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ARCHIVED - Plain clothes police officers to clamp down on unauthorized parking attendants in Murcia
New police powers are about to come into force to combat the "gorrillas" in the regional capital
After a long period of preparation and debate the Town Hall of Murcia is finally ready to introduce new regulations concerning the plethora of unauthorized parking attendants who regularly harass motorists in the regional capital, giving the Policía Local in the city greater powers to put an end to their activities and even to confiscate their takings.
Among the tools to be employed by a team specially constituted to address a problem which has been a constant source of annoyance to both residents and visitors for many years are plain-clothes policemen and two unmarked police cars, and the new city Ordinance also specifies that the unit will be staffed by one Deputy Inspector and four other officers. The duties of the four officers will be to visit the parts of the city where the “gorrillas” are most numerous to detect and fine them, both in areas with free parking and the “blue zones” equipped with parking meters: in these zones motorists frequently find themselves paying twice to park, once to the machines and once to the self-appointed attendants.
The new regulations are to come into force within a couple of weeks, and a list already compiled by the police of the parts of the city to be “cleansed” of “gorrillas” includes the free parking next to the Malecón, Centrofama, Plaza Rocío, Paseo Garay, Avenida Río Segura, the Auditorio Víctor Villegas, the municipal sports complex in El Palmar and numerous other streets.
When officers find a “gorrilla” they will be entitled to demand to see identification and determine whether he is legally resident in Spain. The fine imposable amounts to 750 euros and is also applicable to the offering of other unsolicited services to motorists, including the cleaning of windscreens at traffic lights, the sale of items in the street without authorization and the obstruction of traffic.
Repeat offenders will be liable to a fine of 1,500 euros.
In the meantime, the Policía Local of Murcia report that 42 people have been identified as posing as car parking attendants during the last week including 17 on Monday alone. At the same time, members of the public suffering harassment or threats are urged to report any incidents on the 092 police line.
In the past there have been occasional reports that the local police in Murcia and other municipalities are clamping down on the activities of these “gorrillas”, but they have been unable to rid supposedly free car parks of them (and others where drivers pay for parking tickets and are then asked to pay again by the attendant!), partly because it is difficult to fine them on account of their not having any registered ID details. The majority are immigrant men aged between 20 and 40 hailing from sub-Saharan and northern Africa and eastern Europe, and the police have been quoted as reporting that in 5 per cent of the cases where identity is requested by the officers issuing the fines this results in irregularities being detected in the legality of their presence in Spain.
Unfortunately, until now the police have only stepped up the level of attention they pay to these individuals when there is an incident such as the one in November 2018 near the Paseo del Malecón which ended with one of the “gorrillas” suffering a punctured lung, or another in January when one attendant slit another’s throat.
It should also be pointed out that although it might be imagined that “gorrillas” is a term applied to them in reference to the large ape species, this is not the case. Instead it is derived from the word “gorra”, or cap, and is a reference to the fact that they go “cap in hand” demanding money from drivers. In Spanish, as in English, the large ape is spelt with only one “r”!
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