On December 10 and 11, I attended the Jamaica Customs auction for motor vehicles. It was my first time and I found it quite chaotic.

When I first went to the car lots to view the cars, I was told that I had to register to attend the auction, before I would be allowed to view the automobiles. I explained that I wanted to see if there was any vehicle that I wanted to buy before I registered.

I read the newspaper ad to the security personnel: "The public may view these motor vehicles on weekdays beginning December 3-9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.". This didn't help.

At the registration centre at Customs House was a system that had to have been set up by someone without ANY consideration for the public.

You had to sit and wait for the clerks to enter all the information in books and the computers - something that could easily have been done after you left with your registration document. This exercise took me about two hours.

My friend from Ocho Rios arrived at 2:10 p.m. to get registered, but was told that registration was closed. The newspaper ad clearly stated that registration was from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Enormous challenge

Inspecting the automobiles was an enormous challenge, particularly, matching from the information in the newspaper and the updated list received from Customs House. The information on the automobiles was not clearly written and in some cases, not written at all.

I tried to take photos with my little digital camera, only to be told in a very rude way that taking photos was not allowed. I asked why and was told: "That's how it is. No photos".

The auction got off to an 11:10 a.m. start instead of the advertised 10 a.m. There was seating for only about half of the large crowd in attendance. No updated lists were available and the authorities apologised for this.

On both days of the auction there was confusion many times during the proceedings. All of this could have been avoided with proper planning, especially since it was not the first time that customs was doing this. I was told by others who had attended previous auctions that that is how it is every time.

For example, the auctioneer was not sure which vehicles were available for auction, as some had been cleared by the importers.

He was not sure whether the deposits had been made by successful bidders or if the items had to be auctioned again.

It turned out on a few occasions that he had to bring back for auction, some of the items "already auctioned". He explained that the bidders had not made the deposits.

Sometimes his description of the automobile being auctioned did not match that of the bidders. All the above created very lengthy delays.

Some recommendations

The restroom was horrible - same one to be used by both male and female. It was greatly in need of cleaning and repairs and there was no toilet paper or paper towels available.

I would recommend that in future:

A video slide show of the actual vehicles being auctioned.

That all bidders make a deposit before the auction, to be applied to any successful bid they make. It would be fully refundable if they did not buy anything.

Have adequate, updated lists on the morning of the auction.

Allow photos to be taken during viewing of the automobiles.

Start on schedule.

Have proper seating

Have refreshments on sale.

Have adequate restroom facilities.

Select a better venue with air con-ditioning.

Allow viewing first and registration after.

I am sure the new commissioner of customs would not want to be associated with such a poorly planned event. Would you?

I am, etc.,

DANNY PERSAUD

mahaiconycreek@yahoo.com

Kingston 10

EDITOR'S NOTE: Peter Espeut's column did not arrive in time for publication.