Lucrative part-time job
New York: Man reports parked trucks to the authorities with the engine running – and gets a reward of 118,000 euros
Blacking out a truck parked with the engine running costs around 83 euros in New York (symbol image)
© Blue Cinema / Getty Images
An environmental program by the city of New York makes it possible to earn around 83 euros within three minutes by blackmailing truck drivers. However, this does not make you popular.
An environmental law that has been in force in New York for a year and a half prohibits trucks from stopping with the engine running. Those who report violations of the law can earn a lot of money within a short time – like Donald Blair, for example, who is reported by the broadcaster NBC. He collected an incredible 118,000 euros in a very short time.
A newly introduced environmental protection law allows all New Yorkers to report trucks parked for more than three minutes – or one minute in front of a school – and waiting with the engine running. Those filing reports collect 25 percent of the truck fines by submitting a video just over three minutes long showing the engine running and the company’s name on the outside of the vehicle, according to the New York Times ” summarizes.
Already 12,000 reports in New York since the law was introduced
The program has dramatically increased the number of parking complaints reported to the city, from just a handful prior to its inception — without the “reward” — in 2018 to more than 12,000 last year.
You must submit the footage along with an affidavit to the city’s environmental agency. The vehicle owner can then be fined the equivalent of 237 euros or more. The citizen who reports the violation receives a quarter of each fine issued.
For New Yorkers like Donald Blair, for example, this has become a pretty lucrative job, as NBC reports. He was chasing idle trucks and buses in Brooklyn and has already received €52,000. Another 66,000 are to follow.
Blair’s total earnings are currently the highest earned by a single New Yorker. “If you want to change someone’s behavior, the best way to do it is to put your hands in their pocket,” he commented on his earned extra fortune, speaking to NBC.
Sources: NBC, “New York Times”