COMMANDER of the Police ‘A’ Division, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken and his administrative team met with the operators of cars and buses who occupy parking spaces in the Stabroek Market area.The commander first met with the taxi operators who raised concerns about Route 40 buses and private-hire cars encroaching on their parking spaces.

Hicken encouraged the concerned taxi operators to make the practice a thing of the past by raising an alarm whenever this occurs or to contact the traffic department or him directly, so that the errant driver could be charged for breaching the road codes.
The next stop was over at the bus park which is shared by the Routes 45 and 41 buses, which ply the South Ruimveldt and Guyhoc routes.

There, operators spoke of the breach of a turn system which presently exists at the parks and the practice of some buses which continue to flout the standard operating procedures at the parks and which on many occasions, usually go unnoticed by traffic ranks and other police officers in the area.
Incidentally, a police outpost is located just a few inches from where the park is located, but the operators still experience the lawlessness by some minibus operators.
The police along with the Ministry of Public Works had placed boulders in the very parking area to regulate the loading and off-loading of passengers by the route 45 and 41 buses, because of the lawlessness that has long been ongoing at the park. However, it seems no amount of regulation would be able to see the drivers complying and conducting their operations in an orderly manner.
Hicken addressed the concerns of those operators and cautioned them about the constant overloading of the buses that is very prevalent among operators of the route 41 and 45 buses.
Over at the Route 42 park, which accommodates buses plying the airport route, the issue of inadequate parking was raised by those drivers. They suggested that the commander assist them with a new parking arrangement, as they requested that they be allowed to park in a southerly direction, which was objected to by the traffic officer on the ground at the time.
The Traffic Officer Sergeant Boyce explained that should the buses be allowed to park in that direction, the congestion in the area would be even greater. Presently, some operators are parking in a southerly direction, while others are parking east to west.
On Monday, Hicken and his team are expected back in the area to test the suggestion of the operators to see if it is workable, before a definitive decision is made on the parking arrangements.
The final stops were the Routes 48 and 40 parks, where drivers were urged to air their concerns. Those concerns were not many, but were similar to those raised by the operators at the 41 and 45 parks.
Hicken assured operators of all the routes that the police would be looking to work with them and asked them to form themselves into groups that would be able to speak to him on a collective basis on all the operators’ behalf.
He made it clear that his intention was not to form an association, but create an avenue where the operators would better be able to have a forum and body which interacts directly with the top command of the division in their interests
Among those who made the impromptu visit to the parks were the deputy commander Dion Moore, Chairman of the Road Safety Council Shahab Hack, Crime officer Jessemy and OC/ Impact Austin among other senior ranks.