Wheel locks applied on 192 vehicles over accumulated parking fines in Sharjah
Cars with accumulated fines of Dh3,000 and above and expired registration blocked
Sharjah: Sharjah Municipality has applied the lock on 192 vehicles over the past three months over unpaid fines and expired vehicle registrations, Ali Ahmad Abu Gazien, Director of Public Parking Department at Sharjah Municipality, told Gulf News. Abu Gazien explained that since the beginning of last year, the municipality had implemented the system of locking vehicles with accumulated fines of Dh3,000 and above and with expired vehicle registration beyond one month.
These locks were placed on the vehicles and notifications sent to the respective owners. In addition, a sticker was placed on these vehicle, indicating the nature of violation and the accumulated fines, along with a warning that the vehicle would be towed away after 48 hours and taken to the municipality’s impoundment yard in case the fines were not cleared and the registration not renewed.
Abu Gazien pointed out that a total of 192 vehicles were locked over the past three months. He said that the inspection team carried out continuous inspection campaigns to monitor all violations, as the municipality provided more than 50,000 paid parking spaces all across the emirate.
How to pay parking fees
Fees can be paid using coins, by sending a text message from mobile phone, through prepaid cards or through a soon-to-be-launched electronic wallet.
Paying parking fees through SMS:
Motorists can receive a virtual parking permit via SMS and can be billed directly through their mobile phone bill — in case of post-paid mobile subscribers. Alternatively, the fee can be deducted from available etisalat credit for prepaid mobile subscribers.
Customers can send a short text message, mentioning the vehicle plate number and the number of hours for which parking is required. The message can be sent to 5566.
Sharjah Municipality has further simplified the service, whereby, etisalat and du users with private UAE plate numbers can use this service without registration.
Those from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and with non-private vehicle plate numbers need to register with the smsParking service. As soon as the account is activated, a user can add multiple vehicles to his or her account for which he or she can pay parking fees by sending an SMS.