UAE motorists face fines for washing their cars in the street

Father and Son Washing Car. Photo: Brand X Pictures/ThinkstockUAE motorists face hefty fines if they are caught washing their cars on the streets of Abu Dhabi, daily newspaper 7Days reported on Monday.

The move comes as part of Abu Dhabi Municipality’s crackdown on what it described as being an ‘uncivilised’ act, where people were ‘disfiguring the city’, the report added.

Khalifa Al Rumaithi, director of public health, said people choosing to clean their own cars in the street instead of using car washes was an ‘unhealthy and disorderly phenomena’,  which he said disfigured ‘the aesthetic appearance of the city’.

He warned that the water would collect on the streets and would ‘create a breeding ground for mosquitoes and insects’, as well as potentially cause subsidence of the road surface, the newspaper quoted him as saying.

According to the report 53 warnings have already been issued and those found committing a repeat  offence will be fined AED 500 ($136).