An Oregon Smart Car owner received a ticket for improper parking after parking perpendicularly in a parallel parking spot. Police clarified that car's positioning made it difficult for surrounding vehicle's to leave and for other vehicles to enter. The driver was charged with a $15 city citation for improper parking. Photo by Laurie Card/Newport Police Dept, Oregon/Facebook

NEWPORT, Ore., March 25 (UPI) -- Police in Oregon pointed out a local Smart Car owner's unorthodox parking method, after they found the vehicle parked perpendicular in a parallel parking spot.

Newport police department shared a photo of the vehicle to Facebook, as an officer wrote the driver a ticket for improper parking.


"Smart Car? It failed simple geometry," they wrote. "You can't legally park perpendicular in a parallel spot."

Police later clarified why the car was given a citation in the comments, stating that the vehicle's positioning made it difficult for other cars in the area to exit their spaces.

"The vehicle that was cited was not only parked in someone else's parking spot, who was legally parked, but it created a problem for the legally parked car to exit, not to mention someone else that would want to pull in and use that spot," they wrote.

They also noted that while motorcycles are permitted to park perpendicularly, vehicles are held to a separate and uniform parking standard regardless of size.

According to police the driver was issued a $15 citation at the city level, as opposed to a state citation which would have incurred a $120 fine.