News On Japan

Japanese convenience store demands ransom from owner of car parked illegally in its lot

Aug 09, 2017 (rocketnews24.com) - The owner of one branch of the Mini Stop convenience store chain has had it with non-customers parking in his store's parking lot.

Not only does this prevent Mini Stop customers from using the occupied space, he can't even confront the perpetrators directly, since after parking their car they wander off to whatever their non-Mini Stop destination is. So to deal with the problem, he recently decided to leave a note on an unauthorized parker's car.

The shop owner plastered the car with notices, including a traffic cone on hood stating "No parking allowed for non-Mini Stop customers." While this might seem like an extreme reaction, the presence of detailed printed reprimands suggests that this is a frequent problem for the store.

The papers taped to the window say "There are a limited number of parking spaces in our lot, so please refrain from: napping in your car or using it as a meeting place, leaving your car here and going somewhere else, or remaining parked for more than 30 minute after finishing your shopping." Peeling all those off is going to be a pain for the car's owner, but the bigger headache is the boot that the store owner has attached to the car's right rear wheel, locking the car in place. "A boot has been placed on your car!" the handwritten notice announces. "If you want it removed, please pay 40,000 yen (US$360)."

Source: ANNnewsCH

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