Lithuanian Mayor crushes car of bike lane blocker

Frustrated mayor finds a military solution

Published: August 3, 2011 at 9:28 am

The Lithuanian capital of Vilnius has been faced with a problem that many will be familiar with worldwide, cars parking illegally in cycle lanes. Most cities would use the approach of fining drivers or clamping the offender's vehicles to resolve such a problem, but not so in Lithuania.

A video has surfaced that shows mayor Arturas Zuokas commanding a Soviet-era armoured personnel carrier that proceeds to completely flatten a Mercedes Benz that was parked illegally in a cycle lane. After inspecting the remains of the Mercedes S-Class he declares, "That's what will happen if you park your car illegally!" as he then confronts the shocked owner of the car. Zuokas is then seen sweeping up then shattered glass and loading the remains of the car onto a recovery truck before whirring away down the freshly cleared cycle lane on an e-bike.

The recording was actually a set-up from Mr Zuokas that was produced to highlight the issue of illegal parking. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think of his tactics.

Lithuanian mayor crushes car of bike lane blocker