Mercury EV Founder’s Mercedes S-Class Seized For Wrong Parking: Released After Commissioner Intervenes
Parking is a major problem in most cities. We have seen traffic cops tow away cars that are parked illegally on the side of the road. Rarely have we seen cops take action against people who drive expensive or luxury cars. Here, we have one such incident from Gujarat, where a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan owned by a Jayesh Thakkar, the founder of Mercury EV, was seized by cops, alleging it was parked in the wrong spot. The car was later released after the commissioner of police intervened.
The incident happened at Galava Chambers in Vadodara. The owner of the car, Jayesh Thakkar, visits his office regularly and then goes to the factory. He has a driver who takes him to the office and the company. During a recent visit to the office, the driver dropped Mr. Thakkar off at the office and parked the vehicle on the roadside.
It is not clear whether the car was parked in a designated spot or if it was illegally parked. When the car was parked, a police vehicle passing through the road stopped, and a constable got out. The patrol vehicle had ACP D. M. Vyas inside. The constable told the driver that the owner would have to pay a hefty fine of Rs 50,000.
The report mentions that the constable told the driver to go and meet the ACP in the car and said that the car would be seized. When asked about the reason, the officers told him that the car was parked in the middle of the road. After saying this, the constable sat in the co-passenger seat of the Mercedes-Benz and asked the driver to take the car to the station.
It looks like the driver refused or confronted the officers about the hefty fine, and when the issue was not getting resolved, they decided to take the car to the station. After all this happened, Mr. Thakkar came to know about it, and one of his acquaintances reported the incident to the city police commissioner.
When the senior police official learned about it, he summoned the ACP to get more details about the incident. The ACP denied all the allegations about the hefty fine and told the officer that the driver of the car was misbehaving with the constable. The car was finally released.
We are still not sure whether the Mercedes-Benz driver was at fault or if it was simply a police officer trying to flex his power. Parking vehicles irresponsibly on the side of the road often creates problems, especially during office hours. There have been incidents where wrongly parked vehicles have caused traffic jams.
Never park a vehicle on a narrow road, as it would create inconvenience for other road users. We have seen traffic police take action against car owners who park their vehicles on the roadside.
They usually have a tow truck, but in this case, the car was worth over a crore, and towing the car was not the best idea, as the chances of damaging the vehicle while towing are pretty high.