Verbal warnings against salespeople offering internet, phone and credit card services on the street have shot up eight-fold in two years, the government revealed yesterday. But of the 1,202 public complaints, just 17 people were summonsed to court last year, compared to 20,715 unlicensed hawkers who were prosecuted.
Last year police and other government departments issued 3,948 verbal warnings to salespeople who block pavements and exits to MTR and KCR stations. There were 495 issued in 2002.
Legislator 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung wants the promotion sellers to be treated the same as hawkers, as he says they cause as much of a nuisance to pedestrians.
'There is a lot of inequality. There are a lot of hawkers who are arrested by the police and authorities,' he said. 'They should be treated the same as hawkers. In my constituency, there are elderly pensioners who want to make a few pennies as hawkers and make homemade food and sell it and they are harassed and arrested.'
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow Yat-ngok, replying to Mr Leung's question in the Legislative Council, said: 'Most of these [promotional] pitches are set up at locations with high pedestrian traffic, such as access points to MTR and KCR stations, bus terminals, pedestrian links near markets or shopping malls and major walkways or pedestrian precincts in busy locales.'
The government admitted the issue was a 'street management problem' that was usually dealt with by issuing a verbal warning to move on.