Apologetic Mayor tells taxi driver ‘sometimes the good suffer for the bad’

Hanno, who plies to Old Harbour to Spring Village route, was at Juici Patties Old Harbour parking lot, which is commonly used by taxi operators as a pick-up and drop-off point for passengers. The practice is illegal according to Jamaican law.

But on the day in question, Hanno who appears to be in his late 50s, argued that he was not working and was simply waiting on his female “partner” who had gone about conducting her private business.

The taxi driver made the complaint during a public forum put on by the Old Harbour police command upstairs the Juici Patties lounge in the presence of Chairman of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation Mayor Norman Scott, SSP Clive Blair, commanding officer in charge of St Catherine South Police Division and DSP Damion Manderson, who is the head of the police sub-division of Old Harbour.

Before raising the matter, Hanno first commended DSP Manderson and his officers for taking a hardline stance against transport operators who do not want to use the designated transportation centres in Old Harbour town.

He said while some police are reasonable in their actions there are others who seem to have a perpetual stigma against them.

“Taxi men are treated like we are the worst set of people. We could a talk the truth, dem (police) don’t believe wi,” he lamented while giving an account as to what transpired.
“We are human beings also,” he added. “If I want to have my lunch and I come over Juici Beef or go over by KFC, where should I park my car? There is a parking lot over by KFC and there is a parking lot at Juici Beef, so I suppose to can park.”

Mayor Scott describes Hanno’s ordeal as most unfortunate, but noted that the culture among transport operators makes the job of the police very difficult. 

“Let me apologise to you for that unfortunate incident,” the mayor said. “You see what has happened  to you is that the good is suffering for the bad, because you would have been privy to your own colleagues using the parking lots at Juici Beef and other business places to unload and offload passengers.

“If you put yourself in the officers position, maybe that day they were frustrated by what was happening. I am apologizing for them for that incident but it is not the norm. Most times when they see operators in these areas they are using it to unload and offload passengers.”

Meantime, SSP Blair urged operators to exercise discipline because they generally abide by the rules when in other countries.