GT WORKERS AND TRAFFIC WARDENS CLASH (p.18) 06-09-08

Story: Kofi Yeboah

(GT workers and traffic wardens clash)
AN attempt by some private traffic wardens to tow a broken-down vehicle being used by some workers of Ghana Telecom (GT) nearly resulted in a clash when the workers resisted the move.
The incident, which occurred on Thursday along the road between the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and the national office of the Scripture Union, drew a large crowd to the scene, bringing the normally busy street hawking business on that stretch of the road to a temporary standstill.
When the Daily Graphic got to the scene around 11:30 a.m., the traffic wardens had clamped the Nissan double cabin vehicle, with registration number GW 3943 X, and there was total confusion.
The GT workers, who had been laying underground telephone cables in the area, had earlier resisted attempts by the traffic wardens to tow the vehicle.
It took the intervention of a police patrol team to calm the mounting tension.
According to the workers, they had been laying underground telephone cables in the area in the past few days but their vehicle broke down that very day.
They said they parked the vehicle on the pavement and called for a mechanic to fix it.
However, they said before they could realise, the traffic wardens had come to clamp the vehicle, asking them to pay a fine of GH¢40.
The workers said they refused to pay the fine and resisted the towing of the vehicle because they did not think parking the vehicle on the pavement obstructed vehicular traffic in any way.
Furthermore, they submitted, they had informed the traffic wardens that the vehicle had broken down and was being fixed.
After some verbal confrontations, the traffic wardens left the scene amidst boos from the workers and other onlookers.
The vehicle remained clamped at the time the Daily Graphic left the scene around 12:30 p.m.