Bus Drivers In Grenada Charged For Violating Emergency Powers Regulations

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, March 30, 2020 (CMC) – Two bus drivers have been arrested and charged with violating the 2020 Emergency Powers (COVID 19) Regulations, after they were found carrying passengers, in defiance of the social distancing.

Police said that Alric Noel, 27, was found to be carrying approximately 17 persons on a passenger bus, while 49-year-old Lorris Phillip, was stopped, after he was found with an overloaded (passenger) bus.

The Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) said both men are in custody, and is reminding everyone to comply with the 2020 Emergency Powers (COVID 19) Regulations.

Section13 (1)a of the Emergency Powers (COVID 19) Regulations states that no person shall offer for hire or seek to travel on any motor omnibus, unless there is, or would be, not more than one passenger per row, in the motor omnibus, in a staggered formation.

It warned that a person, who contravenes or fails to comply with these Regulations, shall be guilty of an offence and, on summary conviction, liable to a fine of EC$1,000 and to imprisonment for 12 months.

On Sunday, Health Minister, Nicholas Steele, said that all “crowded buses will be parked up”.

“Everything that puts our lives and livelihood at risk, ends. Fellow citizens, as a result of the inability of some of you to follow the guidelines designed to keep you safe, the government is now revisiting the measures from last week, with a view to escalating them,” he added.