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Channel 4 TV crew agree to pay van charges
The van driver who transported the Channel (C) 4 TV crew from Anuradhapura, after protestors held them up at Anuradhapura railway station, while travelling by train to the north yesterday, expressed relief after the C4 TV crew agreed to pay his van fee of Rs 30,000.
S.K. Sanjeewa Silva, a van driver from Anuradhapura told the Sunday Times that he received a message from the police yesterday that he could collect the fee as the C4 TV crew, who initially refused to make payment, had later agreed to do so.
The crew members initially refused to make payment, claiming that it was the police who arranged for the transport, after they were blocked by protestors at the Anuradhapura station, holding up the train for more than three hours.
Mr Silva said that as usual he was parked outside the Anuradhapura railway station awaiting hires and when the commotion took place.
“It was close to noon when the foreigners came out of the station. The Police and the public too had gathered. One of the foreigners walked up to me and said ‘Colombo’, and I responded saying ‘Ok’, as I am not fluent in the English,” he said.
“On the way back, they wanted to stop at the Kandalama hotel. I did not have a problem.”
“The following day we reached their hotel at Union Place. As they unloaded the equipment and bags, I requested Rs 30,000 for the hire and I got a shock when I was told to collect the money from the police or the hotel where they were lodging,” he said.
“The hotel staff said they never paid for the van hire and therefore, I lodged a complaint at the Slave Island police.”
A senior officer of the Slave Island police said they had sent a policeman to the hotel where the TV crew was staying .
“They had claimed they were unaware that they should pay the charges, as they believed the police would be paying the fee. However, they agreed to pay the fee later,” he said.
Meanwhile Channel 4′s Callum Macrae told the Sunday Times that they were forced to get into a van heading to Colombo.
“We were bungled to a van, the police forced us against our will. Later there were reports that we did not pay the driver. If we have to pay a driver of a vehicle provided by police, we have to also pay the intelligence officers who follow us,” he said.
Adding that the country was beautiful and had wonderful people, he said, but there are also the displaced, and victims of sexual violence and torture.
“Wherever we went, we were stopped,” he said.