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Hong Kong society
OpinionLetters

LettersHong Kong’s streets need a focus on illegal parking, not hawkers

  • Readers discuss the regulation of illegal hawking and parking, whether the law is more lenient with car owners, population ageing, and how to talk to children about cancer

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A view of chestnut hawkers in Mong Kok on March 7. The confiscation of a 90-year-old hawker’s cart has raised concern over Hong Kong’s regulation of illegal hawking. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
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“Happy Hong Kong”, indeed. However, one has to sympathise with the 90-year-old woman whose roast chestnut stall was seized by officers this week. We are told that the government’s policy is to keep areas “hawker-free” where there is high pedestrian traffic or there are complaints about hawkers’ activities.

Under Hong Kong law, it seems a hawker’s means of livelihood – their cart – can be seized and held until the outcome of an arrest is known, with permanent confiscation if the arrest results in conviction. Apparently, if a person other than the licensee is found operating the cart, this can result in prosecution and seizure or confiscation of the cart.

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It is instructive to compare the level of enforcement action against hawkers with that against those who park illegally.

In 2021, there were 5,598 licensed hawkers and 5,883 convictions for irregularities or unlicensed hawker or hawker-related offences.

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For comparison, in 2020, for example, there were 2.7 million fixed penalty notices issued over illegal parking, about three times the total number of registered vehicles.

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