Hanoi police crack down on illegal parking

Hanoi\'s traffic police have begun a blitz to crack down on illegally parked cars.

Head of the municipal Police Office Nguyen Duy Ngoc said as many as 100 police teams have been established to patrol and fine illegal parked vehicles in the five main districts of the inner city, including Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Hai Ba Trung, Dong Da and Tay Ho.

Illegally parked vehicles would be fined between VND600,000 (US$30) and VND1.4 million ($67) depending on the scale of their violations, he said.

Driving licences are expected to be temporarily seized for around 30 days, Ngoc added, saying that the parking blitz, which kicked off yesterday, was aimed at lessening traffic jams on popular streets and improving driver awareness regarding parking rights.

After one-day blitz, around 90 drivers were fined VND72 million ($3,456), five of which had their vehicles temporarily seized and 85 of which had their driving licences revoked.

As part of their efforts, city police have re-examined the parking lot system throughout the inner city.

Around 58 cases of violation have occurred since early this month, mostly based on operating without business licences, overcharging customers and encroaching on pavements.

Yesterday, four parking lots on Hoa Lu, Le Dai Hanh and Tran Khat Chan were found in violation of city regulations.