No more dodgy toll

Not so legal: A parking operator collecting money from a motorist here. There is now a sign stating that no fee will be charged to pass through the area.

A PARKING operator which had been collecting “toll” from motorists who use a shortcut through the Giant Taman Connaught parking lot in Cheras has stopped doing so.

The parking operator had been collecting RM1 for the last few years but a check by StarMetro on Aug 1 showed motorists are no longer being charged for passing through.

The “illegal” toll collection had been highlighted on social media and there was even a “Say No, Save RM1” campaign on Facebook.

StarMetro had also visited the site on July 31 and discovered there was no signboard informing motorists about the toll.

A worker known only as ‘Ah Pek’ said that he was told to collect the RM1 fee from motorists passing through.

He explained that there was a signboard at the entrance of Giant Taman Connaught stating that the RM1 parking fee would be waived if customers bought more than RM25 worth of items in a single receipt.

He claimed customers would claim they want to get to the other side but park at Giant’s parking lot and walk to the commercial area just a few hundred metres from the outlet.

He said people would use the road and park at Giant as they either could not find parking in the commercial area or did not want to pay the fees.

“So, we charge a parking fee to those who enter this area.

“Some motorists that stay in residential areas nearby take this shortcut to come to Taman Connaught to do their banking and other errands.

“If they (motorists) do not use this shortcut, they would have to drive 5km before making a U-turn to get into Taman Connaught from surrounding areas like Aman Damai and Taman Orkid Desa,” he said.

A day later, the parking operator had placed a notice informing motorists that those who use the road will not have to pay the RM1.

On July 25, Taman Connaught Phrase 3 Residents Association chairman Kennedy Tan said they were advised that the RM1 fee collected at two separate locations along the stretch, which is located off the East–West Link Expressway, was illegal.

“Initially, we thought the land belonged to the parking operator so we just paid the fee.

“But we were told the land does not belong to them,” he said in a press conference.

Tan said whenever a raid was carried out in the morning, the operators would be back collecting the fee in the afternoon.

“They are disregarding the law,” he said.

Other motorists said the operator would act in an aggressive manner if they refused to pay the RM1 fee.

“We checked and found that no such company is registered.”

At the press conference, copies of a letter dated March 26 from the Federal Territory Land Office on the status of the land were given out to the press.

It stated that Lot 39890, Mukim Petaling, where Giant is located, was a highway reserve.