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Old 3rd August 2008, 02:04   #1
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COPS making a quick buck by picking vehicles parked in parking area

Hi all,

I had a really bad experience which has left me in bitter taste.
I had gone along with a friend to have some quick get together and snacks.
I was sitting outside and was keeping a constant vigil on my friends bike which we had brought.
After that we went for a walk.

To my surprise when i came back I saw that my bike was missing from the parking zone.
As one should normally react I panicked and called up another of my friend who has been
in Pune for a longer time.
He asked me to relax and simply go to the nearest police station and get the bike as most
probably the cops had taken it.

I went and to my horror the bike was actually there.
They had simply picked the bike (i repeat it was parked properly within the parking area) and taken along.
Instead of arguing and spoiling my day further i paid the fine and walked away with the bike.

Now the question is has the police lost all morality and is doing daylight robbery from citizens?
If the police is resorting to such cheap ways then are we actually safe in our very own country.
Is there any way we can stop this from happening apart from off course contacts?

I am sure others must also be having similar experience at some point of time or other.
post your views and suggestion.

Sorry for the long post that too at 2 in the night

Last edited by motorheadinc : 3rd August 2008 at 02:13.
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Old 3rd August 2008, 08:10   #2
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First you should have taken photo of spot where you bike was
Secondly you should have clicked photos of policeman and asked for his badge number etc.,
If asked why? Tell him your father works in India TV and they will do a story on it. They will also come to thana tomorrow so wear your best uniform and brush your teeth with whitening toothpaste
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Old 3rd August 2008, 09:41   #3
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If you had parked in the right place why did you pay the fine. Typically they pick up bikes from the no parking zone and put a mark with the chalk on the road where it was parked.
I believe if you had parked in the right parking ZONE there was no need for paying come what may its not about money but about teaching them the right ethics that they can not take anybody for a ride like this.
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Old 3rd August 2008, 10:02   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
First you should have taken photo of spot where you bike was
Secondly you should have clicked photos of policeman and asked for his badge number etc.,
If asked why? Tell him your father works in India TV and they will do a story on it. They will also come to thana tomorrow so wear your best uniform and brush your teeth with whitening toothpaste
Can imagine the reaction clear and vivid!!!
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Old 3rd August 2008, 10:38   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
First you should have taken photo of spot where you bike was
Secondly you should have clicked photos of policeman and asked for his badge number etc.,
If asked why? Tell him your father works in India TV and they will do a story on it. They will also come to thana tomorrow so wear your best uniform and brush your teeth with whitening toothpaste
tsk it would have made no difference.
My taking pic of the spot would have proved nothing.
Secondly I am not a "localite". had a I been one i would have surely taught them a lesson.
Had you been stranded in such a situation in say south india what would have you done?

@ sameer: the question is not why i paid the fine.
If i had not they would have further made it miserable for me.
I prefered to pay the fine and walk away as it was the only logical thing to do when you come to
face with cops who are hell bent at making money and will accept no argument whether you are
right or wrong.

Last edited by motorheadinc : 3rd August 2008 at 10:40.
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Old 3rd August 2008, 18:17   #6
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There is no point in doing anything against these cops. I have faced this on more than one ocassions in my city.

Everytime I was offered a deal. If I pay rs. 50, my bike would be freed and I wont get a receipt. Else pay rs 100 and get receipt. I went in for the receipt deal.

The question that " have the cops lost all morality " does not need to be answered. Look around you and you will come to know.

Moreover the way they handle the vehicles that are taken away makes me feel bad. I hope your new bike is scratchless till now.
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Old 3rd August 2008, 18:40   #7
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Seems like this is not an isolated case.

Yesterday noticed a traffic police,on bike here in Bangalore, writting out a parking ticket for a parked WagonR. Now this was parked on the side of the road, not obstructing traffic or anything. Neatly parked on the side. And do note that there are no 'No Parking' sign; hell, there is no road signs on the entire stretch!

Now what do you say for that???
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Old 3rd August 2008, 23:04   #8
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Edited after posting. Reason - I realized that it is my 100th post

Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyWheels View Post
Now this was parked on the side of the road, not obstructing traffic or anything. Neatly parked on the side. And do note that there are no 'No Parking' sign; hell, there is no road signs on the entire stretch!

Most of the times, we assume that if there is no parking sign, it is a parking place.
Couldn't it be the other way round?
Why did we not think, if it was the place to park, since there is no board saying "Parking"

I have seen this happening many times, people merrily park their cars on the side of road, sometimes they think, I am the only one, and after that the person who comes next would "assume" that it is a parking place, and parks, and "sometimes" the people who parked last would get fined, since that is when the whole place would have blocked passing traffic, and police have entered the scene. The person who started the whole drama by parking first, would have completed his work and left the scene, unaware the chaos he/she started.


In Bangalore, most places where parking is allowed, is marked as Free Parking(parking fee was removed around couple of years ago as part of BBMP budget). Only commercial street and brigade road are on road paid parkings.
Some places would have boards like parking on 1,3,5 days and other side of road 2,4,6 days. But people end up parking on both sides of road, and then get fined, and think that they have "legitimately" parked and "illegally" fined.

There might be few bad people even in Police, but at the same time, it would be wrong to assume that they are all bad.

Last edited by sriturl : 3rd August 2008 at 23:05. Reason: hurray
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Old 3rd August 2008, 23:45   #9
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[quote=sriturl;926020]Edited after posting. Reason - I realized that it is my 100th post ...[

Congrats!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sriturl View Post
...Most of the times, we assume that if there is no parking sign, it is a parking place.
Couldn't it be the other way round?
Why did we not think, if it was the place to park, since there is no board saying "Parking"...
There might be few bad people even in Police, but at the same time, it would be wrong to assume that they are all bad.
Till 3 weeks back, in this stretch the sides were not tarred. And this is not a highway. And before this tarring, all the people did park their vehicles on the side.

But then how does one differentiate between a parking and a non-parking area? In areas such as these, the police guy could have actioned if this vehicle was obstructing traffic, which wasn't the case.

And I do agree that there are good people in police. I never said the police guy was bad, its the application of the rule which was not in the right spirit.
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Old 4th August 2008, 03:46   #10
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Is it a 4wheeler parking area?
My friend has paid the fine +towing charges for doing that mistake. There was a parking board. Left side of the board (there was a aero mark not so visible) for 4wheelers and right side of the parking board pole is for 2wheelers. He just parked after the pole on the left hand side without knowing that. On his return he came and saw that bike was missing... Then same story....went police station......
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Old 4th August 2008, 09:21   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by motorheadinc View Post
Hi all,

I went and to my horror the bike was actually there.
They had simply picked the bike (i repeat it was parked properly within the parking area) and taken along.
Instead of arguing and spoiling my day further i paid the fine and walked away with the bike.

Is there any way we can stop this from happening apart from off course contacts?

I am sure others must also be having similar experience at some point of time or other.
post your views and suggestion.
First, you lost your case when you paid the fine meekly, because that means you accepted that you had parked illegally. Don't expect things to change when educated young people like you who know the rules don't protest and argue your case.
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Old 4th August 2008, 17:07   #12
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Was it KA registered? My Goa registered bike was picked up right in front of me from a parking area on CMH Road. I caught them while pulling it out and made a big scene. Some inspector on a Pulsar came later and saw i was creating a scene and that the guys were in wrong, waved off the tow truck and asked me to not worry.

The 2 takka ka chockra's think they are cops too. Very irritating behaviour.
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Old 4th August 2008, 17:20   #13
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Just one query? Was this on a month end?
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Old 4th August 2008, 17:24   #14
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Oh, don't you guys know? This is a very well established racket. The towing trucks are run by the contractors. Now, everyone involved is hand in glove in most cases. The contractors need to generate business as they get the butter for their bread from the towing commissions that they earn.

The police guys let them tow vehicles from any place (including proper parking places, as long as the owner is not there at that moment) on particularly lean days. Once the vehicle has been put on the truck you can not prove anymore that it was in a proper parking. Its your word versus theirs. Anyhow they also get a cut from the towing charges that the contractor earns.

Similarly, when they say "pay Rs.50 without the challan and take the vehicle or else pay the full fine with challan" and you opt to be the morally upright citizen by paying the actual fine and taking the reciept the only thing you manage to do is to make a dent in his profit. Because the moment a challan is issued the contractor gets his towing commision and from that the ones hand-in-glove also make a nifty cut.

Its really difficult to fathom where the real ends and the unreal begins.
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