In the video above, a concerned or somewhat irritated citizen questions a Land Transport Authority (LTA) traffic warden over why he choose not to issue summons for the illegally parked cars along the side of the road.
The video shows cars clearly being parked along the side of the road where it has double yellow line painted over it.
It first appeared on AllSingaporeStuff.com.
It was mentioned by the website’s contributor that the Siglap South Community Center was having an event with a Member of Parliament attending the function.
Vehicles were illegally parked up to their carpark gate, making it difficult for residents to turn into. He then called LTA and a traffic warden came. He noted that the traffic warden did not issue any summons for the vehicle.
He also pointed to his own scenario where he parked on a single yellow line with his parents in the car a few months back. The LTA traffic warden came and his 70 year old dad pleaded to the officer to give them 5 mins as he ran to the shop to grab a loaf of bread for him. However, the traffic warden just simply said “NO, this is illegal parking” and they had to pay the fine.
According to LTA’s website, there shall be no parking at all times on road demarcated by unbroken double yellow lines.
Below is the transcript of the video documenting the conversation.
Citizen: You call your boss.
LTA officer: he said take picture to send to LTA.
Citizen: So are you authorised to give them fine?
LTA officer: Yes, but now I informed to my boss already.
Citizen: No, are you authorised to give them fine?
LTA officer: yes.
Citizen: Ok, you are authorised to give them fine right? Is this illegal?
LTA officer: yes
Citizen: Are you going to give them fine?
LTA officer: yes
Citizen: Ok, fine. Go ahead.
LTA officer: But I follow my instructions lar Sir
Citizen: No. There is no instructions. There is no instructions ok? It is very simple, I am going to take this in record, I want to know what is your job?
LTA officer: My job is to issue summons lar Sir but I informed LTA already.
Citizen: Wait wait wait, No need to inform anybody. Outside you see, (pointing to the illegally parked cars), you want to give fine?
LTA officer: Yes.
Citizen: Fine. Carry on and give them the fine please
LTA officer: But I already report..
Citizen: What is there to report? outside you see, you got inform your company?
LTA officer: But I ask first, the situation…
Citizen: How come I park double yellow line, no one ask anything, just fine you know?
LTA officer: You see the seriousness of the obstruction lar, Sir
Citizen: No its not serious or not serious. (video ends)
Over the years, complaints have been raised over how the LTA traffic wardens carry out their duties, especially in recent days where they only have to take a photo of the vehicle in an illegal position to summon the vehicle.
Also read here for more on LTA summons, 4 summon tickets in a mere 15 minutes park at the roadside for ferrying of the body to funeral site and LTA officer stopping a coach which is part of the funeral convoy to issue summons ticket.
Therefore, it is puzzling why was the LTA traffic warden reluctant to issue the summons for the cars which are illegally parked outside the community center. Was it because the cars might belong to some influential grassroad members or the member of parliament?
Summoning duties has been transferred by the Land Transport Authority over to CERTIS CISCO since a few years back.
TOC has sent an email to LTA for queries and include their response when they reply.
Update: Reply by LTA
We refer to your email of 26 January 2015 and wish to inform on our investigation results arising from the incident of 24 January 2015 along Siglap South Community Centre (CC).
Event organisers may occasionally request special parking approval from LTA to enable event participants to park at a kerb with double yellow lines for a designated period. These include occasions such as community events, large gatherings at places of worship or school events. For such requests, LTA would consider a range of factors, such as safety and impact to traffic flow before deciding whether or not to grant approval.
In this case, LTA had investigated the incident to determine whether the CC had applied for such approval. The CC did not do so and the warden should have issued summons to those who parked illegally. With this, we had taken the necessary actions against our outsourced contractor.
Thank you for the opportunity to clarify.
