Driver lifts gantry barrier to avoid paying parking fee at HDB Bukit Batok

A video of a man skilfully lifting the gantry barrier at a carpark has sparked concern among the online community as others might follow his example.

The video was posted on the Facebook page SG Road Vigilante – SGRV on April 13 with the caption, “Driver of white Volkswagen Golf shares how to avoid paying parking fee at HDB (Housing and Development Board) gantry.”

The incident is said to have happened on April 12 at around 11:20 pm at a carpark along Bukit Batok Street 32.

The driver was caught on camera stopping the car at the exit blocked by the gantry barrier.

He then steps out of the vehicle and manages to pass through by pushing the barrier forward before lifting it up.

The driver returns to the car and leaves the scene.

Netizens expressed worry that those watching the video would treat it as a tutorial on how to avoid paying parking fees.

“Just learned a new trick,” said a Facebook user, while another thanked the man for the “cheat code.”

“He should be doing this many times and know that’s how he push, then the bar will rise up for him to go through,” commented Facebook user Albert Chang.

Another netizen noted that the driver seemingly knew just how far to bend the barrier and when to release.

“This video just taught 100 other people to do it similarly! You gonna see this happen more often now!” added Facebook user Niraj Agarwal.

Meanwhile, others noted that the gantry barrier could be malfunctioning.

“Sometimes the machine barrier cannot detect the I/U yet ask for assistance. The operator asks the driver to push and lift the barrier, even they mentioned they unable to override the system so had to use MANUAL,” said a netizen.

Hopefully, it’s the latter reason, and the driver in question would not end up paying more in fines than the parking fee he allegedly tried avoiding. /TISG

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