red tape frustrates me

i was at the HDB office trying to get a season parking ticket for my car which as barely 9 days left of life span on earth.... and guess what???? RED TAPE!!!!

My car had season parking for the HDB lot near my house for the past 2years, due to the recent SF trip, I decided to put the vehicle in a private parking area during that time which will also make it easier for anyone to access the vehicle from the family. So I went to the office to cancel the season parking and I got a refund for the remaining of the "unused" month.

When I got back from SF, half expecting the vehicle to be gone by then as it seems that the paperwork to decomission it is thick as a result of my dad's overseas's death, fortunately or unfortunately, we get to keep the vehicle till end of the month. So I had to go back to the HDB office to get the season parking for the remaining of the month. Guess what????

They do not pro-rate the season parking!!!

I was shocked!!! I almost jumped out of my skin when the officer told me that I had to pay S$90 for the remaining of the month which has barely 9days!!!!

He told me to provide PROOF for the time that the vehicle was not in the season parking area while I was away in SF.... *scratch head* shall I ask a non-existent security guard to write a letter stating that the vehicle was indeed in a private housing????

So he said, well, we can write an appeal letter and submit it to the officer-in-charge and let him decide if the appeal for pro-rate is approved.

Of course I wrote the cow n bull story of how my car is in the private estate and we had realised that its only going to be scrapped at the end of the month and so I took the vehicle back.....

After providing the dates and address of the private estate, the officer approved the pro-rated season parking for the vehicle.

imagine if I am not well educated, I cannot write in english, would I be able to make an appeal? most folks I see in the queue were so scared of the "law" that they'll just meekly agree with whatever terms and conditions that these office set.

Why would the office make such a rule? Just allow that fellow to pay for the season parking at whichever date he likes. Not as if he's running from his responsibililties. Besides, the contracted-ticketing-officers will be super vigilant to catch whoever neglected to have a valid season parking. So why make it so troublesome to enforce non-prorated for someone who wants to park in the lot? In addition, this person has to come down to the office itself to make the payment etc, don't you think that it's troublesome enough for them to take time off their work to do so???

The 2nd most irritating thing about purchasing the season parking was, the officer at the desk also told me that I had to purchase the next month's worth of season parking with my pro-rated ticket.

HUH???? I showed him the expiry of my COE and he did not even binge.... he said rules are rules...

So now, I've paid for a season parking until end of september which i will NOT be using and will HAVE to return the "unused" ticket at the office AGAIN!!!!

simply a waste of time and resources.....