A driver thought their Tesla would be safe at a shopping centre car park. They were left shocked by what they saw on the security footage when they returned

Shocking footage captured the moment a stranger slashed a tyre on a Tesla after the driver double-parked in a busy car park at a shopping centre. 

In footage captured by the Tesla's in-built cameras, a young man was seen bending down before he punctured one of the rear tyres at the car park in Gympie, Queensland.

The man was later seen emerging from behind the electric vehicle to speak to another man and woman while gesturing at the double-parked Tesla. 

The owner shared the footage on YouTube and said he planned on pressing charges.

'Low life scum slashing our tyres,' he captioned the video. 

'Had this happen to my wife yesterday. Sorry should've let everyone know. Please [sic] have his details and will be pressing charges.'

However, some viewers were quick to point out the Tesla driver was also at fault.

'If you double parked in the far corner of the shopping centre, that's fine but if you double park on purpose near the entry, you are scum as well,' one said. 

'Not condoning the slashing but certainly a case of the pot calling the kettle black.'

'So you parked like an asshole and an asshole came along and stabbed your tire. Not quite a tie, but close,' a second wrote.

A third shared: 'The Tesla driver deliberately parked that way and in that spot to not allow others to park beside. It's a convenient method to avoid getting door marks. 

'Not condoning the action at all, but people should have more awareness of the parking but also shouldn't go around stabbing tyres.'

It comes just days after a Tesla driver was left shocked after a vandal bent one of her side mirrors and destroyed her rear number plate. 

The woman had parked the EV on a residential street in Lindfield, in Sydney's Upper North Shore, just a short walk away from the train station last week.

She activated 'sentry mode', which uses built-in cameras and sensors to record any suspicious activity around the car, before leaving for work.

The woman was dismayed to discover her rear number plate and left side-door mirror had been destroyed when she returned to her car that evening.

She consulted the footage from the cameras and saw a man wearing a black jumper, pants and gloves approaching the car while holding a leaf blower.