Parking Places Act - Singapore Statutes Online

Parking Places Act

(CHAPTER 214)

(Original Enactment: Act 5 of 1974)

REVISED EDITION 1985

(30th March 1987)

An Act relating to parking places.

[3rd May 1974]

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Parking Places Act.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“Authority” means the Urban Redevelopment Authority constituted under the Urban Redevelopment Authority Act [Cap. 340];

“driver” includes the person for the time being in charge or control of a vehicle, and “drive” shall be construed accordingly;

“licence” means a licence to maintain or operate any private parking place granted under this Act;

“licensee” means the holder of a valid licence;

“park” with its grammatical variations means, in respect of a vehicle, to bring the vehicle to a stationary position and cause it to wait for any purpose;

“parking place” means any part of a road or any other place on or in which the parking of vehicles is authorised under section 3;

“private parking place” means any land or premises or part thereof owned or occupied by any person other than the Government or the Authority and used for the parking of 5 or more motor vehicles;

“Superintendent” means the Superintendent of Car Parks or a Deputy or Assistant Superintendent of Car Parks appointed under section 6;

“vehicle” means any vehicle whether mechanically propelled or otherwise.

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Minister may provide parking places

3. Where it appears to the Minister to be necessary to provide suitable parking places for vehicles, he may provide such parking places in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and for that purpose may —

(a)

utilise any land or premises which may lawfully be acquired or appropriated;

(b)

utilise any land or premises owned or occupied by any statutory body upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the Minister and the statutory body; or

(c)

by order authorise the use as a parking place of any part of a road:

Provided that no such order shall authorise the use of any part of a road so as unreasonably to prevent access to any premises adjoining the road, or the use of the road by any person entitled to the use thereof, or so as to be a nuisance.

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Use of property as a private parking place

4.—(1) No person shall maintain or operate any private parking place unless he is a holder of a valid licence.

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(2) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette —

(a)	authorise the use as a private parking place of any land or premises with respect to which an agreement has been made between the Superintendent and the owner or the occupier thereof for the use of the land or premises as a private parking place; and
(b)	prescribe the manner in which a licensee shall maintain or operate a licensed private parking place.

(3) The Superintendent or any person authorised by him may manage and superintend any private parking place referred to in subsection (2)(a).

(4) No licensee shall collect any fees or charges for the use of any private parking place unless the fees or charges have first been approved by the Superintendent.

Adaptation of land for use as a parking place

5. The Minister may take all such steps as may be necessary to adapt for use as a parking place any land not being part of a road which he may utilise for that purpose under this Act.

Appointment of Superintendents

6.—(1) The Authority shall appoint a Superintendent of Car Parks who shall be responsible for the performance of the duties and functions assigned to the Superintendent under this Act.

(2) The Authority may appoint such number of Deputy Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents of Car Parks as may from time to time be required for the purposes of this Act.

Government or Authority not liable for loss or damage

7. The exercise by the Minister of his powers under this Act with respect to the use as a parking place or otherwise of any part of a road or any other place shall not render the Government or the Authority subject to any liability in respect of loss of or damage to any vehicle or the fittings or contents of any vehicle parked in such parking place or otherwise.

Rules

8.—(1) The Minister may make rules —

(a)	as to the use of parking places and in particular as to the vehicles or class of vehicles which are entitled to use any such parking places and as to the conditions upon and the times during which the parking places may be used; and
(b)	for the control, regulation or supervision by registration, licensing or otherwise of private parking places, garages and places kept or used for the housing or parking of vehicles except garages or places used in connection with private dwelling-houses for housing or parking vehicles kept for private use only.

(2) Such rules may —

(a)	prescribe fees to be paid for the grant or renewal of any licence; and
(b)	prescribe the time within which charges prescribed by section 9 shall be paid and prescribe surcharges to be paid by any person who failed to pay the charges prescribed by that section within the prescribed time.

Minister may prescribe charges

9.—(1) The Minister may by order prescribe charges to be paid in connection with the use of any parking place.

(2) An order made under this section shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on its publication or at such later date as may be prescribed therein.

Plying for hire prohibited within a parking place

10. While any vehicle is within a parking place which has not been appointed a public stand under section 109 of the Road Traffic Act [Cap. 276], it shall not be lawful for the driver or conductor of the vehicle or for any person employed in connection therewith to ply for hire or to accept passengers for hire and any person who acts in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence.

Parking places to be indicated by traffic signs

11.—(1) When the Minister authorises the use as a parking place of any part of a road, he shall cause the parking place to be indicated by means of traffic signs.

(2) In this section, “traffic signs” shall have the meaning assigned to it by section 119 of the Road Traffic Act.

Power to compound offence

12. The Superintendent may accept from any person who is reasonably suspected of having committed an offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder a sum of money not exceeding $200 by way of composition for the offence which may have been committed.

Duty to give information

13.—(1) Where the driver or the conductor of a motor vehicle is alleged or is suspected to be guilty of an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder —

(a)

the owner of the motor vehicle shall furnish such information as may be required by the Superintendent or an officer authorised by the Superintendent to act in that behalf as to the identity and address of the person who was the driver or conductor of that motor vehicle at or about the time of the alleged offence, and as to the driving licence held by that person (if necessary) and if he fails to do so within 7 days of the date on which the information was required from him, he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves, to the satisfaction of the court, that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained the information required; and

(b)

any other person who was or should have been in charge of the motor vehicle shall, if so required as aforesaid, give any information which it is in his power to give, and which may lead to the identification of the driver, and if, within 7 days of the date on which the information was required from him, such person fails to do so, he shall be guilty of an offence unless he proves, to the satisfaction of the court, that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained the information required.

(2) Any person who wilfully furnishes any false or misleading information under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

(3) The Superintendent or any officer authorised by the Superintendent to act in that behalf may require any information to be furnished under subsection (1) to be in writing signed by the person required to furnish the information.

(4) Notwithstanding any other written law to the contrary, any information given under this section by any person charged with an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder or an offence in connection with the driving of a motor vehicle may be used as evidence without proof of signature at the hearing of the charge.

(5) Notwithstanding any other written law to the contrary, any statement made by any person to the Superintendent or any officer authorised by the Superintendent as aforesaid that a motor vehicle was on a particular occasion being driven by or belonged to that person or that it belonged to a firm in which that person also stated that he was a partner or to a corporation of which that person stated that he was a director, officer or employee shall be admissible in evidence without proof of signature for the purpose of determining by whom the motor vehicle was on that occasion being driven or who was in charge of it or to whom it belonged.

Liability of owner of vehicles for parking offences

14.—(1) When a parking offence is committed, the person who at the time of the commission of the offence is the owner of the vehicle in respect of which the offence is committed shall be guilty of an offence under the rules made under this Act in all respects as if he were the actual offender guilty of the parking offence unless —

(a)	he satisfies the Superintendent that the vehicle was at the relevant time a stolen vehicle or a vehicle illegally taken or used; or
(b)	the court is satisfied that the vehicle was at the relevant time a stolen vehicle or a vehicle illegally taken or used. [10/82]

(2) Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of the actual offender except that where a penalty has been imposed on or recovered from a person in relation to any parking offence no further penalty shall be imposed on or recovered from any other person in relation thereto.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no owner of a vehicle shall by virtue of this section be guilty of an offence if he —

(a)	within 7 days after service on him of a notice alleging that he has been guilty of the offence, furnishes by statutory declaration to the Super-intendent the name and address of the person who was in charge of the vehicle at all relevant times relating to the parking offence concerned;
(b)	satisfies the Superintendent that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained such name and address; or
(c)	satisfies the court that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained such name and address.

(4) A statutory declaration made under subsection (3)(a) if produced in any proceedings against the person named therein and in respect of the parking offence concerned shall be prima facie evidence that the person was in charge of the vehicle at all relevant times relating to such parking offence.

(5) A statutory declaration which relates to more than one parking offence shall not be regarded as a statutory declaration under, or for the purposes of, subsection (3)(a).

(6) In this section —

“owner”, in relation to a vehicle, includes —

(a)	every person who is the joint owner or part owner of the vehicle and any person who has the use of the vehicle under a hire-purchase agreement but not the owner under any such agreement;
(b)	the person in whose name the vehicle is registered except where the person has sold or otherwise disposed of the vehicle and has complied with the provisions of the rules applicable to him in regard to such sale or disposal; and
(c)	in the case of a vehicle in respect of which a general licence is issued under section 28 of the Road Traffic Act [Cap. 276], the person to whom the general licence is issued;

“parking offence” means an offence of parking a vehicle or of causing or permitting a vehicle to stand, wait or be parked in contravention of any rules made under this Act.

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Power to seize abandoned vehicles

15.—(1) Where a vehicle has broken down or been permitted to remain at rest in a parking place in such a position or in such condition or in such circumstances as to appear to the Superintendent to have been abandoned without lawful authority, the Superintendent may remove the vehicle found in the parking place to a place of safety and the owner thereof shall pay all expenses incurred by the Superintendent in that behalf and all fines and charges imposed under this Act and the rules made thereunder in respect of such offence.

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(2) When any vehicle is detained under this section, the Superintendent shall with all reasonable despatch give notice in writing to the owner (if the name and address of such owner are known to him) of the seizure and if the vehicle is not claimed by its owner within 3 months of the date of its detention, the Superintendent after giving one month’s notice in the Gazette of his intention to do so may sell by public auction or otherwise dispose of the vehicle. The proceeds of the sale or disposal of the vehicle shall be applied in payment of any expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this section and thereafter shall be applied in payment of all charges and fines payable under this Act and the rules made thereunder and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the owner of the vehicle, or if not claimed by the owner of the vehicle within 12 months of the date of the sale or disposal shall be forfeited to the Authority.

(3) The Authority or the Superintendent shall not be liable for any damage to or loss of the vehicle or the contents thereof not caused wilfully or negligently by the Authority or the Superintendent or its or his employee or agent under subsections (1) and (2).

[13B

Penalty

16. Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the provisions of this Act or any rules or orders made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction, where no special penalty is provided, to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding $250 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.

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Service of summons, etc.

17.—(1) Every summons, notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or the rules made thereunder to be served on any person may be served by —

(a)	delivering the same to that person or by delivering the same at the last known place of abode of that person to some adult member or servant of his family;
(b)	leaving the same at the usual or last known place of abode or business of that person in a cover addressed to that person; or
(c)	forwarding the same by registered post in a prepaid letter addressed to that person at his usual or last known place of abode or business or any address furnished by him.

(2) Where any summons, notice, order or document is served on any person by registered post it shall be deemed to have been served within such time as it would take to arrive in the ordinary course of transmission and in proving service of the same it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the summons, notice, order or document was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.

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Payment of charges and fines

18. Subject to any agreement made between the Minister and any statutory body under section 3 and to any direction by the Minister, all charges collected in any parking place under the provisions of this Act and all fines imposed for an offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder shall be paid into the funds of the Authority.

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Power to exempt any parking place

19. The Minister may exempt any private parking place or class of private parking places or any person or class of persons from the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder.

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