‘One of the worst I’ve seen’: Sydney car park fixed days after being exposed in scathing viral video

A major Sydney council has been exposed for the shocking state of a public carpark used by thousands of drivers.

But repair work on the massive potholes, leaking pipes and hanging wires only began after a social media influencer shone a light on the dangerous conditions.

Mahmoud Ismail raised the alarm about the West Terrace Carpark in Bankstown in a video that garnered more than 400,000 views in less than 24 hours.

Located next door to a senior citizens’ centre, the heavily used carpark was riddled with potholes and leaking pipes.

Ismail, a western Sydney local who rose to prominence for his regular coverage of local road hazards, joked that the facility had not been maintained since the Bulldogs last won an NRL grand final. That was in 2004.

He pointed out a string of safety hazards, including barely legible road markings, loose power cables hanging from the ceiling, and bollards that were “hanging on by a thread”.

One man featured in the video claimed that water had coated the entire bottom level for six months due to a leaking pipe.

The persistent dripping has created and filled several deep potholes, creating a major hazard for drivers.

“People are fed up. People are messaging me every day ... the least you can do is maintain your car park,” Ismail said.

Amid the chaos, he spotted several council rangers actively booking cars for overstaying time limits.

“I wish they put that effort into the potholes,” he said.

“This is one of the worst car parks I’ve seen, and I’ve seen so many car parks.”

Ismail said the building’s owners should address the safety risks immediately.

After the video exploded, Canterbury-Bankstown Council told nine.com.au it was already working to repair the car park.

“Fire service specialists were called to the car park this morning and repaired a leaking fire hydrant, which has contributed to the damage to the roadway,” a spokesperson said.

“Council staff have laid asphalt and made temporary repairs.

“They will wait until the area has completely dried out before carrying out heavy-duty patching.”

Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek commented on Ismail’s post shortly after noting that the council carried out immediate repairs to the parking lot.

“You flagged it - we fixed it!” he wrote.

“Council undertook temporary repairs to fix the potholes. Once the area is fully dry, we’ll be able to carry out more heavy-duty works.

“For context, there’s also a fire hydrant located in that carpark that was leaking and the leaking made the issue worse.

“That fire hydrant was also fixed [on Tuesday] thanks to special fire service workers.”

A local wedding venue representative told nine.com.au the poor state of the car park was directly harming their business.

“If a bride and groom come to book here and see the entry looks like this, they’re not going to book,” she said.

The representative noted that while council rangers frequently ticket cars parked illegally, the lot is busier than ever.

The surge in traffic follows the closure of Bankstown train station, which has forced replacement buses to take up street parking across the area.

She added that the sudden arrival of repair crews on Tuesday morning caught her off-guard.

“Until today, nothing was fixed,” she said.

“But I came to work this morning and noticed they had finally patched the potholes.”

“They never looked at it until they came and raised the issue and the problem on social media.”

On Wednesday, Ismail posted another video declaring that the carpark had been repaired following Monday’s post.

He pointed out that the potholes were covered, the abandoned rug in the middle of the carpark had been removed, and the leaking pipe is under repair.

“The council must be watching my videos,” he said.