Food delivery man begs for lenience as Chinese officials impound his scooter
Video of man unsuccessfully pleading with urban management officers sparks calls online for more compassion
A video of a delivery man begging urban management officers in eastern China not to impound his scooter has angered the online community.
In the footage, shot in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, the unidentified worker can be seen kneeling on the pavement behind a truck onto which his works vehicle, still laden with orders, has just been loaded, Shandong Business News reported on Saturday.
With what looks like an undelivered order in his hand, the man appeals to an officer standing beside the truck. “Please, I am dropping on my knees to you,” he says.
The officer is unmoved and continues about his business.
The incident happened on Thursday and was captured on film by a passer-by. When the footage was uploaded to the internet it prompted allegations of cold-heartedness among local authority personnel, the report said.
“Life is not easy. We should have more sympathy and tolerance for food delivery guys,” a person wrote in a comment on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging service.
Another Weibo user disagreed, however, saying that while delivering food could be a hard job, workers should not be above the law.
“If this delivery guy gets his bike back by kneeling, can other people use the same method to get what they want from law enforcers in the future?” she asked.
In the report, a witness to the event was quoted as saying the delivery man had parked his scooter illegally, though this was disputed by his employer.
The company added that it later retrieved the vehicle from a government pound without paying a fine, the report said.