EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Croydon Street Cronulla Car Park Hoax - Sign Still Claiming 405 Spaces Available - Locals Demand Proof.

Harper Vale | Investigative Journalist | Sutherland Shire Gazette

25 October 2025

CRONULLA – Every day, cars snake down Croydon Street, drawn by a glowing digital promise: 405 spaces available.

They know it isn’t true. They come anyway.

For months, the sign at Cronulla Central Car Park has displayed the same impossible number - an unblinking act of confidence in a world otherwise devoid of it. Drivers idle in the heat, eyes glazed, waiting for the universe to make good on a lie.

No one can remember when the number froze. Some think it’s a glitch. Some suspect it was an April Fool’s joke. Others call it public art. Most have simply accepted it as part of Cronulla’s landscape - like seagulls, or couples arguing over parking validation.

This week, local handyman and serial civic volunteer Trent from Engadine offered to donate a pack of AA batteries “just to see if that fixes it.”

“He sorted the broken playground last week,” said one admirer. “If anyone can save the sign, it’s Trent.”

At the base of the display, residents have begun leaving quiet offerings - empty coffee cups, Acai bowls, parking stubs, and a handwritten note taped to the pole that reads simply: “Prove it.”

“It’s not just a number anymore,” said one driver, staring upward from behind a fogged windscreen. “It’s a metaphor. For everything.”

And still they wait - engines idling, hope flickering, all of them wondering if perhaps, one day, there really will be 405.