Parking fees charged without legal grounds violate people's rights

EARLIER THIS MONTH a truck driver in Jinan, East China's Shandong province, was reportedly forced to pay 3,200 yuan ($482) as a parking fee to a property management company after he parked his truck outside one of the buildings managed by the company for just five minutes. Procuratorate Daily commented on Saturday:

Asked on what grounds they charged the truck driver for parking outside the building, the property management company said the neighborhood committee had entrusted the cleaning and management of the neighborhood's roads to them, hence it had "the right to charge parking fees".

Such an explanation is far-fetched and does not hold water. The company, which was found to have dispatched two cars to corner the "wrongly parked" truck and solicited a hefty fine, is not registered; and it has employed similar tricks against other drivers previously.