Police: Cars Illegally Parked Will Be Ticketed
Hundreds of people have made their way to Elbow Beach for the annual Christmas Day get together, however the police have warned the holiday revelers that vehicles parked illegally will be ticketed and run the risk of being towed.
“Whilst we believe that everyone should enjoy the day, we must ensure safety for all and as violating vehicles will be ticketed and run the risk of being towed,” the police spokesman said.
He also noted that officers went to the venue and “communicated over the PA system for violators to have their vehicles moved with very little success.”
The scene at Elbow late this morning [view photo galleries here and here]:
The police statement said: “There are many who are presently at the Elbow Beach celebrating the holiday festivities. However as a result there are an over abundance of vehicles parked on South Road and surrounding side roads and streets.
Many of these vehicles are parked illegally and causing major safety hazards on the roads. Officers went to the venue and communicated over the PA system for violators to have their vehicles moved with very little success.
“Whilst we believe that everyone should enjoy the day, we must ensure safety for “all” and as violating vehicles will be ticketed and run the risk of being towed.”
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Anything for a christmas bonus….. Where do they want people to park? Maybe the police service should shuttle the public to Elbow beach from the Bermuda College field. It would be considered serving their community.
They don’t get Christmas bonuses? Do you still believe in the tooth fairy too?
you’re such a fool…parhing cars on the corner going down Coral Beach road was crazt…one guy who received a ticket clearily stated…WE IN CHARGE NOW….F the police I’m getting ticket fixed…surely his mind set hasn’t CHANGE
I don’t believe you for one second! You’re a sore loser after the election as well!!!
An obvious lie. You need to lay off the sauce.
The Police were right in what they did – good job BPS – safety first – they (the Ploice) had the courtesy to notify people over the PA system, and they were ignored. Next year the organizers should either consider a more suitable location, since large crowds attend, and/or arrange shuttle services to/from overflow parking designations. Don’t expect to blatantly do wrong and not consider the consequences just because you want to have fun, then blame others for your choices nd consequences. Again, good work BPS.
for the last couple of years this group has parked on that sharp corner with no respect for other road users hey tickets are all part of the change you all wanted and next year you fools won’t be so dam stupip and think you can park on a yellow line and a corner to go some where and drink
the police has time 2 ticket ppl that R haveing fun but cant do there job when U have a accident which may have caused lives some hell.
Next time have it at Horseshoe Bay, there’s plenty of parking…
no one said people can’t have fun just don’t break the law
The police were having a ball ticketing the parked cars and bikes along the road by Elbow. Unbelievable they just could not leave it for today and worry about Bermuda’s crime. Sad to spoil Christmas for these people that were just enjoying their Christmas cheer on the beach.
BAH HUMBUG. I understand the cars parked on the corner but it’s only for a couple hours. Let it be!
no stupid that is not right while you all were on the beach drinking some could have got killed because you think you all because you are special
Lawdy lawdy you people are hilarious. The law is the law, but I would assume just for today it’ll be okay for anyone to park in your yards too right?
Sure, no problem people parking in my yard if they ask. They weren’t blocking anyone. Just for a couple hours. Where’s the hospitality and Christmas Spirit! Gosh. I feel its petty. We can talk about the law but it’s broken continously on this island. Murder this morning hello and they are worrying about ticketing cars. PETTY!
petty… how cars parked on both side of the road..they had no regard for for traffic using the road… well police .
Shoulda clamped the lot of them !
This is the problem with Bermuda today…why would you think it that is okay to break the law for a couple hours of fun?!?! And you all wonder why young people do what they do! SMH!! I suppose if there was an accident because of the cars being parked there it would be the drivers fault? Follow the law and there would be no problems. Point Blank Period!!!
The spirit of the law or the letter of the law?. Just asak dr brown.
Give them all tickets!!! Income for parking/towing fees for Government. If you would not park there on a regular day don’t park there on Christmas either. Having to overtake numerous cars while a bus is coming up the hill is not a pleasant experience
Buses were running on Christmas?
Yes buses run on Public Holidays like Christmas!!!!
Elbow Beach Hotel could have made a tidy sum; $10 parking and shuttle service to the beach.
Why should they be concerned about who they inconvenience; the law doesn’t always apply to them?
Have no problem with the police ticketing people who are illegally parked, however, they mustn’t be seen as selective when determining which holidays to enforce the rules (ahem …. Cup Match campers illegaly parked on roundabouts + verges and open container law infractions immediately come to mind) as this could be viewed as unfairly going after non-Bermudian residents and guests.
You are mistaken. Parking on grass verges, etc isn’t illegal. Also, it isn’t illegal to drink alcohol on the beach. There are no ‘open container’ laws here as you refer to so that is negated. The parking was illegal and ridiculous…..ticket them all.
It is illegal to drink on a beach. It is a public place. However, the only part of Elbow beach that is public is the width of the tribe road. Why Coral Beach club (who need money) dont charge to park there is beyond me. It’s not like it is full of tourists!
It is NOT illegal to drink on the beach. Public STREET is the law.
There are ‘no drinking alcohol’ laws on the streets, which are never enforced. The police are completely outwitted, apparently, by the container being in a brown paper bag.
If ‘the law is the law’, good. Let’s enforce those tinted window, anti-noise, seatbelt and cellphone laws strictly, shall we?
Is this going to be the norm for the next 5 years. Clearly this country remains as divided as ever on just about any issue. Race and nationality drive the debate on all issues. When I drove past the the illegally parked cars, I assumed that the organizers had been provided with a special permit. Make no mistake about the fact that these cars, particularly those parked on the corners, made driving a little risky. But I digress. Here’s hoping that these discussions improve in 2013!
Just a thought
Since this seems to be an annual event. Why don’t the organizers make arrangements with Coral Beach Properties for people attending to park.
Its so easy to blame the Police for ticketing cars that should not have been parked illegally, whether for 1 minute or 10 hours.
Tough call. Here we have a public beach with woefully inadequate parking whenever there are more than a few people wanting to use the beach.
EBSC & Coral Beach could have earned a few bucks by offering paid parking. $5 or $10 for parking sure beats the ticket. Many places you pay that much to use a public beach.
Those who were ticketed got off lightly. In their home countrys they would have been clamped then towed. The bill would be much more than just the ticket. They would have to pay the hauler, the impound yard, the fine & transport to go get the car out of hock.
Theres been a murder,people are driving drunk,
and yet the Police is more interested in parking tickets.
No wonder the criminals do what they do.
and what happens when illegal parking endangers someone’s life?? I watched an accident almost happen and you mean to tell me if someone was seriously hurt this isn’t a priority? people’s safety? this was a very dangerous location…
was the individual operating the motor vehicle driving at the prescribed speed for Bermuda’s roads? We should focus less on the crazy parking and the person who had one or two drinks and focus on keeping the island at 35k…at least limit all vehicles to a max of 45kph. think about it, safer driving and any of these fools on bikes can no longer ride up, shoot and escape quickly.
I applaud the police action, who would think about parking on a yellow line on a corner? I was one of those motorist who passed by and could not believe how the cars were parked. It was definitely a hazard to other road users.
Think of all the tickets that could be issued on Queen street at any given weekend while vehicles are left unattended in the carriage way to drop off DVD’s or pick up a bucket from the Colonel! It’s the inconsistency of the application of road laws that gets peoples backs up.
Merry Christmas.
Ok I have just read the story and there is nothing about this being an expat gathering. This is just being incnsiderate of other people. There is nothing wrong with giving out tickets – these people broke the law and as for the murder the BPS had already arrested someone. It seems that the BPS are damned if they do and damned if they dont.
This is part of the problem – oh its Christmas or oh its Cup Match – get over yourselves the law is the law and should be enforced whenever possible – I for one am fed up with the whining and whinging when incosiderate people feel they are being hard done by.
Would anyone expect to get ‘let off’ a speeding ticket or drink driving infraction just because it’s Christmas? Illegal parking is just that…illegal and it can give rise to very dangerous driving conditions for others. This has nothing to do with expat/local black or white…it has to do with what is right and what is acceptable in society. Personally I think the cars should have been towed as a ticket does not really rectify the saftey hazard it created. Probably should have waited with an alcho-analyzer by the roadside as well for the end of the party.
The parking was pretty bad at the bottom of the hill between Elbow and Coral Beach – only enough room for one lane and a certain period! Coral Beach club could have made a fortune charging 10 bucks a car – as anyway there was no-one there and the place is just about closed I understand!
@Triangle Drifter – the public part of Elbow beach is only as wide as the Tribe Road leading to it – what Elbow and Coral beach could do is charge for the beach use as well!
This is an annual event, originally set up by expats who were alone at Christmas. Now it has turned into a great gathering for everyone, expats, Bermudians, black, white, rich and poor. Everyone knows it happens and it is a great event and does a lot of good for the island. Hell I have a queue of people wanting to come over for Christmas just to spend Christmas day on the beach.
Perhaps some entrepreneur could set up a park and ride, the hotels could charge for parking and do a shuttle (as has been mentioned above). Its about time someone jumped on the band wagon here and thought ahead to how they can make this event better. There are no “organisers” for this day. It is people that just decide to come together.
Sean Crockwell as Minister of Tourism could make this one of his pet projects for the new year – think of the tourists that would love to come and spend the day on Elbow beach if properly advertised.
My photos on FB are a big draw for my friends to come and visit (along with the charming company of moi of course)
)
Instead of the annual expat bashing that is as predictable as Christmas itself, lets turn this into a big draw to fill hotels and get those planes full!
I have been to the Naational Stadium to a sporting event and seen hundreds of tickets on roadside parked cars. So why not Elbow Beach. There is only ONE law for ALL of the people.
After leaving Elbow Beach some of those people should not have been driving anyway. I hope that they had designated drivers or risk being ticketed again, for DUI.
As an aside, if the police do want to fill their coffers with some extra cash, just park themselves outside BMA building, the fire station and the Government offices for those illegally parked right outside so they don’t have to walk the extra 100 yards to pick someone up each night from 4 – 5. Biggest pet peeve of parking on this island is the parking outside the fire station/Seventh Day church which basically restricts the driving to one lane instead of 2 which creates an easy flow out of the town during rush hour – that drives me nuts!!!!!
PS – I have nothing against the police doing their job, they do a fine job against all the odds (my very good friend is a policeman) so this is not police bashing by a long chalk.
your comparing a few cars with a large number of cars and that is like comparing apples with oranges,no different from comparing sheep to jack asses.
So let the sheep talk,because the jack asse’s sound dumber then the sheep.
How about giving the police cars tickets who are constantly parked in loading zones, blocking entrances or on double yellow lines, this is part of the reason these cops have no respect, the live by a double standard
what a bunch of cry babies. who do you people think you are? if you are parked illegally you get a ticket. simple. it’s the same in the countries you all came from too so why do you expect Bermuda to be different? a$%^oles. next year organize car pools or like suggested above ask Elbow Beach Hotel to provide parking at $10 a pop.
Countries we came from..I know where I came from, incredible you managed to put a sentence together
The real Joke here is this happens every year and the same people who went last year and the years before,know that the cars get ticketed every year.so that tells me that these people dont have any regard for the law and as far as they are concerned it is only a parking ticket that they can pay anyway.
Look who they are and take a close look,I dont see many blacks or if at all a handful.these folk think they are above the law,they do this 3 times out of the year and we need to stop just putting tickets.
The police commisioner needs to put in for more re-inforcement as far as clamps being put on every single vehichle and the fines be doubled as well as the fee for the clamp doubled,because these people are parking on a hill that is making traffis congested at times and they are also parked on a yellow line. so each car clamped and the bare minium will be a total of $500 for the fact that this is also a public holiday were we have officers attending to situatons that could be avoided.
$100 for parking ticket
$200 for car clamp
$200 for public holiday
Then you will see them think twice,you got the Bermuda college just down the road they can park at,yo have two churches and a grocery store within walkin distance,they can park there and not to mention they can get special permission to use some of the hotel property also.
Good, now start ticketing all the inconsiderate Bermudians who drive there cars on park greenery because they can’t be assed to walk.
It would be nice if we could take a less punitive approach to situations such as these. These people are mostly expat guest workers (who’s even counting whether white or black) and in all liklihood they don’t have family in Bermuda. Perhaps some arrangement could have been made in a more sensible place for them to park at a fee… whatever it takes to allow and encourage our guest workers to enjoy themselves at Christmas in Bermuda.
Kudos to KBB and all their volunteers who were out this morning collecting any trash that hadn’t been put quite neatly in and around all of the trash bins on the beach. The Christmas revellers could even be charged a nominal amount to go towards picking up after them… or they could be encouraged to take home with them whatever they took with them to the beach.
This is a new day in Bermuda and I would like us to be more creative in our problem solving… not just look to punish but to teach too.
I know an elderly black Bermudian lady who calls herself a Christian and she says she never pays parking tickets. Maybe
these people should do the same. At the National Trust walkabout in St. George’s tickets were being put on cars and yet they are trying to get people to come shop and dine in the old town !
wow that OBA government is really sending a message !!!!! hmmm
I am a strong supporter of the BPS in most matters–but not this one! Effective policing requires the BPS exercising perspective, their discretion and reaching a balance! While ex-pats may have started this Xmas tradition, they are now joined by many Bermudians! Good luck BPS, on getting the co-operation + information you so badly need from those who’s cars you ticketed/towed!–AND of course, the Bermudians also sit on juries!
Ticket or clamp I support. The law is the law.
I’m a non bermudian and I agree the cars should be clammed, because they could have caused an accident and really it is inconsiderate, but it seems to me that this was easy pickings for the police and they need to come down harder on individuals who drive cars into parks, in general and especially on holiday. Bikes also, there’s also some person driving onto Astwood cove. It should be unacceptable, especially with all those cats down there. Which brings me onto the next point.. The stray cats down at astwood cove are multiplying at alarming rates, it appears as though they are not getting fed because they’re quite often waiting in the parking lot. I counted 30+ down there the other night. I would be very upset if the OBA’s approach to this is to euthanize them though. They need to be controlled sooner rather then later though. PREVENTION IS CHEAPER THEN THE CUER.
If these cars were causing a hazard, then they should have been TOWED pure and simple. Giving a ticket does not eliminate the risk factor. Having the cars clamped would cause a nightmare and actually prolong the problem. If somebody doesn’t have the funds to remove the clamp right away, the vehicle will actually stay there longer. I don’t see why people are bashing the BPS. It sounds like they warned people at least. And it drives me nuts when people say “it was a murder so why they worrying about tickets.” So because there was a murder, they should forget about their other duties? So let’s see, just let people drive drunk, park illegally, rob people, beat their wives, etc on days when there has been a murder? That is just plain stupid thinking.
The funniest thing about all of you complainers (some were probably there) is that at the very least you’re getting a parking ticket while MOST of you should be getting a DUI ticket. Who called taxi’s home? Haha ya right! You should be thanking the man for being lax about that instead of crying over a PARKING TICKET!
so the headline should read – Police Cars, Illegally Parked Will Be Ticketed……….
well it is about time!!!!!!!!!!!