Food-delivery riders boycott over parking spat

Eunice Lam

Dozens of personnel from Hong Kong's two food-delivery giants refuse to handle orders from five residential estates on Muk Ning Street, Kai Tak, until they offer free parking.

The workers, who operate mostly on motorcycles, also say Foodpanda and Deliveroo have canceled a policy allowing riders to claim for reimbursement of fines for illegal parking.

They demand the companies fight on their behalf with the estates - Vibe Centro, K City, Oasis, One Kai Tak and Victoria Skye - for free parking and reimburse at least two tickets a month.

Each rider takes an average of 15 orders from Muk Ning Street weekly but often receive three to five HK$320 illegal parking tickets.

One rider said while they are banned from parking motorcycles at estates but delivery trucks often get free parking passes.

When the street is full of parked cars, he added, riders sometimes park in an emergency lay-by

"Residents will take videos of us and report to police," he said, adding that nine of his rider friends have been charged with careless driving. A Deliveroo spokesman said the company had contacted property management firms as "riders are at the heart of what we do."

A counterpart at Foodpanda said: "We have written and called housing estates and property management units to request they allow couriers to temporarily park their vehicles.

"We do not rule out suspending delivery service until we can ensure our couriers can deliver orders safely and legally."

But a service representative at one of the estates, K City, said food-delivery riders and truck drivers get 30 minutes' free parking within the development's car park, adding that it is the only estate on Muk Ning Street that offers such a facility.

A Transport Department spokesman said apart from visitor parking spaces within estates on Muk Ning Street there are motorcycle parking lots available at bays within the Tak Long and Kai Ching estates -- an eight-minute walk away.

And a police spokesman said 772 fixed penalty tickets were issued to drivers on and around Muk Ning Street from June to August.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com