JEDDAH, 3 February 2007 — Anyone who has had to pay a traffic fine knows there are only two places you can go, and neither of them is a government office. To pay for a speeding ticket or other infraction one must go to Riyad Bank or Al-Rajhi Bank. If you don’t have an account at either bank, you have to pay the fine at an ATM machine belonging to one of these banks using an account holder’s ATM card.
To add to the confusion: if you need to pay a government fee, such as a driver’s license renewal, you can only do so at Riyad Bank, not Al-Rajhi. In both cases, these transactions require you to visit the traffic office, adding another trip and another queue to the bureaucratic hassle.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this system has created a cottage industry of small-time entrepreneurs who for a SR15 fee will wait in line and make your payment for you.
“I don’t exploit people, I save them time,” said Hamza, one of the pioneers in this new business.
Fahd Al-Harbi, a Saudi in his late 20s, went to the traffic department to renew his driver’s license. He was instructed to go to an Al-Rajhi Bank ATM to pay the fee.
“That just means more hassle,” he said. “And as soon as I got out of office this guy started waving his ATM card in my face saying he would pay the renewal for a small fee,” said Al-Harbi, who said he counted five men all offering the same service close to the Jeddah traffic department.
Al-Harbi said the system would be a little less of a hassle if these fines and fees could be paid at any bank.
“As I understand it, this arrangement with these banks is an exclusive contract,” he said. “But this service should be opened for other banks.”
He also suggested that the authorities should adopt the same system employed in many countries: where fine and fees can be paid right there and then at the government office instead of a third party in the private sector.
Until then, he says he’s happy to have guys like Hamza who charge a reasonable fee for a time-saving service.
