Daan police crack down on street vendors for unpaid fines

According to reports, the police from Tunnan station under the Daan Police Bureau of Taipei have already issued 6,000 tickets for unlicensed street stalls this year; only 20 percent of the tickets have been paid.

A female shoe merchant from the district is reported to have incurred close to NT$10 million in fines over the last three years. According to media reports, since this merchant has no property under her name for police to seize, she could face a six-month jail term.

The average unpaid amount for merchants in neighborhood is at least NT$100,000. Police reported there are at least six merchants with unpaid amounts in the millions.

Police usually attempt to catch vendors by encircling an area of stalls, verbally coercing vendors to pay up, or immediately transporting them to the station.

To avoid being caught, some merchants have reportedly hired people to pose as the merchant for police. A few years ago, a mentally disabled homeless man was reportedly found to have been hired as a fake merchant after police discovered him with 200 unpaid tickets.

Street vendors who sell their goods on sidewalks are fined NT$1,200 and NT$1,500 for blocking the road. But because unpaid tickets are automatically dismissed after five years, police have little power to enforce the law.

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