Ten days since Hanoi raised parking fees, many car owners have groaned for paying hundred of thousands VND of fee a day.

Taking a group of tourists to the Ngoc Son Temple o¬n the Hoan Kiem Lake, Quan – a taxi driver – parked his car at the free parking lot for cabs o¬n Dinh Tien Hoang Street. A middle-aged man appeared, asking Quan to pay VND50,000 ($2.5) if he parks for over 15 minutes.

“Tourists would stay in the temple for at least half of an hour so I had to pay the fee,” Quan said.

Ms. Tuyen, from Doi Can street, complained that yesterday she parked at the parking lot near the Hoan Kiem Lake for around ten minutes but she had to pay VND50,000, without any ticket.

At this parking lot, cars of less than nine seats have to pay VND50,000 for 120 minutes, VND100,000-120,000 ($5-6) for over 120 minutes, without tickets. Meanwhile, according to Hanoi’s regulations, the parking fee for cars of less than nine seats is up to VND40,000 ($2).

Mr. Thanh, whose office is located o¬n Hai Ba Trung street, was upset when he had to pay hundreds of thousands VND (tens of US dollars) of parking fees each day.

“I parked my car for less than 10 minutes but they charged me VND50,000, without giving me the ticket. I have to spend up to VND300,000 ($15) of parking fees o¬n the days that when I have to meet many clients,” Thanh said.

He added that though he had to pay hundreds of thousands of VND a day for parking fee but all parking lots did not give him tickets so he was always afraid in case something happens to his car.

Mr. Hai, from Giang Vo street, pays monthly parking fee at a parking lot o¬n Ngoc Khanh Street. He was shocked when the fee doubled as of January 2012, from VND800,000 to VND1.6 million ($80).

“If the city wants to restrict cars why does not it ban auto manufacturing, auto import and even auto sales? If parking fee doubles like this, I will have to sell my car,” Hai complained.

Many topics o¬n increased parking fee have appeared o¬n the Internet. Most of members said that the increase is too high and unreasonable. “It is okay to increase the fee but we cannot stand when it suddenly rises by four times,” a member wrote.

An inspector of the Traffic Inspection Team of Hoan Kiem district said that the team has received complaints about parking lots around the Hoan Kiem Lake, which collect fees higher than Hanoi’s regulations. However, inspectors “could not catch in the act” violations at these parking lots.

“Moreover, our team is o¬nly in charge of violations related to business licence or illegal use of public land. Violations associated with parking fee is under the management of district authorities,” the inspector added.

According to Hanoi’s regulation, the maximal parking fee at central districts like Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Dong Da and Hai Ba Trung is VND40,000 for cars of less than 9 seats and VND50,000 for cars from ten seats. The monthly fee is from VND2 million ($100) to VND3.4 to VND4.5 million.

In other districts, the fee will be VND25,000 - VND30,000/time while the monthly fee will range between VND300,000 ($15) to VND1.8 million ($60). The fee will be higher for roofed parking lots.