KLANG: Parents who parked their vehicles at a nearby recreational park here while attending a sports event for their children at a multi-purpose hall in Taman Eng Ann on Jan 8 have been slapped with RM1,000 compound notices.
The compound notices were issued by the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) under Section 8(1) of the Parks By-laws for indiscriminate parking.
Bandar Baru Klang assemblyman Datuk Teng Chang Khim said it would be unfair to impose the compounds if MPK had given the organisers permission to hold the event at the multi-purpose hall.
"MPK approval is required to hold programmes there and the council should have rejected the request if the event was too big to be held there," said Teng, who is a senior state executive councillor.
He added if MPK had received payment from organisers and allowed the event to take place, then the council should allow people to park temporarily around the venue.
“I have organised many big community events there and people had parked their cars along the roadside and not at the playground so they were not fined nor were there any complaints from the residents,’’ he added.
He said people had not parked at the recreational park before and said perhaps it was time for MPK to do the necessary such as putting up signs at the recreational park prohibiting parking.
Teng said to his knowledge, this was the first time people attending an event at the hall had been fined for parking around the venue.
Taman Eng Ann comes under the Bandar Baru Klang state constituency.
MPK corporate communications department director Norfiza Mahfiz confirmed that event organisers had booked the hall for Jan 7 and 8 from MPK.
She also said that there were no "No Parking" signs in the area.
"If there is a need, we will put up a sign but that is not the issue here.
"The place has a playground and so there isn't a need for a 'No Parking' signboard," added Norfiza.
She added it was dangerous for cars to park at the recreational area as it also had a playground for children.
"It would be a disaster if any children playing there got injured and MPK will be the one blamed for it," she said.
When asked if such a large compound notice had been imposed for similar offences before, Norfiza said this was the first time a RM1,000 compound had been issued for breaching the Parks By-laws.
A parent who received a compound notice said the park had an access road to the area where cars were parked and those at the event were not told to remove their cars before they were issued.
People's Legal Team founder Dinesh Muthal said as the event was held with MPK's consent, the council would have known many cars would have been parked in the vicinity.
He also said the RM1,000 compound notice for a parking offence was on par with that imposed for some criminal offences.
