A farmer noticed that people were parking their cars on his land. He asked them to stop, but his requests were ignored. When he saw that his warnings were not being taken seriously, he took action to stop the culprits. Did it work? And did he get in trouble with the police? Take a look at how this story developed.
Hard Work
Farmers are known for being hard workers. While modern office employees stay in the comfortable confines of air-conditioned buildings, farmers work all day under the hot sun just to make ends meet.
So it’s understandable that this particular farmer was very annoyed to see that people were parking their vehicles on his property without permission. Not only was this private property, but these cars were also interfering with his work.
Gutsy Farmer
The name of the farmer in this story is Davao Bedekovic, he was the sole owner of the farm that people seemed to park their cars on freely, and he has been working the land for a very long time. Davao is just a simple man trying to earn an honest living, and people were rudely trespassing his territory consistently.
The last thing Davao wanted was to draw attention toward himself, but after word got out about his reaction toward the illegal parkers, the story went viral. Suddenly, he received a lot of publicity for his gutsy and funny way of dealing with the situation.
A weekly issue
Bedekovic’s farm has been there for a long time. When his village (Jakuševac) became connected to Zagreb and its weekly flea market, many people began flooding into the town to check out the local merchants. The hoards of people that poured into the village meant that parking was scarce near the market itself.
As the local farmers were not selling their crops at the flea market, they had little to gain from the entire ordeal. In fact, it was rather annoying to them to see the place flooded with people. When some people began to park their cars on his land, he just couldn’t sit by and let it continue.
Convenient parking
The enormous venue that holds the flea market brings a lot of bargain shoppers with it. Meanwhile, Bedekovic’s farm is located right next to the market itself, making it a prime target for people looking to park their cars.
In reality, it’s easy to see why so many individuals saw this land as a convenient parking lot, but that does not justify their actions. It remained private property, and permission hadn’t been given to anyone even to enter the property. But what was this farmer supposed to do to prevent people from coming onto his land with their cars?
A little history
Bedekovic’s farm is located in a small village that became a part of the Zagreb municipality. But this was not always the case. Zagreb itself was made up of various small villages and settlements. Dating back to the 19th century, it had already become the largest Croatian city.
Toward the end of the 20th century, the Soviet Union deteriorated, and Croatia declared independence in 1991. That’s when this village officially became a part of Zagreb. But many locals were not happy about this turn of events, as a result of what was located in this municipality.
What’s the big deal?
The overall area of Bedekovic’s land is quite large, and it had the capacity to allow for a lot of vehicles to park there on Sundays. So why is it such a big deal to him if people park there?
Well, the first issue is that nobody actually asked for permission to park on his property in the first place. Additionally, damage can be done to the ground, even though the vehicles are not in motion for most of the time they are there.
Potential damage
Initially, it shouldn’t seem like a big deal if the farmer would allow people to park on his lot. Still, farmers and anyone who knows anything about vehicles will understand that cars release a lot of toxic materials during and after being driven.
These materials can filter into the soil and render it infertile. In other words, his land would be unable to grow the crops that he needed to. So it makes sense that he took matters into his own hands.
Other issues
Bedekovic’s dependence on his land to earn a living makes this issue very sensitive to him. Moreover, Jakuševac is also the location of the largest landfill in all of Zagreb. Modern technology has been able to limit some of the damages from this toxic wasteland, but it cannot completely prevent all harm.
The threat of the landfill, coupled with the toxic materials from these cars were simply unacceptable to this farmer.
Threat to livelihood
The landfill itself is enough to cause a threat to local farmers. And when it rains, the water that falls on the landfill filters through the waste, eventually turning into a black and chemical-filled liquid called leachate. This water often enters the soil underneath.
If it makes its way to the underground water near or under the farmlands, it can turn the entire plot of land into an infertile and barren field, making it unable to yield any crops at all.
It must stop
The landfill is a threat that he cannot stop by himself, but the presence of more and more cars each week was poisoning his soil. Bedekovic needed to take action to make sure his land was protected.
He needed to make sure his crops would grow so that he could earn his modest living in peace. Meanwhile, the illegal parkers seemed to be increasing each week. The farmer was forced to take immediate action.
Finally taking action
In a video that went viral, the cars can be seen parked on Bedekovic’s land, in two rows as if it was a parking lot. The landowner could have towed the cars if he chose, but he decided against that, even though the cars could have been poisoning his soil.
So what exactly did he do to get back at the car owners? How did he get his revenge on these trespassers?
Working the soil
The farmer had enough of the disregard toward his previous warnings. He got into his tractor and turned on the ignition. Then, he began to plow the soil surrounding the parked cars.
As he continued to turn over the soil, random onlookers had yet to figure out what was going on. After all, it seemed natural to see a farmer working the fields on his own property. So what exactly was his plan?
Stuck in the mud
When the car owners started to return to their vehicles, Bedekovic’s plan was finally revealed. Everyone soon realized that the freshly tilled soil could not be driven on. The cars and their respective owners were now all stuck on the land they illegally trespassed.
None of these illegal parkers thought this would happen when they left their cars there. But this farmer had enough of the general disrespect. He simply couldn’t take it any longer.
Police
Shortly after people realized their cars were stuck on Bedekovic’s property, the police were called to resolve the issue. This really could have gone either way. While it’s true that this was private property, the flea market and its shoppers were significantly contributing to the local community and its economy.
How would the police handle such a delicate situation? Would they take the farmer’s side, or will they try to keep the customers happy?
His right
After the cops sorted through the mess, they ended up siding with the farmer. They realized they could not dictate to him when and how to plow the soil on his own land. On top of that, he explained the damage that could be caused to his land, and that he was simply doing what was necessary to protect his property and livelihood.
The farmer’s plan appeared to be working.
Can’t move
One woman who parked on his property quickly realized she was unable to move her car. She drove a silver Peugeot, and the more she fought the soil, the more she got stuck in place.
One of the police officers even offered to try and drive the car off the land himself. But it was still unclear whether anyone would be able to help her get back to the road and on her way back home.
Kind farmer
Even the cop was unable to get the woman’s car unstuck. After letting them struggle for a while, Bedekovic realized the woman had learned her lesson. She would never use his property as a parking lot again.
So he climbed back onto his tractor, and quietly began to flatten the land around her car, hoping to pave a path for her back to the road. Would this be the end of this saga?
Other solutions
As the story was developing, a video uploaded to Youtube began to go viral. The vast majority of people praised the farmer for “teaching them a lesson.” Others felt he should have posted a sign saying there was no parking allowed.
Other ideas began to flood the chats, including potentially charging them for parking there. But many people are unaware that the soil could be ruined by cars parking there.
Similar situations
One Youtuber recalled a similar situation from when he was growing up. He told a story of another farmer who had people parking on his land. That farmer decided to build an actual fence with barbed wire.
When the car owners returned to their cars, they were unable to even get to them without completely cutting themselves. It seems that Bedekovic actually took a much more mild approach, simply trying to stop the parking madness.
Legal action?
Once the cars were finally off the soil and back on the street, the cops that showed up at first had to decide whether or not to hand out tickets to the illegal parkers. They opted not to do that, as to not deter them from returning to the flea market.
But the farmer could still decide to sue them all. Any judge would side with him, as he was clearly in the right. But what would Bedekovic decide to do?
The perfect revenge
Ultimately, the cops didn’t end up doing anything, and Bedekovic decided not to pursue legal action. The farmer ended up getting the perfect revenge on these trespassers. He didn’t want to spend time and money on lawsuits, and he also didn’t want to harm the business that came in from the flea market.
He just wanted people to stop parking on his land. And it’s safe to say, that goal was successfully achieved.
Will it repeat?
The only way for Bedekovic to make sure people stop parking there is to put up a fence. Otherwise, others might continue to park there, especially if they were unaware of this story. In all likelihood, this farmer could have to use this method again in the future.
But at least he knows it works. And as the news spreads of what happened to these trespassers, there should be fewer illegal parkers willing to take that chance.
Zagreb
Zagreb is the most highly populated city in Croatia. The area is rather large, and it has enough space for farmland. But aside from the landfill and flea market, Zagreb also has the biggest market for used cars. People flock to this city, always looking for a bargain.
And as such, there will continue to be a need for convenient parking whenever they come to town. Hopefully, Bedekovic can prevent others from illegally parking on his land in the future.