Parking lots that violate the law: Can be prosecuted

Today (November 18), the Hanoi police and traffic sector held a conference to review Plan 01/KH-BCĐ on inspecting parking lots in the city, focusing on violations such as encroachment on sidewalks, lack of business licenses, tax evasion, and failure to post ticket prices at parking lots.

Colonel Tran Thuy, Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police, also recommended that for vehicle parking lots that do not have a business registration, use more than the licensed area, collect fees exceeding the prescribed fee with a large difference, and do not fulfill tax obligations to the State, if serious violations are discovered, with sufficient grounds, they can be transferred to the City Police investigation agency for criminal prosecution.

86% of parking spots violate

According to statistics from the interdisciplinary force, from May 19 to October 19, the interdisciplinary inspection teams of Steering Committee 197 inspected 271 parking lots in 10 inner-city districts, discovering 232/271 parking lots with violations.

Specifically, there were 219 violations of not having a business registration or a temporary license to use the sidewalk or roadway for vehicle parking, 177 violations of occupying the sidewalk or roadway, 84 violations of posting ticket prices, 88 violations of collecting fees in excess of the prescribed fee... The authorities have issued administrative sanctions on 232 cases, with a total fine of more than 4.8 billion VND.

Through inspection, it was found that the most common violations in vehicle parking activities were violations of parking area and traffic obstruction, encroachment on sidewalks and roadsides, no price list, overcharging, and failure to fulfill tax obligations to the State.

Most of the parking lots on sidewalks and roads violate the use of licensed areas, encroaching on pedestrian areas, causing loss of urban beauty.

Evidence such as the day and night car parking area in the 7.2ha area of ​​Vinh Phuc ward, Ba Dinh district, organized by Mr. Phan Van Han, did not have a temporary license to use the sidewalk and roadway, occupying 560m2 of sidewalk and 40m2 of roadway for car parking business.

In addition, agencies, businesses, hospitals, schools, and parks also use their premises as temporary vehicle parking lots, most of which are not registered for business and do not fulfill tax obligations to the State.

There are even places where the Ward People's Committee signs contracts with individuals and organizations or assigns departments of the Ward People's Committee to organize vehicle parking services, considering this a source of revenue for the ward, such as: Tran Hung Dao Ward People's Committee; Youth Union of Trang Tien Ward People's Committee, Lieu Giai Ward Trade Union, civil defense force of Dich Vong Ward People's Committee, etc.

In addition, some parking lots are licensed by agencies and businesses to use sidewalks and roads, but they sign contracts to "resell" to other individuals, units and businesses to enjoy the difference.

Violations will result in license revocation.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Cao Thang, Deputy Chief of Office of Hanoi City Police, the situation of violating the provisions of the law and regulations of the City People's Committee in vehicle custody activities is complicated and affects traffic safety and order, urban beauty.

Explaining this reality, according to Lieutenant Colonel Thang, the interdisciplinary force has closely coordinated and resolutely punished parking spots that violate Decree 34/2010/ND-CP dated April 2, 2010, with an administrative fine of 25 million VND per violation.

“In particular, there are parking lots that have been warned and fined three times, but the very next day they repeat the violation,” Mr. Thang shared.

Mr. Thang also added: "The fact that parking lots still violate the law is partly due to the People's Committees of the districts not being decisive in handling the situation, and the decisions to punish violations are still too slow."

According to Colonel Tran Thuy, Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police, the competent authorities grant overlapping licenses, simultaneously granting temporary use licenses for both sidewalks and roads to one unit at a vehicle parking location.

For example, some parking lots licensed by the District People's Committee and the Department of Transport also violate Decision 20/2008/QD-UBND of the City on regulations on management and use of sidewalks and roads.

Specifically, many locations licensed by the District People's Committee on sidewalks less than 3m wide, or licensed 2 rows of vehicles on sidewalks 5m wide, or licensed too close to intersections... Parking lots operated by Joint Stock Company 901 and parking lot operators have taken advantage of this to only use them for car parking for profit.

Faced with that situation, Colonel Thuy requested that the Traffic Inspectorate and Public Order Police forces be required to increase inspections and resolutely suspend illegal parking lots, not allowing them to exist and having their licenses revoked.

The Department of Health, the Department of Transport and the Hanoi Tax Department, along with units with parking lots, must rectify operations, review and reissue operating licenses to arrange reasonable parking lots, and strictly handle violations of collecting fees in excess of regulations and failing to fulfill tax obligations.

“When checking and discovering large tax-evading vehicle parking lots, we will transfer them to the City Police Investigation Agency for criminal handling,” Colonel Thuy recommended./.

(According to VNA)