Toyota dealer in AdenFighting terrorism with Red Tape
I left the house in order to obtain a new travel permission letter from the security police. All foreigners in Yemen need travel permission letters to go to another province so that the police can protect them from potential threats. Our work is just across the border to the next door province, so this is a frequent and time consuming activity for us since we always have to wait at least half an hour for them to fill in the forms and get the boss to stamp and sign them. Sometimes we are denied travel permission if there is a perceived terrorist threat in the area.
Yemen's first ever speed camera
Just a few hundred metres from our house is the causeway which links the mainland and the peninsula which is home to the older part of Aden and the port. It is a road which has had a history of accidents because of 2 problems; 1) people driving too fast and 2) broken down vehicles which are stranded in the middle of this 6 km stretch of road with no way of getting their car off the road to a safe place. The combination of these two things used to cause many accidents but the first problem has improved since the police began using Yemen's first ever speed camera on the road, but there are still broken down vehicles which are a great irritation when they cause traffic jams or bring you to a stop because there's no gaps in the fast lane.
Stranded in the middle of the causeway
Today I became one of those people who I'm always annoyed at for having the inconsideration to break down in such an inconvenient place, as my car conked out right in the middle of that road. The engine cut out and I came to a stop just after a bend in the road, which meant that oncoming drivers had little warning of a stationary vehicle. There was no response from anything as I tried to restart it and I began praying that no one would crash into the car as I put my hazard lights on and opened my bonnet to see if I could diagnose the problem. Fortunately, it was before 10 am, so there was not a huge amount of traffic yet. In Yemen the rush hour happens between about 11am and midday since many people don't start work until after this, and then they stop for at least a 2 hour lunch break in the afternoon!
We live in Al Mansura at the top of the picture and I broke down just after the big bend before you go past the airport
The PAC (Police Automobile Club)
Nothing I could think of was of any help in restarting the car and there is no AA or RAC in Yemen, but some kind Yemenis stopped to offer their assistance and took me to place where tow trucks waited for business. After they negotiated a good price for me, I bade them farewell and took the Tow Truck to my car. As we headed back across the causeway, I saw my car going the other way on the back of a police tow truck! It took about an hour of the driver going round and asking people and making phone calls to track down the place where they had taken it.
Closed for lunch
The police truck agreed to take me to Toyota, rather than transfer the car from one Tow Truck to another and it took about another half an hour to get there. By the time we got to Toyota, everyone had gone for lunch and the workshop was completely locked up. The only people there were a couple of security guards and the manager of the new-car showroom who was in the middle of his prayers. I waited about 15 minutes for him to finish his prayers so that I could tell him the whole story and leave him my car key so that the mechanics could fix my car when they came back from lunch. 2 hours later. Then I went home for my lunch, in not such a good mood as I had started the day.
Update: After another week of waiting for another part, the car is now fully fixed and working fine. I now have the phone number for the Tow Truck driver stored in my phone.
