A dim view

If ever I need to sue my landlord, divorce my wife or seek damages for personal injury, rest assured that I will not be asking Jal N. Karbhari & Company, Solicitors & Notaries, to act as my lawyers.

This is not because they are bad. For all I know they could be rather good at their trade.

What puts me off ever engaging Karbhari's services are the leaflets and posters the firm has been posting around town. And not so much because of what is stated in these leaflets, but the manner in which they are presented - in your face, literally.

In fairness to Karbhari, it is not the only culprit. There's a whole swarm of them provoking my ire and interfering with my equanimity by sticking their advertisements over the windows of the minibuses I take. The others offer red wine, crockery, storage facilities, fresh meat and transportation, all advertised on A4 posters glued over the part of the window which should allow me to gaze upon the passing scenery.

In my case, this scenery is impressive: the sweeping vistas southward over the South China Sea on a road that snakes around the foothills of the Dragon's Back. On a clear day you can almost make out the Paracels, assuming there is not an advertisement from Karbhari plastered across your field of vision.

Not only is this form of advertising discourteous to minibus passengers, it is also symptomatic of the contempt which many of their drivers and their employers seem to harbour towards us.

I wonder whether these advertisements are legal. Other forms of transport are obliged by law not to obstruct the line of sight from within the vehicle. This might be why double-decker buses, whose owners adhere to a higher law than those governing the minibus trade, carry advertisements that obscure only the view inwards, and not the passengers' view outwards.

Can anyone recommend a lawyer who might be able advise me on this?