GEORGE TOWN, Nov 21 – The woman whose car tyre was clamped by local council enforcers for parking at a lot marked for the disabled, today urged Penang Island City Council to act against two officers involved in the incident on Monday.
The woman, Eunice Ooi Chee Lin, 40, who work as part-time insurance and real estate agent, told a press conference at the MCA headquarters at Jalan Transfer in George Town, Penang, that at the time of the incident yesterday afternoon, she was headed to the banks along Macalister Road, with her wheelchair-bound mother.
Her mother, Teoh Ah Hon@ Teoh Ah Hun, 72, was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and also has Stage 1 breast cancer, diagnosed two years ago. She is too weak to walk and hence has to be wheeled about in a wheelchair.
At noon yesterday, the mother and daughter had gone to two separate banks on Macalister Road to withdraw their savings to repair the leaking roof of their pre-war shophouse on Kedah Road here, which was damaged during the recent rainstorm and flash floods.
They returned from the banks at 2pm to find their Toyota Vios car wheel clamped and called the enforcement section for help. Ooi said two officers only came two and a half hours later at 4.30pm.
She said she had to skip lunch and feed her mother some packed food by the roadside while waiting for the officers to arrive. Ooi said she refused to pay the RM50 fine to the officers to release the wheel clamp. A bank officer who had served them earlier came out to pay the fine on their behalf later.
Ooi admitted she had yet to obtain an OKU or disabled card or even apply for the city council’s disabled parking pass. She said her mother was just discharged from Penang Hospital on Nov 15.
Ooi and her mother later went to City Hall at the Esplanade to meet Mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif. Maimunah explained to Ooi on how an enforcement officer determines if a disabled car park lot has been abused.
Maimunah also assured her that her parking summons will be voided and her disabled parking pass application expedited once she get a full medical report in order to register for the OKU card with the Welfare Department.
“We have expedited the OKU parking sticker for you. If you can just get the OKU card for me, I will give you the sticker right away. Here is my handphone number, call me. Even at night, once you get the OKU card, give me a call. I will give you the sticker,” she told Ooi.
Maimunah said following this incident, the city council’s Traffic Committee will review standard operating procedures when enforcement officers face cases similar to Ooi’s and recommend improvements. Ooi then thanked the mayor and told reporters she would head to the Welfare Department to get her OKU card done. — PN
