Woman plants herself stubbornly in MBS parking lot to 'chope' it, another driver reverses car in anyway

Looking for an empty parking lot at a popular shopping mall can be a particularly excruciating experience.

But one couple who spotted an empty lot at the Marina Bay Sands carpark thought of a clever parking hack to 'chope' – local slang for reserving a table or seat at an eatery – it by sending a woman to quickly stand at that lot while her partner circled back for it.

Unfortunately for them, that plan backfired as a fellow road user decided that he was having none of her antics and proceeded to reverse into that very lot anyway, ignoring the woman who planted herself there. 

The incident occurred last Sunday (May 15) at around 3.12pm.

A roughly two-minute clip was captured on the driver's dashcam and posted on the SG Road Vigilante's Facebook page.

The post amassed 77,000 views and 310 comments at the time of writing. 

From the video, the woman in yellow, could be seen casually standing in the empty parking lot. 

While a red sedan passed up the chance to park at the said lot, the dashcam driver decided he was not going to stand for her nonsense. 

This driver slowly reversed his car in as the woman continuously knocked on the car, in an attempt to stop him from parking.

She walked towards the driver's seat, telling the driver she had already 'chope' the parking lot.

"I insisted that we should get the security but she said she will report it to the police, she proceeds to walk away and said 'I will see you next week'," said the driver in the caption.

It is unclear what she meant by 'see you next week'.

In the online sphere, it was clear which side the netizens were on.

"You did the right thing. We can't be intimidated by such acts of bullying," a netizen said, applauding the driver.

Elsewhere, other netizens were referencing the woman's actions to a habit more commonly seen at hawker centres or food joints.

The clear lack of a tissue packet might have ultimately been her demise.

In August 2019, a similar incident occurred across the Causeway when passengers of a white BMW with a Singapore licence plate rushed out to physically stand in an empty parking lot.

The group even accused a woman of "causing a jam" when she confronted them.

ALSO READ: 2 women at busy Geylang carpark stand in parking lot to reserve space, refuse to budge

amierul@asiaone.com