Retailers claim parking tickets driving customers away

AMMAN — Clothes shop owners say the “stringent” campaign against parking violations is affecting their customers and harming their businesses. 

The Garment Traders Association (GTA) issued a statement appealing to the police director to intervene and stop the campaign against motorists who head to the markets to shop for Eid Al Fitr, when people traditionally buy new clothes. 

"The police are issuing tickets for people who park outside shops while there are no alternative parking lots," GTA President Sultan Allan told The Jordan Times on Thursday, noting that customers became reluctant to shop in certain vital shopping areas to avoid receiving parking tickets. 

"Downtown, Sweifieh and Jabal Al Hussein are now commercially destroyed due to the regulations that ban people from leaving their cars outside or near shops," he claimed, adding that traffic signs that allow a 30-minute parking time limit are "unreasonable". 

"A man who is escorting his three kids for Eid shopping will not finish in half-an-hour… it is also not reasonable to ask him to park four kilometres away from shops and walk with his kids," Allan said.

He added that the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) keeps claiming that there are parking lots near shopping centres in Amman. 

"This is utterly false," he charged.

Ahmad Halawani, a shop owner in downtown Amman, told The Jordan Times that the heavy presence of traffic police in the area has harmed sales.

"Downtown Amman is a destination for shoppers ahead of Eid Al Fitr. But the area lacks proper parking lots and people would not risk buying an item of clothing or a pair of shoes for JD10 while they get fined JD15," said Halawani, who owns a clothing store. 

Meanwhile, Amman Traffic Department Director Col. Bassem Kharabsheh said the alternative to regulating the flow of cars in commercial areas is "allowing chaos".

"Let us argue that we can override the law and allow people to park outside shops as long as they want to. This would mean that cars would close down streets and interrupt traffic flow for hours. This is an illogical equation that would harm traders even more," he told The Jordan Times. 

While acknowledging that there are not enough parking areas around shopping centres, he suggested that shop owners take the responsibility to create parking spaces. 

"If parking lots are destroying their businesses, they can come up with ideas to solve the issues, such as building multi-storey buildings," Kharabsheh said.