Durban car show organisers strive to ensure compliance
Auto Display has said they are doing all they can to address issues occurring in Sphiwe Zuma (Queen Mary) Avenue.
A REPORT on the car show held at Port Natal High School on Sundays which appeared in Berea Mail on 15 February, unintentionally excluded comment from Auto Display, organisers of the popular event.
According to the report, residents had raised concerns about vendors who allegedly left litter and beer bottles in the area outside the school property and also complained about patrons who parked their vehicles on the island in the road which affected motorists trying to cross the road.
Speaking to Berea Mail, Sean Laurenz from Auto Display said a lot of time, effort and money went into making the show safe and organised.
He said attempts were being made to sort out the issues raised.
Laurenz said they regularly called the SAPS and Metro Police out to enforce the law, and employed marshalls to walk up and down the road to ensure patrons weren’t double parking or causing an obstruction.
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“We have had an issue with three vendors operating outside the school who have been found to not have licenses to vend, and who also left trash lying on the island at the end of the day. We called Metro Police to remove them and six months ago hired a security company to sort out the issues.”
“For two to three months we had no trouble, but we couldn’t afford to keep on employing the company to assist. The vendors came back and others followed.”
“We supplied them with black bags to clean up after themselves, but they aren’t complying. We don’t know what more to do,” he said, adding that the business had hired cleaners to clean up the area outside the school on a Sunday morning before the show stared, as well as after the show, and at 6am on a Monday morning.
According to Laurenz, many people earned a living through the display which had become a very popular event with patrons coming to view and buy vehicles locally and from Gauteng every weekend.
Auto Display is a family run business, having opened its doors almost 40 years ago at the Hyper Market in Durban North.
“It offers people a safe and relaxed atmosphere in which to buy and sell cars. Not everyone can afford to buy a vehicle from a large dealership,” says Roselyn Laurenz, who has been running the show for the last 30 years.
“We make use of a sophisticated automated license plate scanning system that is linked to SAPS, which ensures that all the cars at the show are legitimate. It gives the buyers peace of mind.”
She added that Port Natal School has also benefitted from the arrangement as the rental of the school fields brought in income to do much-needed major maintenance and renovations at the school. “Auto Display also helps with funding children at the school who can’t afford books and stationery,” she said.
“We urge anyone in the community who has any complaints to contact us. We will be more than happy to engage with them”.
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