An argument at a skate park between an adult scooter rider and a parent supervising young children over who has the right of way to use the park has sparked an online debate.
YouTuber Bradley Goudie said he went to the Gordon Spratt Reserve skate park outside Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island at around 9:30am recently and found it packed before returning an hour later.
The footage shows him asking the group of more than a dozen parents and young children if they could “all get out of the park” as he would be “speeding past” shortly, prompting one mother, whom he labelled “Karen”, to tell him to “wait his turn”.
“Hey team, just a heads up: I’ll be by here super fast in 15 minutes if everyone can jump off the obstacles,” Goudie said in the video.
“Are you asking us to move? You told me that two weeks ago at the other park,” the woman replied.
“These kids were here before you, so you can just sit back and wait until they leave… They’re under five years old and they’re having their time.”
Mr Goudie explained in the video’s caption that he believes “children are more than welcome to ride scooters in parks, but they should not be running, playing, sliding and snacking on the ride” as they had been doing.
The war of words continued as Mr Goudie repeatedly swore in front of the children and then proceeded to run around the park doing flips, somersaults and slides within inches of the parents and toddlers, prompting the woman to call a police officer.
An argument between a father and a professional cyclist over who has the right of way to use a skate park has sparked an online debate.
The woman told Mr. Goudie that she pays taxes and that the skate park is a public place.
He responded by pointing the woman to a sign that advises “encouraging younger children to use the pump track or main skate park at quieter times of the day.”
However, the sign also says that “the skate park is for everyone to enjoy” and to “stay calm and wait your turn.”
At one point the woman told him, “Get a job.”
“This is my fucking job,” Mr. Goudie replied.
The woman also warned him that there would be trouble if he ran over a child with his scooter, to which Goudie replied: “If I run over someone, I’ve warned you how many times.”
When the policeman arrived, Mr Goudie explained that he encounters this situation often and that he was politely asking the children to move for their own safety as the handlebars are approximately at the height of their heads.
The officer agreed that children can be “unpredictable” when moving around the skate park and told her he had spoken to the parents group and they would be leaving soon anyway.
YouTuber Bradly Goudie said he frequently encounters this situation and asked the children to clear the park for their own safety.
Many commentators sided with Mr Goudie.
“These kids were sitting with bags and scooters lying all over the park, making it dangerous for everyone there,” one said.
“They can use the park, of course, but they can’t sit on the obstacles,” added another.
“It’s like having lunch in the middle of a basketball court when people show up to use it and say it’s public,” said a third.
‘About entitled people… there’s a huge park nearby for little kids, this is for real scooter and skateboard riders,’ added a fourth.
But some also sided with parents, arguing that children have a right to use the facilities.
“I agree with the lady: let the children play. Do you remember when you were eight years old and adults stopped you from having fun?”
“What’s an adult doing at a skate park on a Monday morning anyway?” another asked.
“Did you edit out the part where you were standing in a place yelling bad words and made two kids cry? The video was posted last night,” a third said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Goudie for comment.
