A cooler of empty beers and a poorly parked Volkswagen led Oak Bay police to an impaired driver.

Police said an impaired man in his 60s was able to find a coveted mid-day parking spot near the beach and play area at Willows Beach Thursday but was unable to negotiate the parallel stalls on Esplanade.

He drove his car completely onto the sidewalk, not stopping until his front wheels had cleared the concrete, coming to rest on the driftwood below.

Oak Bay Police tweeted a series of pictures of the car, challenging their followers with a question: “Yesterday a man visited the beach in #OakBay. He had some parking issues. Any guesses why?”

The tongue-in-cheek post continued with the caption “Here’s what we, in the biz, call "a clue."

Pictures showed a cooler on the car’s passenger seat containing six opened cans of Carling Black Label beer. The car was impounded and the man’s licence has been suspended for three months.

"If you put too much alcohol in your body and drive, you're being selfish, placing others at risk, and you'll face the consequences of the legal system," Oak Bay Deputy Police Chief Ray Bernoties said.

Oak Bay police say the man was lucky no one was injured and are reminding drivers to plan ahead if they know they’ll be drinking alcohol.