't say he wasn't… but "working" doesn't give someone the right to just park like an arsehole, boxing people in and expect everyone to just wait, especially when the solution was to just move his truck 3m forawds, let me out and back it up again. 60 seconds out of his day… 15 mins out of mine.

          • -8

            @pegaxs: He didn't move because by leaving the area he was working in would create OHS issues for him i.e. leaving the work area unattended, risk to the general public etc.

            Then outside of those issue you have these electric vehicle charging bays right next to where he needs to do his job, the vehicles in them could be there for 5 minutes or 5 hours charging and he wasn't going to wait around and find out because those Cleanaway drivers are already under heavy time constraints with what they need to do so in reality you would have been wasting his time.

            Maybe what you should be doing is instead of bitching that your time was wasted how about complaining to the service station about where they have located their charging points or relocating the skip bins elsewhere.

            Look at it from someone else's perspective.

            • +3

              @ConsumerAffairs: And all of that could have been solved by;

              "Yeah, sorry mate… I'm going to be another 15 mins. I would have to shut everything up just to move the truck… OH&S you know…"
              "Yeah, all good champ, I understand. I'll pop over to Bunnings for 15 then. Cheers!"

              the vehicles in them could be there for 5 minutes or 5 hours charging

              Regardless, it is illegal under NSW Road Rules to block access to charging stations (RR:203C). In fact, I am pretty sure it's illegal to block anyone into their parking spot, regardless if it is an EV charging bay or not and is not negated by how long they are parked there or what the parking spot is designated for.

              I parked my car there in good faith that these laws would apply, failing that, anyone who was not abiding by these laws would move their vehicle if required. And the "just doing his job" does not give him the right to break road rules. He is not driving an emergency vehicle. He had no valid excuse to park like that when there were various other areas available to park that would still have allowed him to do is job unencumbered.

              Part of doing his job is to have respect for other road users. I drive delivery trucks and there is no way I would deliberately box someone in, and if I had too, I would at least apologise and either move my truck or get done as fast as I could.

              how about complaining to the service station

              Why? They didn't park like arseholes. There is plenty of space around the Return and Earn for a truck to park where it is not blocking parking bays, EV or otherwise, the location of the bins are fine.

    • +6

      I honestly don't think it matters what he's doing. He's aware of and clearly blocking a vehicle parked in a parking bay and impeding their ability to move freely (they don't know your personal circumstances and something important may be going on).
      There is no reason at a minimum to clearly establish how long you'll be (if a short while or vehicle cannot be moved) or otherwise be decent and move the vehicle and then place cones in front of any other parking bays to not block anyone else in. If they communicated they'd be 5 or 15 min then OP should be able to suck it up or otherwise be more upfront in asking them to move if urgent, but otherwise clear communication/action is needed.
      Leaving OP in the dark about their expected timeline to complete is unfair on anyone EV driver or regular parking bay user

    • +1

      Because he can't spend 1 minute pulling up the handbrake and rolling forward lmao.
      Makes sense in your potato brain.

  • +3

    How did you spend the time waiting, were you looking for bargains to post on here?

    Maybe he was jealous of your new BYD.

  • You Def could have driven out. Watch how the French park. It's amazing the kind of angles you can get

    Also with ev sensors you should be fine

    • +1

      Yes, I've seen Austin Powers do the same thing, so it's definitely doable.

  • +4

    NTA. As others have mentioned, call the company if you have some time to kill.
    If this happens again, stand near your car and call the number on the truck or look for a, "our company values safe driving, call xyz to report". Talk loud enough for the driver to overhear you. Mention, "I'm at XX location and one of your trucks has blocked me in. The driver is totally ignoring me so I have no idea how long it would be. I'm happy to wait for a few minutes to get the job done but I have no idea if it'll take 5min or an hour and I need to be on my way"

  • +1

    You were right to ask but it's not worth getting upset over.

    If he was scratching himself, I'd be annoyed. But if he's clearing bins or grabbing lunch, you have to let it slide. Operating those trucks and doing that job is just a PITA.

  • Honestly the garbo would only be there for 5-10 mins max.

    he could've at least yeah moved forward.

    • +6

      garbo would only be there for 5-10 mins max.

      It took him 15~ish mins to empty the first containers worth of bins (Return and Earn machine). There were 2 machines that needed to be emptied. Wage employee, on a Saturday, double time… trust me, he was in absolutely no rush to get these bins emptied.

      he could've at least yeah moved forward.

      At a minimum… truck was already running, he was standing there, I was asking… 60 seconds to move it forward, let me out, move it back.

        • +5

          exactly, and what if OP had tripped getting in to their car and broken their leg and then the poor garbo in a running truck would have to get out and be inconvenienced further by the OP. . the OP should just shut up and wait the 15 minutes for the hard working aussie battler (who just wants a fair go) to do his job /sarcasm tag

          • +13

            @altomic: If nothing else, this thread has given me a good chance to update my "blocked" list.

            I'm the arsehole because I asked a guy to spare 60 seconds to move his truck forward so I could get out… lol. ok :D

            The rest of that users reply is just more anti-EV garbage that is unrelated to what the post was even about.

            • +6

              @pegaxs: I’m with you OP. Ignore the haters. There is so much EV hate on this website you would think it was a political party or a religion.

              The fact the driver was ignoring you and couldn’t even just say “sorry I’ll be a couple of minutes” obviously shows they hate EVs.

              I’m petty enough that I would purposely go there now and park in a way that hinders him…

        • +1

          It's quite obvious from the photos that the truck isn't just keeping a clear path. He's actually encroached into the charging bay. When he pulled in to do the job he's made a conscious decision to block access. He should, at the least, be reprimanded by Cleanaway.

          • +1

            @us3rnam3tak3n: What's NOT obvious is what's on the other side of his truck. A garage near to me has very similar layout to those photos. The charging bays must be located away from the fuel pumps AND where a high current electrical supply can be mounted on a concrete footing. Some shipping containers and bins are next to it just as in the photos, and the petrol station entrance and access to the dozen petrol pumps is on the other side of the truck.

            So if the truck had driven in and parked over a bit to allow just one or two EVs to leave, the truck would now be blocking 30+ cars from entering the petrol station about every 10 minutes, meaning those other cars soon fill up the exit lane, and are now spilling back out into one of 2 lanes on a 100km/h highway with no stopping signs. A few minutes later… BANG! All because some entitled Karen can't wait a few minutes longer, and as if the truck driver was supposed to consult his crystal ball app to know when someone else's vanity project would be done charging.

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