Enough! – sand truck drivers to Police on harassment
Dozens of sand truck drivers stationed at Ruimveldt Industrial Site are complaining of constant Police harassment.
Some of the sand trucks parked on the side of the East Bank corridor
The drivers, who were relocated from Lombard Street to Ruimveldt Industrial Site some time ago, told Guyana Times last week that Police and more so, a particular police officer, has been harassing them for about a year now.
When this publication visited the area late last week, the drivers said that the police informed them that the sand that they have loaded in the trucks are affecting a nearby business.
“Every morning the police come and move from here, they say sand going in the man paint. That place is a seal place…all these truck does cover… I can’t understand how sand going in the paint when all them truck get on paulin on them,” one of the drivers said.
Two of the sand truck drivers who told this publication that they are being harassed by the police
Another driver lamented, “this is where the truck park here. This is where we come every morning to make a hustle and every morning they coming and move we from there.”
“We got permission from the previous Government, the previous Government bring we hay and they trying to move me,” another driver said.
According to one of the drivers, it has been five years since they were moved from Lombard Street, Georgetown, since the trucks were causing traffic congestion in the area.
“Nobody in even coming and tell we nothing, all they doing is coming and bully we out from here, we just want somebody come and tell we where we can go and what we have to do. If they put we somewhere when people come, they want see what they buying, you can’t tell a man look I get a truck here, he want see wah he buying”, the sand truck driver said.
Meanwhile, the drivers were told to move to another corner of the road but they claimed that they were fearful since the location is a haven for thieves.
In March 2017, sand truck operators were hit with an abrupt decision to stop them from plying their trade along the East Bank Demerara corridor.
On March 20, 2017, they turned up to ply their trade and found workers from a Government agency painting a “No parking for lorries” sign on the roadway.
At the time they had said that life has gotten harder for them as they complained of having to grapple with low prices for their commodity and reduced working hours owing to the restriction barring them from travelling on the roadways between peak hours.
The sand truck operators formerly plied their trade on Lombard Street, but were removed by authorities in 2014 to ease traffic. They were placed in front of a paint supplier on the East Bank Highway but were subsequently removed to the opposite side of the road after the owner complained about dust particles getting into the paint. Despite reaching out for a comment on the matter, the police, Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Government agency with responsibility for the area, were not forthcoming on the issue.
