Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ipoh is becoming a fine city

Within a 3-month period, my son, my wife and myself were summoned for parking offences. We do not live in Ipoh: my son lives in Petaling Jaya and we live in Batu Gajah, so our visits to Ipoh were few and far between (we average twice a week which include Sunday market when parking is free!). We are not habitual offenders, just being unlucky for the few times out of necessity (as in being held up for longer than expected) or not being mindful like on Saturday. To us it seemed like a Sunday because my son was with me on Friday (which seemed like Saturday). Just imagine, I parked at the other end of 'Concubine Lane' and walked along it to Kwong Hing coffee shop. I had my bowl of noodles and coffee before I realized about the parking coupon, so I told my son that I will go and check and bring the car round. Barely twenty minutes parking and the summon was already under a wiper.

I still cannot get over being given a ticket a few years ago, for parking opposite Heritage Hotel, Ipoh, on a road off Jalan Tambun between 10pm and 12 midnight! The undoubted efficiency of the parking wardens seems to me that they are on a commission basis. It also reminded me of the time when an OCPD of BG set a quota for his men to issue tickets! Just imagine policemen, like salesmen, looking for 'victims' and meeting 'sales' targets.

I am not complaining about efficient enforcement (I am all for it), but the different standards of enforcement in different cities and towns. I have actually seen a traffic policeman in BG, who actually tried to find out whose cars they belonged to (instead of issuing immediately), in front of the usually congested roads outside a sinseh practising from home. We also have this nagging feeling about people who parked illegally outside designated parking lots getting away, like what I experienced in Kepong Baru, KL. Anyway, I sure miss the system where parking attendants issue tickets for us to pay later, and we get fined only if we did not pay up. Very often, we get held up in the bank, for instance, for longer than expected.
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