New rules: LePark street parking at owner’s risk

Critics ask what kind of precedent this sets for contractors.

LAHORE:

LePark has absolved contractors of responsibility for parking lots. Causing consternation among car owners regarding the kind of precedent this would set for international contractors.

LePark has six parking lots at the moment (two of the eight it originally had were closed down by the police, while another two have had their area curtailed). Four parking lots, along the road, are ‘on street’. If a car parked in one of these lots gets damaged by another car LePark takes the responsibility. However, if the car is stolen the onus is on the owner.

Earlier, the contractor was responsible for a car parked in a lot with a token. If a vehicle was stolen from any of the parking lot, the police arrested the contractor. The contractor had to either pay the value of the stolen vehicle or face a theft FIR.



LePark, however, takes full responsibility for parking lots where entry and exits are controlled ‘off street’. Moon Market and Liberty Market parking lots fall under this category. District Officer (Public Facility) said there was no law compelling contractors to pay for a stolen vehicle. He said LePark had made these rules 15 days ago. LePark, he added, was only determining the reserve prices to be set for the lots which would be put up for auction and did not want to be entangled in any legal hassles.

He was critical of the precedent set by LePark. He said he feared that international contractors would follow suit. If LePark was not willing to shoulder responsibility for on-street parking then how could contractors be expected to carry the burden.



LePark Managing Director Mian Shakeel said that worldwide responsibility lay with the vehicle owner when it came to street parking. When asked why LePark was setting a precedent, Shakeel said there was nothing illegal about it. He said the bid proposal had been made and an advertisement would be placed in the newspapers. He said they were still deliberating whether their rule for on-street parking would also apply to international contractors.

Parking Association Vice President Sabir Jutt asked why LePark had a different rule. He said they should reimburse people whose cars were stolen from their street lots. He said some court should take action against this injustice. He said if they could not provide security then they should not be charging a token fee.

The City Traffic Police arrested a supervisor of Lepark’s parking lot about five days ago at Pace in Gulberg and registered an FIR against him. A meeting between the LePark managing director, the Chief Traffic Officer and the District Coordination Officer which was supposed to take place yesterday did not do so.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2013.