It is no longer news that the Abuja “park and pay” policy in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has come under deluge of criticisms since its inception.However the use of coercion and sundry dubious ticketing processes is now the order of the day by some operators.
The Abuja Park and Pay Policy was introduced by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and has since been described as an avenue for extortion by many motorists in the nation’s capital. Under the policy, an average motorist in Abuja will pay N14,300 per month adding up to a whooping N171,600 in a year in parking fees.
The policy, which took off early last year, makes it mandatory for all vehicle owners to pay a fee of N50 for every 30 minutes- between the hours of 7am to 7pm- that their cars remain parked along the road. Any motorist who parks beyond the stipulated time allotted on a purchased ticket will have his or her vehicle clamped, towed, and forced to pay N5,000 into the coffer of the enforcement company at a commercial bank before the vehicle is released.
The trend now is the various dubious methods used by parking attendants, who are employed by the various operators or concessionaires, to cheat motorists on one hand and deprive government of revenue on the other hand.
For Barrister Hyp Egbune, an Abuja-based lawyer, Wednesday March 6 cannot be easily forgotten. On that day, Egbune fell victim to the antics of a park and pay attendant.
According to Egbune, at about 9:20am on the fateful day, he had arrived at Port Harcourt Street, Area 11, in his car with registration number EX 508 LND to represent a client at the National Industrial Court. On arrival at his destination, he was approached by a Parking Attendant whom he handed the sum of N400 as charges for parking his vehicle in the bay for the period he anticipated to be in the court.
“The attendant duly issued me with a ticket to cover the period of three hours expiring at 12:22pm and held back my change. I there after displayed the ticket on the windscreen of my vehicle and went about my business,” Egbune told newsmen in an interview.
Egbune got the shock of his life when he returned to the vehicle at about 12pm and found out his vehicle had been clamped with notices pasted on the side glasses of the car, one of which had a penalty charge notice indicating that the vehicle was clamped at about 11:50am, a clear thirty-two minutes before the actual parking time the lawyer paid for. “To my utter disbelief, I saw a number of new tickets displayed on my windscreen, I gathered them, assessed them and found out that the tickets issued to me on my arrival had been exchanged for the new tickets bearing handwritten irregular numbers suggesting forgery.”
Egbune said he immediately confronted the attendant who admitted that the clamping of the vehicle was wrongfully done and wouldn’t have happened if he had not gone for a break. “From that point, I knew it was fraud. The attendant had wanted to play a fast one by removing the original tickets after I left while anticipating that the enforcement people will not come around before my leaving, thereby pocketing the money and denying the government its revenue.”
Several people in the past have reported similar experiences narrated by Egbune. The sharp practices have continued unabated by the enforcers of the park and pay policy. The lawyer, however, told newsmen that he will not allow the misdeeds go unchallenged. He has therefore petitioned the operator company, Automaten Technik Nigeria Ltd, who employed the attendant demanding for the sum of two hundred thousand naira as “compensation for damages, for pain, suffering, public humiliation and inconveniences” suffered by him as a result of the “wrongful and illegal detention of the vehicle”. The acknowledgement copy of the said petition, a copy of which was shown to reporters and written by Crescent Law & Legal Chambers was received by one Anyim Lillian, on behalf of the company.
Egbune said the money will be donated to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of his choice and failure of the company to accede to his claims will attract legal action without further delay.
Many may not be privileged to take Egbune’s decision. Many vehicles are frequently impounded as a result of the inability of motorists to pay the outrageous fines that start at N5,000 and then increase at the rate of N1,000 demurage for each additional night a vehicle is kept at the Pound Yard.
For her part, an official of the FCTA defended the policy saying it was meant to help decongest the nation’s capital city. She added that Abuja was getting more congested and crowded by the day both in human and vehicular traffic and measures had to be taken to keep the situation in check. Meanwhile, not a few people have argued that the government should rather take the blame for not addressing the absence of a rail transport system and the inadequacy of mass transport facilities, including public buses and car parks.
It will be recalled that an online news medium earlier reported that motorists stated that those who are responsible for clamping vehicles often hide in a corner and watch to see if their unsuspecting victims (motorists) will stay even a minute beyond the time stipulated on the ticket. Sometimes, motorists who pull over by a street to ease themselves have their vehicles quickly clamped in a commando-style operation by armed mobile policemen.
“The connivance of law enforcement officers with these racketeers is another source of worry for motorists and it is most unfortunate,” said Nana Modupe Onwodi, a gender activist and country coordinator of Gender Justice and Equity Initiative (GJEI).
Numerous motorists in Abuja blame the FCTA for failing to put adequate infrastructure in place before forcing the parking policy on the people. “You see, I was once a parking attendant in London. It is an automated system they operate there and no fraud at all,” Egbune told LEADERSHIP Sunday. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Dear motorists, whenever you purchase your ticket, display it from INSIDE your car. I noticed a parking attendant was unhappy when I did this. I used a little tape to ensure no one will tell me they did not "see" the ticket.
ReplyDeleteThe operators should provide the plastic card that is displayed inside the cars It used to be sold for 1000 and it saves you the problem of not finding the attendants especially when you go into the Swiss embassy at 830 am when they have not come
ReplyDelete