{"id":2034,"date":"2013-12-24T16:39:35","date_gmt":"2013-12-24T16:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sellanycar.com\/cars-related\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2013-12-24T16:39:35","modified_gmt":"2013-12-24T16:39:35","slug":"abu-dhabi-parking-tough-lead-drivers-sandy-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/abu-dhabi-parking-tough-lead-drivers-sandy-lot\/","title":{"rendered":"Abu Dhabi Parking Tough Lead Drivers to Sandy Lot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tired of driving around in circles looking for a parking spot? A last resort for some residents is a sandy area in one of the capital\u2019s busiest commercial and residential districts.<\/p>\n

Dozens of sport utility vehicles, company vans and smaller saloon cars line both sides of an unpaved plot in front of the Lulu Centre and Southern Fried Chicken buildings on Sheikh Zayed Street, formerly Salam Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not getting enough parking spots here,\u201d said Mohandas, 49, a design engineer who parked his car in the sand on Tuesday morning. \u201cI work in one of the buildings nearby and I\u2019m left with no choice but to park here or across the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation worsens in the afternoon and late at night, as shoppers, office workers and residents jostle for space.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see more than 50 cars early in the morning but by 2pm or 4pm, this sandy area will be filled with so many cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kamruddin, 45, a company driver who has lived above Southern Fried Chicken for two years, claims up to 200 cars are illegally parked in the sand by midnight on any given day.<\/p>\n

\u201cParking is a big problem,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been more than a year since people started parking in the sand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most spots in the neighbourhood are reserved for residents with permits, he said.<\/p>\n

Permit-holders<\/a> can park between 9pm and 8am in standard spaces marked by turquoise-and-black-coloured kerbs. Those without a permit can be fined Dh500.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot apply for a resident permit since I\u2019m driving a company car,\u201d Kamruddin said.<\/p>\n

Abdul Salam, 36, a driver working for a cargo company, said he was lucky to get a spot in the sand at 2am last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my first time to park here,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are too many cars and they don\u2019t receive a fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drivers simply ignore the Mawaqif<\/a> sign that reads \u201cSandy Area No Parking\u201d.<\/p>\n

When asked whether or not he would issue a fine to those parked illegally, a Mawaqif inspector on patrol said: \u201cNo problem. My manager told me not to give them a fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a customer-service representative at Mawaqif\u2019s call centre said drivers faced a Dh200 fine for parking in unpaved and sandy areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car will also be towed,\u201d the staff member said. \u201cMaybe another Mawaqif inspector will come and fine your car.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June 2011, the Department of Transport (DoT) said vehicles parked in unpaved and sandy areas in Abu Dhabi would face an immediate Dh200 fine and towing.<\/p>\n

The restrictions aim to encourage motorists to use legal Mawaqif parking spaces, while protecting the unpaved areas.<\/p>\n

Illegal parking areas will be under continuous surveillance by Mawaqif inspectors, the DoT said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mawaqif will convert this sandy area into a paid parking zone, people will use it,\u201d Mohandas said. \u201cThis place is getting congested and Mawaqif should provide more areas for us to park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parking agency plans to expand its coverage by adding more than 8,400 paid spaces by the end of the year, the DoT said.<\/p>\n

The expansion will bring the number of Mawaqif-covered sectors in the capital to 50 and the total number of paid spaces to 98,600, reported Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister paper of The National, last month.<\/p>\n

Parking fees and timings will remain unchanged, but the number of parking controllers and patrols will rise to keep up with the expansion, the report said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tired of driving around in circles looking for a parking spot? A last resort for some residents is a sandy area in one of the capital\u2019s busiest commercial and residential districts. Dozens of sport utility vehicles, company vans and smaller saloon cars line both sides of an unpaved plot in front of the Lulu Centre …<\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi Parking Tough Lead Drivers to Sandy Lot<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":2035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451.png",586,391,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451.png",586,391,false],"large":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451.png",586,391,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451.png",586,391,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/New-Picture-451.png",586,391,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"SellAnyCar.com Team","author_link":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/author\/saygin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Tired of driving around in circles looking for a parking spot? A last resort for some residents is a sandy area in one of the capital\u2019s busiest commercial and residential districts. Dozens of sport utility vehicles, company vans and smaller saloon cars line both sides of an unpaved plot in front of the Lulu Centre…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/18.202.220.25\/en\/guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}