Residents fined even though they had parking permits

ABU DHABI: Motorists are complaining of being wrongly fined by Mawaqif.
Agin. K, an Indian expatriate, said he got four fines in the last two months even though he had renewed his parking permit.
“My six-month residency parking permit for the Sector E10 in Hamdan Street expired and I renewed it for another six months on April 15. Yet I have got three fines for Dh200 each and one for Dh100 for unauthorised parking,” said Agin.
Fined despite permit
Another resident who gave his name as L.K. said he got two parking fines although he has a permit. “This is the second time I am being fined in the last three months. I have taken a yearly parking permit from Mawaqif. Either there is some technical error or the gadgets carried by the inspectors are faulty,” said L.K, who lives in the Airport Road area.
Agin and L.K. said when they approached Mawaqif it was discovered their renewals were not updated in the computer system.
“It was after almost a week of running from one office to the other, [that] I got my fines cancelled. Last week, I got a message from Mawaqif saying my permit has been renewed,” said Agin.
There was no immediate comment from the Department of Transport.
Abu Dhabi introduced the paid parking system of Mawaqif in 2009 and there are currently 98,000 paid parking spaces in the city. Parking spaces are divided into residential and non-residential areas in various parking sectors. Only those with residential parking permits can park their vehicles in the residential sectors. Others have to obtain parking tickets on a hourly basis.
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