Top News

Drivers of one popular car brand have been identified as the worst parkers in Europe, according to a major new study. Mercedes owners took the crown, with almost a quarter of drivers understood to have stopped their vehicle in a bay incorrectly.

Experts at DiscoverCars.com reached out to nine travel bloggers who analysed the parking habits of 913 cars in popular car parks across five of the most popular European cities. The bloggers observed which car brands were parked within the lines or stopped in a disabled parking bay without a valid badge.

According to the experts, car parks in Manchester, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona were included in the study. Mercedes came out clearly on top, withSilver Arrows owners found to be the worst parkers in Europe.

The German car brand had the highest percentage of badly parked cars, with 25% of models parked incorrectly. According to the analysis, the worst-parked cars were found to be in Barcelona. However, Aleksandrs Buraks, head of growth at DiscoverCars.com, stressed that it wasn't just owners of luxury brands who were causing an issue.

Aleksandrs said: "It was interesting that Mercedes drivers were found to be the worst parkers, which doesn't help the bad rep luxury car drivers can sometimes get. While three out of five of the top five worst parkers were luxury car brands, Volkswagen and Citroen being in some of the top spots show that it's not just luxury brands that often make parking blunders."

Citroen was next, with 24.4% of models from the French marque found to be parked incorrectly. Experts found that some Citroen drivers in Barcelona and Rome had even stopped their vehicles without a valid permit.

BMW came in third after analysis from travel bloggers found that as many as 21.7% of vehicles were parked incorrectly.

Tesla (20.5%), Volkswagen (20.4%) and Seat (18.3%) came next, followed by Ford (18.1%) and Audi (17.7%).

Aleksandrs added: "When parking, it's important to consider other drivers-you don't want to take up two spots or make it more difficult for someone else to park properly! Before leaving your car, double check you're between the lines and that your badge is clearly visible when parked in a disabled space."