Government stringently combats shop front extensions (with photo)
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A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said today (October 10) that the FEHD and the Hong Kong Police Force have started a series of stringent enforcement actions since October 3 in various districts against shop operators and other stakeholders illegally placing goods or articles in public places or on carriageways, thereby causing an obstruction to pedestrian and vehicular flow. The FEHD and the Police will adopt the joint enforcement mode in various districts this month gradually so as to fortify the effectiveness of enforcement actions against shop front extensions.
During the joint operation in Kwai Tsing District yesterday (October 9), the FEHD issued seven fixed penalty notices (FPNs) against obstructions caused by the shops in public places, and removed about 120 kilograms of waste. In addition, a total of four warning notices, which require the owners of the articles to remove the obstructions within a specified time, were also issued by the Police. Among these, one warning notice had yet to be complied with and the FEHD had hence removed about 200 kg of goods or articles involved. Further, one person was arrested by the FEHD during the operation for illegal hawking and causing obstruction by the related shop in public place, and 150 kg of the related commodities were seized.
To sum up the past week (October 3 to 9), the FEHD and the Police have conducted joint enforcement operations in Kowloon City, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan, Kwun Tong, Yuen Long, Kwai Tsing and Eastern Districts. During the operations, the FEHD issued 98 FPNs and five summonses against obstructions and cleanliness offences in public places caused by the shops, and removed about 18.7 tonnes of waste during the operations in the above-mentioned districts. Furthermore, three persons were arrested during the operation for illegal hawking and causing obstruction in public place by the related shops, and about 173 kg of related commodities were seized. Besides, a total of eight warning notices, which require the owners of the articles to remove the obstructions within a specified time, were issued by the Police. Among these, three warning notices had yet to be complied with and the FEHD had hence removed about 370 kg of goods or articles involved.
The main focus of the second month of the Government Programme on Tackling Hygiene Black Spots is to combat hygiene black spots with illegal shop front extensions leading to street obstructions. Under the joint enforcement mode, if obstructions in a public place or carriageways were caused by articles illegally extending from shops, the offenders concerned would be prosecuted. Apart from that, the Police would issue warning notice under section 32(1) of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228) specifying the time limit for removal of the obstructions (including goods). If the offenders failed to remove the obstructions within the time limit as specified by the Police, the FEHD would then remove the items for temporary storage.
The spokesman appeals to shop operators and other stakeholders not to extend business areas illegally by placing goods or articles in public places or on carriageways causing an obstruction to pedestrian and vehicular flow. The FEHD and the Police will continue to closely monitor and take stringent enforcement actions to tackle the shop front extension problem.
