A Guildford family on an initial day trip to Brighton spent the entire bank holiday driving around the city looking for an elusive car parking space.
The Lawrence family clocked up nearly 2,000 miles as driver Gary drove for 60 hours solid in search of somewhere to park their family car. Gary, his wife Mel and their two children Tommy and Eleanor, set off from their Surrey home at 8am on Saturday morning in the hope of a day by the sea but the day trip soon turned into a road trip as the family unsuccessfully scoured the city for somewhere to park up.
After spending over two days non stop at the wheel Gary only awoke from a 48 hour kip yesterday and contacted The Bulletin to vent his anger: ‘It was a lovely day so we thought why not head to the seaside. We arrived and found a space straight away on the seafront but Mel said it was too pricey so we went on the hunt for another one but we couldn’t see any for love nor money. We went back to the first space but it had been taken, we tried all the multi stories but they were full up, we tried up all the side streets but they only had 2 hour max stay bays and we wanted longer when we next checked the time it was nearly 7pm. Mel started being a prat and whining and the kids were going mental in the back, I wouldn’t wish the situation on anybody.’ The 41 year old cab driver explained.
Undeterred Gary drove through the night only stopping to re-fuel and to collect their drive through meals that kept them going through the torment. In the early hours of Sunday morning the family thought they had struck gold after they spotted a space on Ditchling Road before realising they had spent their last bit of change on some chicken bites from the petrol station and by the time they had got some more change someone had nipped in the space. Despite his family begging him to call it a day Gary soldiered on, ‘They were all nagging me but eventually they gave up and slept through most of Sunday evening and Monday. I watched a lot of the Olympics on the telly and it was those guys who got me through, they didn’t ever give up, if ever I thought of going home I thought to my self what would that nice fella Mo Farah do?’ He said.
Eventually at 6pm on Monday Mel convinced Gary to go home as she reminded him he had recorded the Grand Prix so he could get home and watch it. Reflecting on the weekend Gary said ‘ I won’t be rushing back. We have done £300 quid in petrol, the car stinks and is a right mess, I missed two days work as I couldn’t bloody stay awake when I got home, the wife and the kids hate me and to cap it off I got a speeding ticket on the way home but hey at least I gave it my all.’
The Brighton Bulletin 
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