'HK$6,000 Fine For Street Obstructions Reasonable'

Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk has stood by the government's plan to raise the fine for street obstructions from HK$1,500 to HK$6,000, saying a higher penalty is needed to deter such behaviour.

During a Legislative Council meeting on Tuesday, Liberal Party lawmaker Peter Shiu said the penalty is too high and could pose a financial burden for grassroots businesses.

Shiu also expressed concern that people could be wrongly fined just because they are taking too long to load or offload goods from the streets.

But Cheuk stressed the proposed HK$6,000 fine is reasonable, adding that frontline officers have been instructed to exercise judgement before deciding whether or not to issue a penalty ticket.

Meanwhile, in response to lawmaker Kitson Yang’s concern that the fine is too low to have a deterrent effect, Cheuk stressed repeat offenders can be fined multiple times.

"We're not [just] issuing one single penalty ticket a day, we can issue more than one ticket... Multiple tickets can mount up to quite a bit of money," Cheuk said.

The deputy chief secretary said it's hoped the amended legislation can come into place in the third quarter of this year.