Formentera Local Police conducted a crackdown against illegal vending yesterday on several beaches in the Ses Salines Natural Park area. As a result, seven officers, four in plain clothes and three in uniform, filed a total of 12 reports for peddling fruit, drinks and clothing in the Natural Park. The operation also relied on the service of a Local Police drone to locate the vendors.
This special surveillance of the busiest bathing areas in Formentera was undertaken in a coordinated way on the beaches of Cavall d’en Borrà s, Ses Illetes and Llevant, so that organised street vendors could not warn each other when they saw officers in the area. This summer, local police have issued 41 tickets for street vending in the Natural Park area, Migjorn and Cala Saona.
In a press release, the local Interior ConsellerÃa noted that street vendors “do not undergo any kind of health controls and this can be an added danger, especially now with the effects of covid. They are also unfair competition for the island’s traders”.
The Formentera Small & Medium Businesses Association (PIME) and the beach areas’ catering sector annually reiterate the need to increase controls to prevent street vending.
Normally, these vendors offer sunbathers fruits, drinks, including mojitos of dubious origin, as well as clothes and costume jewellery. None of the food products have health and safety controls.