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  • 1 year ago
Businesses in Tobago are suffering under the road traffic operations of licensing officers and police. This, from businesswoman and former chairman of the Tobago arm of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Diane Hadad.


Hadad was interviewed on TV6's Morning Edition programme by host Marlon Hopkinson, on Wednesday.


She labelled the actions of licensing officers in Tobago as inhumane, hostile and not in Tobago's best interest. More from Elizabeth Williams.
Transcript
00:00I want to imagine, I'm not sure if the strategy is to treat with crime or if to treat with
00:05the vehicles on the road and their condition or to gather money for the Ministry of Works
00:12and Transport.
00:13Whichever it is, I do not know that it is being conducted in a manner that is humane
00:20or that is in the best interest of the island or even the human beings that are driving
00:25around.
00:26Ms. Haddad said roadblocks by police and licensing officers are haphazard, coupled
00:33with hostile officers in the day and at night.
00:37Throughout the island, there are just these roadblocks popping up everywhere.
00:41So you can be in three or four roadblocks in one day.
00:46And that has to do with the fact that they start in the morning and they just come down
00:49to the corners of residential areas, the main roads, whatever.
00:53But there are many things about it that's not sitting well.
00:57Number one, our police wear green, the green jackets, just like the people who are cutting
01:04the grass on the road, just like the man who comes with the walker in your yard.
01:08So you are coming down the road and you're really not sure what you're seeing at the
01:11junction.
01:12And then you drive into this and the approach that they are treating with people seems to
01:20be very hostile in many instances.
01:24And then the actual behavior of how they are carrying on on the street.
01:27She added, businesses in Tobago are suffering under the hands of licensing officers operations.
01:34Workers are finding it hard to get transportation to and from work.
01:39The Ministry of Works and Transport slash DTHA has a responsibility, Marla, to ensure
01:45that our roads are in drivable order.
01:50You drive, you duck one pothole, you drop in the next one, right?
01:55As you come out of that one, you're facing something else.
01:58The edges of the streets are broken, the drains are not in order, the pavements are not in
02:03order.
02:04So what is all of this about?
02:06What is the Ministry of Works and Transport trying to achieve?
02:09Is it them working with the police or is it the police working with them for crime?
02:14What is it?
02:15We don't know.
02:16But it's very frustrating.
02:17Business is dead.
02:19Hadad then described her own experience.
02:49I was probably going to hit somebody that was parked there.
02:53So for them to pass.
02:54By the time they pass, within a couple of seconds, I'm driving off again, going out
03:00behind you.
03:01So I'm pulling out to Richard Sadler driveway, and they were closed, Fangor again, because
03:05I'm sure I was going to be into somebody again.
03:08And they all just circle at the corner of Milford Road, going to the Coast Guard, block
03:13the entire road, and they are setting up a roadblock now.
03:16And that's the format from them moving from one junction to the next.
03:21She called out the Ministry of Transport on the inspection stations dilemma in Tobago.
03:27We have one station, Sylvester's in Canby, but that only opens from 8 to 11, Monday to
03:35Friday, because the gentleman, I understand, is also a PTSD driver, so he goes to work
03:40after.
03:41It takes three hours to get your vehicle inspected, so let's cut down that time.
03:47The station that was in country is shut down.
03:51The other place that's doing inspection for small vehicles is BEMCOT.
03:55They cannot do 202 vehicles a day, right?
03:58And the other place that we now have to go with our vehicles, trucks, heavy trucks, heavy
04:04vehicles, is that the old licensing authority building, and the gentleman there who is doing
04:11the inspection also is the gentleman who is doing driving tests for persons who are
04:16doing the driving test.
04:18Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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