Parallel parking Belfast woman is internet hit

A video of an unfortunate woman trying to park her car in a Belfast street has become an internet sensation.

It shows a female driver taking about 30 minutes and several attempts to reverse her car into a space between two vehicles on Fitzroy Avenue in the Holyland area.

The hapless attempt at parallel parking was captured on a mobile phone, after a group of students from a nearby house saw the scene unfold.

They uploaded the footage to YouTube, named it The World's Worst Attempt at Parallel Parking, Enjoy, and it has now been viewed more than 700,000 times.

A blow-by-blow commentary was given by Ciaran Doherty and Ciaran Shannon and their friends, which undoubtedly helped the footage go viral.

Ciaran Doherty told the BBC: "One of the boys in the house was looking out the window having a wee bit of fresh air and saw it. The next thing we were all at the window and looking out.

"We were looking at it for a good 15 minutes before we started videoing it. I offered to park the car for her. I can't believe she couldn't get it in. It could easily have fitted a big people carrier in that space."

The students' comments on the video include: "What is she doing, like?" and "this has been going on for 20 minutes".

They cheer when the woman appears to be mastering the task in hand, shouting such encouragement as "go on get her in, go on ye girl ye".

'Day five'

But then the students fall about laughing as the woman appears to be carrying out a three-point turn instead of parking.

They shout "women drivers" and "man she's nuts, she's turning too early" and "ah no, she's coming back out".

At one stage the commentary is reminiscent of a reality TV show, as one of the students shouts: "Day five".

After 30 minutes, when the car is finally parked, the watching students whoop with delight and give the poor woman a round of applause.

Ciaran Shannon said: "We found it quite funny. It was crazy. The space is big enough for the car to fit in. I drive myself and have had plenty of problems trying to park cars. That was an exception."

Ciaran Shannon initially put up the footage on his Facebook page but never imagined that it would have such a huge response.

"It was only a joke between my friends on Facebook, the next morning there were 30,000 views," he said.

The boys admit they were perhaps a little unkind to the woman but would love to track her down.

"We've been trying to find her. We've been up and down the streets, but no such luck yet," said Ciaran Doherty.

His friend told the BBC: "We want to see her view of the story. We would like to meet her and just talk to her."

If they ever find her, perhaps she would tell them that true grit and determination pay off in the end. As any woman knows.