The farmer shared a video of himself declaring, “I not taking that today,” as he argued with police officers who issued the ticket pointing to other items in the van including a spray can and some plants.
He also asked if those needed to be tied down as well.
Pointing to the items, he said, “This is what you all want to give me a ticket for. This is stupidness bro!”
“You cyah give me a ticket for a bucket in the back of my van!” the man declared asking to speak to an officer with a higher position.
The farmer was told in the video, if he had a problem, he can take the matter to court.
The incident occurred near the SS Erin Road that leads to Siparia sometime last week.
It was shared by Member of Parliament for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal on Tuesday.
Dr Moonilal also gave his opinion on the matter.
He said, “In a country riddled with violence, the startling revelation of a police officer issuing a ticket to a farmer for an unsecured bucket in a vehicle is a gross contempt for crime-fighting in a country riddled with bloody violence.”
Dr Moonilal said, “It cannot be that an empty bucket has triggered law enforcement, while gun-toting criminals drive freely along the highways, with no police scanners to increase detection, prosecution and conviction.”
He added, “It is also another worrying insight that the authorities cannot deal with crime and that an empty bucket provokes the heavy hand of the law.”
Dr Moonilal said it was also an outrage and blatant abuse of office, especially in a land in which 220 murders have already been committed for the year that the police detection rate remained in single digits.
“The police officer’s insistence on ticketing the farmer is an abomination and an act of obscenity, especially while innocent citizens are slaughtered, aged pensioners are assaulted and home invasions are commonplace,” he said.
The MP also urged Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher to rein in her officers and instruct them to target gangsters, murderers, rapists, and other violent and brutal criminals.
“In a country with a high food import bill, farmers make a valued contribution toward feeding nationals and deserve appreciation and honour, not persecution and senseless ticketing. Surely, discretion and issuing warnings are options to these mundane threats,” Dr Moonilal said.
The law
The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chap 48:50 states, “In the case of goods vehicles, the load shall be properly secured in such a manner as effectively to prevent the displacement of any portion thereof by the motion of travel. Any tarpaulin or other covering used for the protection of the load shall be adjusted so as to fit closely to the load or vehicle and shall be properly secured by ropes or other fastenings so as to prevent flapping or other displacement of such covering while the vehicle is in motion.”
Transport only secured load
Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said while he did not wish to comment on the actions of another law enforcement agency, he advised all persons transporting items in a vehicle to properly secure them.
He told AZP News, “It is an offence when one is carrying load that is not secured.”
Clarke said people ought to be mindful that when they were transporting load to properly secure the item regardless of what it may be whether it was a bucket or otherwise, to ensure that the item cannot be easily thrown out of the vehicle if something should happen.
“A simple matter could end up in a freak accident,” he said recalling the accident when a 62-year-old mother of five was killed when a stack of metal rods fell off a transport truck, impaling her behind the steering wheel of her car in Santa Cruz in 2013.
