Police to crack down on parking touts

Persons who are blocking off streets and parapets and only allowing persons who are willing to pay for a parking space are committing an offence.
This is according to A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara) Commander Marlon Chapman.

Of recent, parking touts have taken up positions at several streets in the city and are blocking off the parapets, forcing drivers to pay for parking.
Drivers, especially those traversing along Wellington Street, Georgetown, have complained bitterly about this new phenomenon. According to drivers, the touts dressed in orange vests direct persons where to park and those who refuse to pay are blocked from parking in the area.
While some persons who are urgently seeking parking are appreciative of the touts, others who are not comfortable with persons demanding payment have taken to social media to express their disgust.
One person in a post on social media complained that he was about to park his vehicle when someone in “an orange jacket ran out to him”, telling him not to leave his vehicle there but somewhere else if he was not paying to park.
According to that social media user, these persons leave drivers with almost no options as sometimes they are even threatened “that’s why y’all car does break and enter”.
Commander Chapman in an invited comment on Monday told Guyana Times that this practice was illegal.
“That can’t be legal. I haven’t had complaints of what you are speaking about, but that cannot be legal. I don’t know if they are employed by the persons who own those business places; I can’t speak about that,” the Commander said.
Chapman explained that if those persons were employed by business owners, then the Police would have a different approach in those cases; however, if those persons are operating of their own accord, then enforcement will have to be done to ensure persons’ safety.
In this regard, Chapman promised to look into the issue, while adding that consultations with legal advisors may have to be done to decide on the way forward.