Posted by Lonnie on Thursday, 8. October 1998 at 07:34 Bali Time:
I have been meaning to ask this one for a while now.
I was in Bali earlier in the year and drove our rental car into Kuta. We parked not far from bemo corner, in between other cars. I checked for parking signs but couldn't see any.
When we returned to our car about an hour later, we found 2 tyres on one side had been let down and the vehicle couldn't be moved (only 1 spare !) As Bali doesn't exactly have a service station on every corner, this proved to be somewhat of an inconvenience.
We were surrounded by locals, all offering assistance (for a small fee, of course!) They told us that the Police had let the tyres down because we were illegally parked. We were told they come past let 1 tyre down and return a while later. If you are not there to fine, they then let another tyre down... cute huh? (there WAS a sign... on a building....about 50 Metres up the street. We ended up removing a wheel and getting a lift to a mechanic to have some "wind" put back in the tyre (they had also removed the valves)
In our many trips to Bali I have never heard of this happening. We always drive or ride and, apart from the occasional "traffic infringement", never have too many problems.
I just wonder if this has happened to anyone else, or if we were just scammed!!