Crackdown on roadside food vendors in Wichit

WICHIT, PHUKET: Wichit Municipality has made an ambitious New Year’s resolution: to rid public roads of food vending carts and trolleys.

Wichit Mayor Kreetha Saetan said the municipality and local public health workers have pleaded with mobile food vendors for over a year not to set up along public roads, especially in the market area across from the Phuket Villa 3 residential estate on Chao Fah East Rd.

The vendors create traffic jams, block pedestrians and are a common source of complaints among motorists, he said.

Now the time for action has come, and the municipality says it will enforce a 1992 regulation that stipulates fines from 500 to 2,000 baht for people cooking or selling food on public roads.

The crackdown began on New Year’s Day. Violators will be given three warnings before fines are issued, he said.

Currently there are about 10 carts operating illegally. Most are in the market opposite Phuket Villa 3, but others are also operating along Bangyai Rd.

“They are aware that what they are doing is illegal, but they are afraid that if they move they will lose customers,” he said.

— Atchaa Khamlo