Welfare of Car Park Attendants

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the average gross monthly salary of the car park attendants paid by the service providers engaged by the Ministry to provide car park enforcement services; (b) in the past three years, how many cases of abuse of car park attendants have been reported; (c) how many of these cases have been taken up for action against the perpetrators; and (d) what were the reasons for not taking up action against some of these perpetrators.

HDB and URA's service providers told us that the average gross monthly salary of their car park attendants ranges from $1,300 to $1,800. The salary is pegged to work experience, qualification and work performance.

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Over the past three years, 53 cases of abuse of car park attendants were reported to the service providers. Abuse took the form of motorists confronting the car park attendants in a threatening manner and verbally or physically abusing them.

Of the 53 cases, 45 have been reported to the Police, while five were resolved at the scene in the presence of the Police. For the remaining three cases, Police reports were not made as the car park attendants did not wish to pursue the matter.

Of the 45 cases reported to the Police, 23 have completed investigations, while 22 are still under investigation. Of the 23 that have completed investigations, three were charged in court, of which one was sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment and the other two were fined. The other cases were either given stern warnings, or closed with no further action as the Police could not find sufficient evidence to take action.