We already shared the story of an Uber driver who arrived home to find someone parked in the spot he had shoveled and then ‘saved’ by placing an ‘old bookshelf’ in it. He then exacted revenge on the parking spot thief by shoveling all the snow back in the space, right on top of the car.

Now, hear from the alleged perpetrator.

Emily Ackerman manages a South End restaurant. She moved to Boston six months ago from upstate New York.

When Ackerman left for work on February 8, she gave up a parking spot she had shoveled out, on Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain.


“I didn’t put anything in the spot I dug out,’’Ackerman said. “I didn’t know that I wouldn’t be able to find another spot.’’

That evening, she returned home from work only to find there were no spots available near her apartment.

Ackerman didn’t know the space saver rules. You’ll never guess what happened next.

“I was totally baffled. I knew I had to find a spot with no marker,’’ she said.

After driving around “for about an hour,’’ Ackerman finally found a spot with no space saver. It was on Dunster Road, almost a half mile from her apartment.

Ackerman now knows that the original shoveler of the Dunster Road parking spot claims to have placed an old bookshelf in the spot to save it.

But she told Boston.com there was no bookcase there by the time she arrived.

“Whether someone took it or what, I don’t know,’’ she said. “I pulled my car in, and didn’t think anything of it. I walked home and went to sleep.’’

Later that night, the Uber driver arrived home from his evening shift, only to find Ackerman’s Monte Carlo with New York plates parked in ‘his’ spot.

He pondered his options, and acted, covering her car by shoveling all the snow back in.


The next day, Ackerman walked the half mile back to the parking spot, only to find her car absolutely buried.

“I called my mom and told her all the other cars have only a foot of snow on them,’’ she said, adding that at first she assumed a plow must have been responsible.

“It didn’t hit me for a few minutes. And then I called my mom and said ‘I think I pissed somebody off.’’’

Ackerman said the whole incident has had her laughing more than anything else.

“I was kind of confused at first. But then I laughed about it,’’ she said. “I just had to dig it out and move on.

It took Ackerman three and a half hours to free her car from the spot.

Ten days later, Ackerman was on Facebook and she saw Boston.com’s story.

“I said ‘Oh my god that’s my car’ – and then I decided I needed to reach out – to apologize,’’ she said.

“I wanted to offer a sincere apology. I’m sure it ruined his day, too,’’ she said. “And the whole thing is really just funny. I’ve been giggling about it for hours now.’’

The Uber driver who buried Ackerman’s car asked that his name not be released, for fear of punishment for his “crime.’’ But he told Boston.com he accepts Ackerman’s apology.

“As far as I’m concerned, as soon as I finished shoveling the snow back in, everything was right with the world,’’ he said. “It’s good we’re both able to sit back and laugh about it.’’


Ackerman is moving to the South End tomorrow, where space savers are banned but still very much used.