Police tow an illegally parked Tesla on Hong Kong Island (photo: police)

A truck illegally parked in a bus stop is towed away in a Sha Tin traffic operation (photo: police)

Police have conducted five operations against illegal parking across the territory in the last week, giving around 17,900 parking tickets and towing 43 cars, trucks and motorbikes.

The most prolific bust came in West Kowloon, with 4,660 tickets given and 21 private cars towed over a two-day period.

And while most of these police operations also ticketed dozens of pedestrians and cyclists caught breaking traffic rules, traffic police in Kowloon East focused only on motor vehicles, including those double parking, illegally entering yellow box junctions or blocking pedestrian crossings. They gave 2,146 tickets and towed six vehicles.

Shatin police tackled goods vehicles illegally loading and unloading, ticketing 3,489, and in Tseung Kwan O, officers looked only at motorcycles parked without valid licence displayed, ticketing 13 bikes and towing three.

A police source with a Kowloon traffic division said drivers shouldn’t test the law and shouldn’t use the excuse “I’ll just be a minute”.

From January to June this year, police have ticketed 1.6 million cars for illegal parking, already more than the total for 2019.

The operations come after a police blitz specifically targeted pedestrians in Tai Po on Monday and Tuesday, giving 205 people tickets for walking against traffic rules following a deadly crash in which two pedestrians died. Many social media users expressed anger at the operation, accusing the police of being callous for targeting pedestrians when the casualties in that crash had been crossing legally on a “green man”.

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