Singapore
While an LTA officer was talking to one of the drivers, the President arrived and the cars moved off. The President’s security officers were reminded to park the convoy “in compliance with traffic rules”, authorities say.
A photo circulating on social media showed a traffic officer approaching a driver waiting along a stretch marked with double yellow lines along Prinsep Street.
SINGAPORE: No summons were issued for cars belonging to President Halimah Yacob’s convoy that were waiting along double yellow lines at Prinsep Street, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Singapore Police Force (SPF) said on Friday (Dec 22).
A photo of an LTA officer talking to the driver of one of the cars, with the special number place “SEP1”, was circulating on social media and chat apps such as Telegram.
In response to media queries from Channel NewsAsia, LTA and SPF said in a joint statement that an LTA enforcement officer was conducting his routine patrol along Prinsep Street on Wednesday when he noticed two vehicles waiting along a stretch marked with double yellow lines.
The officer approached the vehicle to ask the driver to drive off, in line with LTA’s approach to enforcing the double yellow lines regulation.
“The driver informed the LTA enforcement officer that he was there to pick up the President who was leaving the place. In the midst of the engagement, the President arrived and the driver drove off. There was no summons issued,” LTA and SPF said in the statement.
The agencies explained that the Police Security Command (SecCom) provides security protection for the President and other senior political leaders.
“As part of the security protection operations, the vehicle convoy is to be positioned close to the event location in compliance with traffic rules, to facilitate swift evacuation during contingencies,” they said.
In this case, the SecCom ground commander made a decision for the convoy to wait there for the President as there were no street-side parking lots available in the immediate vicinity which would have allowed the convoy to come quickly to the scene in the event of an emergency, the authorities added.
The police and LTA said they have reviewed this incident and SecCom officers have been reminded to park the convoy “in compliance with traffic rules, without compromising their mission to ensure the safety and security of those they are escorting”.
