Sharjah: Parking lot owners in Sharjah are under the cosh for letting motorists wash their cars on their premises.
After a string of Dh1,000-fines issued to them by Sharjah Municipality officers in recent weeks, they are now insisting on vehicle owners signing an undertaking stating that any fine slapped by the municipality for car-washing will be borne by vehicle owners.
Parking attendants say they are left with no choice but to extract the guarantee after the municipality’s latest crackdown on car-washing in public which is illegal in Sharjah.
Washing a car outside the designated car wash areas attracts a fine of Dh250 for individual car owners while illegal washers are fined Dh500. However, parking lot operators being fined instead of the car owner is a new move by the municipality, say residents.
New penalty
“I had never heard of something like this before, but now I have to pay heed,” said Al Majaz resident Rafiq, who last week signed a declaration that he would cover fines parking lot owners may get because of his car.
“This means that I won’t be able to wash my car in that parking lot anymore. Who wants to pay Dh1,000 in fines It’s not worth the trouble?” added the man from Pakistan who has been parking his SUV in a privately run lot near his apartment for a little over one year.
For Dh75 per month he would get his four 4WD washed every alternate evening by a Bangladeshi man.
After a spate of recent fines, all such activities on parking premises are now out of the question, say parking attendants. “We can’t risk fines because of them. It’s their problem, not ours,” said Afsar who manages an open parking lot in the neighbouring Al Khan.
“They can still wash their cars in our parking lot, but if they are caught, they have to pay the fine even if it is issued to us. It’s that simple,” he says.
“When it is not our mistake, why fine us? We have every right to extract the amount from the owner of the car that was responsible for the fine,” said another parking lot attendant who didn’t want to be named.
Over 500 cars are estimated to be fined every year for washing their cars publicly in undesignated areas.
A comment from the Sharjah Municipality wasn’t immediately available.
