Angry customers force gate open at Kempton Park licensing centre

It took the employees inside the building about two hours to present 10 people with their licences.

The scene on Tuesday. Images: Kempton Express

Chaos erupted at Kempton Park Licensing Centre on Monday when angry customers forced open a gate to gain entry to the premises, reports Kempton Express.

Having waited outside the centre for hours without service, tempers flared up at around 11:30am and the gate was pushed off its rail.

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Staff inside the offices locked themselves inside with hundreds of people waiting outside.

A Boksburg resident, who was in line a fifth time to fetch his new driver’s licence, waited since 8am only to discover his licence was still not there at around 3.30pm. He applied for his licence on July 17 last year.

“Violence is looming unless something drastically is done,” he said.

People outside the gate on Tuesday.

According to him, a single security guard was sent out to ask the people to leave the premises on Monday. He valiantly tried to organise customers into queues according to what they needed.

It took the employees inside the building about two hours to present 10 people with their licences. Others were sent away as the new licences had not arrived yet, he added.

A 72-year-old pensioner told Kempton Express the department was in total disaster.

“Having turned away some 200 applicants on January 3, telling them they had no staff and must queue again on Monday, I did just that and queued from 6am until 11.45am.

“During that time, only 10 people of over 200, again waiting for hours on end, could be assisted. At 11:45am, owing to enormous frustrations, the total mob broke through the gate and total chaos erupted.

“What is happening in Kempton Park? It is so bad one can’t even refer to this as third world standards. Similar to the state of the dumping site where nothing functions.

“Who takes responsibility here? As a 72-year-old pensioner among other old age citizens, who can we turn to? The so-called internet booking system does not work. Where to from here as I am now forced to drive illegally with an expired licence.”

The situation did not look any better on Tuesday when Kempton Express visited the centre. The reasons for the huge delays are not known yet, as comments from the metro are still pending.