Driving home a lesson

Driving home a lesson

Grace period: MPPP enforcement officers waiting for the car owner to turn up after clamping the vehicle that is occupying space reserved for motorcycles in Pulau Tikus, Penang.

THE first day of the wheel-clamping move by the Penang Municipal Council saw nine cars being clamped on the island.

The exercise, which started at about 11.30am in several parts of the Pulau Tikus area, was carried out by nine MPPP enforcement officers.

Council assistant enforcement officer V. Siva Kumar said the exercise attracted curious stares from the public.

He said many motorists removed their illegally parked vehicles upon seeing the operations being carried out yesterday along Lorong Kuching, Cantonment Road and Burmah Road.

“It’s not the council’s objective to cause any inconvenience to anyone but our aim is to clear the roads from any obstruction,” he said, adding that the operations would continue today in other areas of the island.
Read the sign: A car parked on a clamping zone in Burmah Road.

From now until June 1, he said owners of vehicles that were clamped need not pay the RM50 fee to remove the clamp but would be given warning and advice instead.

However, vehicles not claimed within four hours would be towed to the council’s enforcement premises on Jalan Timah in George Town.

“The owners will be billed RM150 as towing charges for cars and RM300 for heavy vehicles,” he said.

The clamping will be enforced round-the-clock, while the time to remove the clamps is from 8am to 10pm daily except public holidays.

A notice will be put up on the vehicle to enable the owners to contact the council to remove the clamps.

As of 3pm yesterday, all nine vehicle owners whose cars were clamped had contacted the council office to get the clamps removed.

While clamping is new on the island, it has been carried out on the mainland by enforcement officers from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) since July 26, 2005.

MPSP councillor Oon Neow Aun said the operations under the Traffic Ordinance (Parking Coupons) MPSP 1995 were conducted from time to time to ensure the vehicles were parked in the designated places.

He said 1,006 vehicles had been clamped over the first four months this year, and RM50,750 collected in the Seberang Prai area.

“Last year, we collected RM78,100 after clamping 1,530 vehicles all over the mainland,” he said, adding that MPSP had started wheel-clamping and towing since July 26, 2005.

A check revealed that 18 vehicles were clamped in the Jalan Padang Lalang area of Bukit Mertajam yesterday morning.

Most of the owners were seen paying the RM50 fee to remove the clamp without any hesitation.

A motorist who came out of a bank upon seeing his car being clamped immediately rushed back to the automated teller machine (ATM) and withdrew money to pay for the removal of the clamp.

Oon said for those who failed to pay the fee by 6pm, their vehicles would be towed to the MPSP store and the owner would be charged RM200 in towing fees.

~News courtesy of The Star~