A Vancouver man who parked in a priest’s reserved spot at a South Granville church claims he was pinned in by that same priest’s car during an unusual parking dispute.
Anil Kambo says he was dropping off food to the South Granville Senior’s Centre on Tuesday, which rents space in the building of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Kambo admits he parked in the spot reserved for the church’s rector, Rev. Karl Przywala.
But shortly after Kambo parked there, he claims the priest then double-parked his own vehicle in front of Kambo’s, making it impossible to leave.
“He said, ‘I’m calling the tow truck and I’m not moving now,'” Kambo told Global News. “He said, ‘now you’re on your own.'”
Pictures from the scene show a black Mini directly facing Kambo’s white SUV. Because another car was parked in the stall next to Kambo’s vehicle, he had nowhere to go.
“He said, ‘you can sit here all day. This is my parking stall. You should know who I am,'” Kambo said.
The executive director of the seniors’ centre, Clemencia Gomez, said she tried to apologize to Przywala, hoping he would move his vehicle and allow Kambo out of the stall.
“The priest said, ‘I’ll leave my car there and never move my car,'” Gomez said.
Przywala would not agree to a formal interview, but told Global News in an email that he had no intention of blocking Kambo’s vehicle. Instead, he said he did not want to disrupt traffic in the underground lot.
He also disputed most of Kambo’s claims.
“Witnesses can verify this and Mr. Kambo’s uncooperative manner,” Przywala wrote. “He made no effort to remove his car so that I might access the parking space.
“I made it clear to Ms. Gomez that I would move my car if Mr. Kambo asked me to do so,” he added.
Onlookers who witnessed the parking job said they were “amazed that this could happen in a church.”
“To think of blocking somebody’s wrongfully parked car with a wrongfully parked other car … that boggles my mind completely,” said one woman who did not want her name to be used.
After being stuck for more than four hours, Kambo was finally able to leave — but only after Vancouver police tracked down the owner of the vehicle next to his.
The driver then made space for Kambo to drive around the Mini.
Kambo says he knows he shouldn’t have parked in the reserved spot, but did not think it would result in the hours-long experience.