Friday, June 05, 2015

Sefrou's Cherry Festival ~ A Warning for Visitors

Local Moroccans and visitors alike are reporting a cynical fund raising scam by Sefrou authorities. Visitors' cars, parked legally, are being towed away and police are demanding as much as 400 dirhams to release them

The View from Fez, in Sefrou to report and promote the Cherry Festival, was also caught in the scam. After parking in their usual spot where there were no signs indicating that parking was forbidden, they returned to find their car gone. There was no apology from the police who instead demanded a fine.

According to several reports, a mobile "no parking" sign is placed beside a car, then a police photo is taken "proving" the infringement. Complaints to the local police about the behaviour were ignored.

When asking why there were no police informing people not to park, a police spokesperson from the Sefrou Commissariat replied "He was probably on his lunch break or at the toilet".

Local people are happy to welcome visitors to Sefrou, but say they are unhappy that the parking scam is souring the experience and reflecting badly on their beautiful, normally friendly town.


The Cherry Festival continues tomorrow and is worth a visit but the parking scam is a bad move by the local authorities, who should be assisting visitors to park, not using them as revenue raising.

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3 comments:

Hicham said...

I am apologise for Sefrou police Not all Morocco like that. Please come again

Anonymous said...

We had the same problem with Sefrou.It was very rude. No sign then sign appears after you leave car. They should punish Sefrou policeman,

Fatima Z said...

Hsuma! Sorry for Sefrou problem. All police not the same.