Policía Local agents in Mogán, it seems, have decided to start issuing tickets to shoppers who park directly in front of the main Spar supermarket in the sleepy little southern Gran Canaria fishing-cum-tourist town of Arguineguín.
One man who left his black BMW out front for a few minutes on Thursday morning, while he popped in to pick up a few items, returned to find a yellow ticket being issued by two policemen.
When he complained to staff at the shop that he and everybody else frequently park there, two different managers came out to try to help the situation. The agents left however with the ticket having been issued and therefore, theoretically, they could not take it back without a judicial decision.
Juan Manual, the maintenance manager at Spar Mogán’s flagship store, says that this parking area is private property and so therefore not, as far as he understands it, subject to the norms of local council parking ordinances. He thinks, however, confusion may have been caused by the fact that the well-worn yellow curbs around the store-front forecourt, which has been used for years by local shoppers just nipping in to grab a few items, do seem to signify the space is actually intended to be a loading area.
Local British businesswoman , Wendie, told The Canary “ I always look to park out front, but I never spend more than a few minutes inside. I have only just noticed the yellow lines, but everyone parks there, I will have to be more careful in future”
The only clearly demarked parking space is a well placed blue zone, directly outside the front door, specifically meant for blue badge holders who are officially certified to have mobility problems.
Editor’s note:
It’s a crying shame the local police aren’t so diligent in issuing more tickets and fines to idiot motorists who abuse that facility, by taking up disability spaces though they have no legitimate need of it!
Though there is no signage outside the store demarcating the forecourt as being a loading-only zone, there is a clear sign informing motorists that parking beyond a maximum of ten minutes is not allowed.
We visited the Arguineguín Policía Local office, where a motorcycle officer standing at the front desk told us that it was not clear specifically why the ticket had been issued, and that although the forecourt may well be private property it is surrounded by yellow curb and so clearly not meant as a parking area. However he recognised that hundreds of shoppers every day use the forecourt to park rather than go to the car park around the back of the store, and that since the area was “open to the circulation of vehicles and pedestrians” the local traffic laws are most certainly enforceable. He had no comment on the illegitimate taking of disability spaces.
Until this matter is cleared, our advice is to only park in legitimate parking areas and car parks with either white lines (free) or blue lines (pay and display) remembering to look for any nearby signage letting you know time limits or further restrictions…
… and if you see some antisocial, ignorant twoink taking a blue-badge mobility space they have no right to; take a picture of them clearly parking where they shouldn’t, send it to us and we will happily publish them along with our growing collection to go on our Twoink Wall of Shame.
You can send your antisocial parking images to Twoink@TheCanaryNews.com