Tempers frayed, voices raised at Woodlands VEP centre as Oct 1 deadline nears

SINGAPORE: Motorists let their frustrations show on the second day of vehicle entry permit (VEP) tag installation at an information centre in Woodlands, after some who could not secure appointments to collect their tags were turned away.
Others turned up with a gamut of issues: Some were unable to complete online payment while others who drive second-hand vehicles had trouble deregistering the VEP applications of previous owners.
But some customers had their VEP tags installed on the spot and left satisfied. 
Mr Ng Poh Heng, manager of the Woodlands office called MY VEP, said they can only handle about 100 enquiries a day, and so customers can only come down if they have secured appointments. 
“Those people who cannot (book an appointment), we really have to turn them away, and my message to these people is that I’m sorry, we can only do so much,” said Mr Ng. 
“If you do not get an appointment, please don’t come down, otherwise, it’s just time-consuming on your end, and on our side.” 
The office opened on Aug 19 to help Singapore drivers with their VEP applications, but from Sep 12 has also served as a location where motorists can collect their VEP tags.
Malaysia will require all foreign-registered vehicles entering the country by land from Singapore to use VEPs from Oct 1, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced in May. 
Motorists who fail to do so may be fined up to RM2,000 (US$465) or jailed for up to six months.
When CNA arrived at the VEP centre at 8.30am, 30 minutes before the first appointment of the day, six motorists were already waiting in line outside the office. 
The crowd grew to about 20 motorists as 9am approached, and not all had made an appointment. 
When Mr Ng clarified to the crowd that only those who had secured appointments would be tended to, some who did not have appointments stepped forward. 
One man, appearing frustrated, spoke in a loud voice to Mr Ng, insisting that he tried to get an appointment online, but was unable to do so. 
He then raised an issue with making payment, and Mr Ng tried to assuage him on this, saying it was not under the purview of the MY VEP office. 
The man soon left, his queries unanswered. 
“People are getting very unreasonable now, and sometimes I need to manage them,” Mr Ng told CNA after trying to calm the situation down. 
Tellingly, signs had been put up in the office warning against physically or verbally abusing staff members.
“Violators will immediately be referred to the authorities,” the signs read. 
Those who could show that they had an appointment were led into the office, where they could sit down and wait for their queue numbers to be called.
A 65-year-old personal driver to a managing director at a manufacturing firm was among those that did not make an appointment, but had come to try his luck. 
The driver, who only wanted to be known as Lionel, said that he had already gone to the VEP information centre in Danga Bay to seek clarification on an issue with his application, but returned to Singapore as the queue there was too long. 
Currently, drivers who have successfully applied for the VEP tags can collect them at the information centres in Danga Bay or Woodlands, or receive them by post.
He was turned away at the Woodlands centre on Friday.
“They’re not even entertaining us, there’s a lot of frustration,” he said. 
He said that he needs the VEP on his company vehicle immediately in October to shuttle his employer to and from Malaysia for meetings. 
“If the boss says he needs to go (into Malaysia), then we need to get the VEP, if not we are stuck,” he said. 
Likewise, 67-year-old crane operator Yunos Kamis was also turned away for not having an appointment. He said it is the fourth time he has visited the Woodlands office. 
He was hoping to at least be able to secure a future appointment, but was not able to do so. 
There are QR codes available at the office for motorists to scan and book appointments. When CNA tried to do so, the booking site showed that appointments all the way up to the last available date, Oct 4, were fully booked.
According to Mr Ng, motorists have to wait until 11.59pm on Sunday for a new batch of appointments between Oct 7 and Oct 11 to be made available on the booking site. 
“In October, it’s already the expiry date (where I will need a VEP to drive to Malaysia), and so we can’t go already,” Mr Yunos said. 
Other motorists waiting in line shared their issues with either other MY VEP staff, or with each other. 
Some were “stuck” at the payment step on the VEP application portal. Others said they had applied for VEPs several years ago when the scheme was first announced, but now had trouble trying to apply to get physical tags.
Some who got an appointment, however, were satisfied with the service. 
One public servant in his 40s, who only wanted to be known as Kum Chew, said that he had issues making the final appointment to install the VEP tag, but managed to secure an appointment to solve this issue.
“The process actually went quite smoothly … the staff (were) quite patient with me and went through the whole process and managed to make an appointment (to install the VEP tag),” he said.
Mr Ng said that since MY VEP opened as an enquiry centre, they had been asked by many motorists if VEP tag installation could also be done there. They therefore obtained permission from the Malaysian authorities to do so.
On Thursday, the first day of tag installation there, the team managed to install 20 VEP tags on car windshields. 
“We expect, once everything is going, we should, we will do 100 to 150 at least, that’s our target, if not more, per day,” said Mr Ng. 
CNA saw two cars having their VEP tags installed, a process that took no longer than five minutes for each vehicle. 
Drivers who choose to collect their RFID tags from the Woodlands centre will, by default, be offered the tag that is installed on the windscreen unless their windscreen is assessed to not be suitable. In that case, they will receive the RFID tag that is meant to be installed on a headlamp.
Mr Ng also urged patience among motorists in getting an appointment at the centre before coming down. He estimated that about 30 to 40 people had come down on Thursday without an appointment and had to be turned away. 
“When people stay at the door and start wanting to come in, we have to expend at least two staff instead of being at the counter, to be outside to kind of tell them that they can’t come in … it will take us, like something like 10 to 15 minutes to explain to them before they want to go away,” he said. 
“So we would like them to understand our position. We understand everybody is anxious … but there’s only so much we all can do.”