Police have on Monday launched a crack down on commercial drivers who are not complying with the social distancing rules on passengers put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus.

The social distancing rules ordered by the government tasked drivers to transport half of their vehicles capacity. However many drivers were reportedly not complying with the new rules and some have been accused of increasing their fares.

The crackdown comes days after President Barrow declared a state of emergency and nationwide lockdown to help contain the spread of the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus that has infected four people in the country.

Police mount checkpoints within the Greater Banjul Area to enforce the new social distancing rules and to ensure drivers comply with them.

But dozens of commercial drivers have expressed their disappointment over the new government transportation rules and claimed they were losing money. 

Momdou Jallow, a commercial driver, said: “The decision taken by the government has affected me a lot due to lack of profits these days and also fuel price still remains the same.”

“My vehicle normally carries 14 passengers and now that the government has ordered us to half it out of the specific number and the price of fuel is still the same which does not favour me so I decided to pack my vehicle.”

Another commercial driver, Bakary Sanyang, said: “the government conditioning us the commercial derivers to reduce the number of passengers in our vehicle does not favour us.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba