Man surprised at reaction to car parking challenge

A man who recently completed a challenge to park in every space at a supermarket has revealed his favourite and worst spots, saying he never expected it would go viral.

Gareth Wild achieved his goal of parking in all 108 spaces of his local supermarket in Devizes, Wiltshire. He finished his previous challenge at a supermarket in Bromley, London in 2021.

Since his recent conquest, Gareth has gained lots of attention online and recently appeared on the BBC's Have I Got News for You and Channel 4's The Last Leg.

"It's quite a strange thing because it's quite a silly story and you don't always expect things like this to blow up," said Wild.

"I didn't really expect it to happen the second time. I thought I might get a small reaction, but nothing to this sort of level," he said.

Wild originally came up with the idea in 2015 to make his weekly food shop more entertaining.

"Every week I do my food shop and I find it incredibly boring," he said.

"So I thought, 'why not try and park in every single spot in the car park?'

"It all appeals to my sort of deep sense of being a bit of a geek and trying to make things into a game," he said.

This time, the Devizes car park - smaller than Bromley - took him just under two years.

He meticulously logged every bay using a spreadsheet and Google Maps, dividing the site into zones A–F, and excluding spaces he couldn't use such as Blue Badge bays or motorcycle spaces.

But while his first challenge focused on simply completing the map and took six years, Wild said this time he paid more attention to the experience of each individual space, including the best and worst ones.

His favourite was A2, one of the first spaces visible from the entrance.

He said: "You can just roll right into it. It's close to the front, there's a trolley bay right there. It's a 'god tier' spot."

By contrast, his least favourite was C17.

"It's basically right next to a wall and the parking bay is already quite thin," he said.

"It's always the one you dread."

Wild said he never went out of his way to find bays to park in and tried to make sure it was always part of his weekly shop.

"I always made sure the challenge fit around my life, rather than taking over," he said.

His family were fully behind the project, including a brief cameo from his step‑mother‑in‑law, who is a Blue Badge holder, allowing him to tick off one disabled bay.

"They enjoyed being part of it," he added.

As for his next challenge, he said: "The sky's the limit.

"There's other supermarkets in Devizes, but I'm kind of brand loyal to this place.

"Maybe I'll take a break for a bit," he added.

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