Last night I noticed cops removing plates off of a new Bentley SUV that was parked illegally on the street near Little Ruby’s in Kuwait City. Two things impressed me, the first is that they don’t really care what kind of car you have, no matter who you are, if you park illegally you’re losing your plates. The second thing that impressed me was that the cops aren’t just removing plates during the day, they’re doing it at night as well. I love that they’re still very active with this.
43 replies on “Cops still at it”
Never seen them remove any plates around Al Hamra, plenty of free game there.
Saw this happening in Salmiya old souq area yesterday and it was hilarious cause the guy was a dick
I was gonna mention in my post that I’ve only seen it happening in Kuwait City. Pretty cool they’re doing that in Salmiya, which area exactly when you say old souq?
Police officer tried writing me a ticket, and it was another car in the road messing around going wrong way. Its like they have a quota to fill or something.
They are busy every night doing this is Shaab just off the gulf road. I’m all in support of it although in defense of the drivers the businesses there havent given their customers anywhere to legally park. This may end up hurting the profits of these businesses in the long run.
It will just make people get used to the fact they don’t need to park right in front of the store and that they can park a bit further away and just walk a bit.
or just forget that store and find another store (substitute)… eventually if business drops these shops will automatically make an effort to have sufficient parking spaces or the option of valet parking
Well not all of them are unbiased while removing plates..In front of my office..they removed plates of a Lancer, Corolla and ignored the BMW 7 series and Audi A8 parked between the above 2. Apparently being fair is a myth in Kuwait!!
That depends on the policeman… This one would have definitely ticketed them
Also noticed car without plates on the driving street, stating that the car was parked illegally.
But what if some dude just take off the plates and drive without the fear of speed car flash!
the system is retarded, there are plenty of other means to penalize an illegally parked car other than removing the plates. it probably costs MoI in overhead for removing and processing the plates more than the ticket itself of 5 KD so they lose.
Why reinvent the wheel, just do what 1st world countries do.
I have to disagree with you. They aren’t reinventing the wheel, 1st world countries don’t just give tickets, they tow away cars, they use wheel blockers and even windshield blockers https://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/New-windshield-blocker-could-give-the-boot-to-the-parking-boot.html amongst other methods.
Nobody cares about tickets in Kuwait, you think the guy in the 80,000kd Bentley cares about a KD5 fine? Hell I’ve illegally parked my car before because I figured 5KD wasn’t a bad deal for parking that night. I’ve paid $20 for 30 minutes of legal parking in NY so 5KD for the whole evening illegal parking is a pretty good deal in my opinion.
Due to the amount of illegal parkers in Kuwait, removing plates is probably the most cost effective measure, its definitely cheaper than buying more wheel locks or towing cars away and its much more effective than writing a stupid ticket which people don’t care about.
+1 agree
There’s even a more cost effective measure. Make the fine 50 KD, and revoke licenses for repetitive offences. Then and only then the MOI can call us their bitch.
raising fines only effects the poor not the rich.
Yes it wouldn’t solve all the Ferraris and Bentleys illegally parked in Hawally and Salmiya.
thats would be smart if THERE WERENT SO MANY PEOPLE DOING IT! did u consider how many would be needed? not to mention that police would have to call a truck to bring those things in. All they do is take those number plates to the station (good luck finding out which one it is) and make u pay to get it back. This method is quick, free (to the police) and makes the job much harder for the person who parked illegally. Just be happy that its working rather than hating.
It’s nice that they’re finally doing something about this but my only “wonder” I guess is, doesn’t this prolong the mess in a way?!
If there is a ticket or strict penalty then the person drives off and deals with it later, but with removing the plates on the spot, doesn’t that mean that the driver isn’t allowed to drive the car which means it has to stay parked the way it is (blocking something or whatever retarded way people park) until the fine is settled and plates are returned?
Just curious about that…
its the same as getting your wheel locked, your car stays there until u get the issue sorted. at the same time its great marketing, people driving buy will see cars with their wheel locked or plates removed and be deterred from parking illegally themselves.
I dont think they leave the car there itself, they park it in the closest parking or somewhere else because i see 2 cars in the parking without plates (been 3 weeks now )surely the plates were not removed while they parked legally.
you’re meant to leave the car there or have it towed. if there is a parking lot nearby then the owners might have driven that short distance (illegally)
Bentley SUV. That is a nice ride.. I can only imagine that the driver is somebody way up there on the ” I am somebody” ladder.
So my question for conversation sake.. is say he is a big somebody, top of the rung somebody… like up there with the rulers of the country category.. who’s uncle could be the boss of the head of the MOI somebody????
Would he still go through the same routine as the rest of us mortals to pay the fines and get our plates back??or would he basically make sure that the cop who embarrassed him by removing his plates, not only personally return the plates but also screw them back on to his Bentley before washing the vehicle to remove the sticker and then retiring to his new border post position for the rest of his career???
Here is another scenario. What if the Bentley had Diplomatic plates on them ???? What then??
probably not, if I was him I’d just drive off without the plates not caring about the consequences or call my wasta and then have my driver go get my plates. still its a bit of annoyance for him i’d imagine.
got wasta ?
no i just pay the parking fines with my speeding fines once every month
If I were you I’d be careful, last time I paid a fine I noticed they have given me 4 nice points out of a total 14.
they’ve never given me points and i keep getting fines. hell i got one yesterday which i think i’ll post about in a bit. cops were literally giving away fines to finish their monthly quota.
WTF. You should like have 140 points by now.
mine has been stuck on like 4 points for the past 10 years.
Doesnt this pose a security threat as the car cannot be identified as the driver heads back. What if there was a hit and run? Nobody can write the license plate from behind!
you’re not allowed to drive a car without the plates on.
My personal favorite method would be to add this super sticky adhesive sticker on the entire windshield (and other parts of the car) with a huge no parking sign.
The kind of sticker that when removed will still leave some nasty residue
How careful are they at removing plates, do they damage the car in anyway or scratches.
Well in my opinion, from KD5 fine to removing the plates and not able to use the car, its a huge jump… either the previous system was not correct or the current different views…
I think could make the fine higher, plus put a penalty points on the car registration connected to driving license, i would never want to get license cancelled, so i will value those points more than anything, also the car registration fees should start going high based on how many points i have on my license, good driver less insurance, bad driver higher insurance etc…
They didn’t go from “fining” to “removing plates”, before removing the plates the alternatives were: fine or fine+getting car towed or fine+getting wheel locked. Now they’ve added fine+removing car plates. I think its very reasonable and i disagree with you on the idea that raising the fines will solve the problem. raising the fines will only stop the less well off people from parking illegally, it won’t have an effect on the rich who not only can afford to pay the fine, but most likely also have wasta to make the fine go away.
Just stop parking illegally and you’ll be good. Jeez, people fucking complain no matter what. Cops aren’t doing anything people complain and now that the cops are finally doing their job, people are complaining….
“Just stop parking illegally”
Impossible with the garbage state of parking that most companies do not take the blame for. If you employ 3000 people and have 100 parking spaces you’re part of the problem, but the employee is the one paying the fines and getting his plate pulled
What’s the use of removing the plates and get it the next day by paying 20KD and having wasta? Is it the money or what?
A colleague was able to retrieved her plates the next day and the other after a month until now couldn’t even get the plates back saying they have to wait atleast 4months.
i think this is stupid!! why take plates and leave me driving illegally? I dont see anything wrong with tickets.
you’re not supposed to drive without plates, you’re meant to leave your car there or have it towed.
yeah i understand, but, it doesnt make sense. If the idea is to teach a lesson then a ticket would be enough. If a person doesnt learn from the first ticket then they would eventually learn after a couple. I think once it hurts their wallets theyll learn. No need for all this headache.
Does anybody know where one should get one’s plates back?
Pieter..
We are on the same boat.. Lost it on 31st Jan from Salmiya Old Souk.Some says we have to wait until the violation is shown in the website, Some says we have to go directly to Jabriya Muroor..
Can anyone shed some light?:-(
Update..
I got it back today. Am posting the details, if any one has a bad luck and in need.
Firstly, the officers took my plate on 31st Jan, from salmiya old souk, near to Xcite Alghanim.
They gave me an yellow paper and a sticker was there on the left windshield with the Muroor (Traffic station) which we have to go.
After lot of enquiry my friends told that we have to wait until its updated in the system. So I waited for some days (3 working days and a weekend) but nothing was updated. So on the 3rd working day evening I went to the Jabriya Muroor, which is in the new location and new building ( As the taxi guy took me there, I am not able to give the location here. From 5th he took 106 towards Jabriya and took right from end of the road and from the circle took second exit, go straight and took the 2nd u turn and took the first right.This much I can recollect).
At the Muroor, go to first floor and pay the fine 20KD by showing the yellow slip and Daftar of tour car and get the signature from mudeer in that floor itself. They asked me to come the next ḍay.
Next day morning I reached there and they asked us to go to Salmiya Muroor, which is adjacent to Salmiya Police Station, near Tele Communications office and Geant easy.We reached there and again got a signature from the Mudeer in that office. ( we have to get both the signature on the printed receipt which we got after paying fine. For my future safety I took a copy of that paper after getting the initial signature ). Then we were asked to go to another room and there the officer took my signature and civil id number and asked me to write that I have received the plates. That’s it . Take the plates and go to hardware shop to buy the screws and you are done. Safe driving and better park in designated areas only.
Don’t know whether we can go the very next day after they took it or not. Don’t want yo try either :-).