SINGAPORE – Police had to disperse a crowd which gathered outside a uniform shop in Ang Mo Kio on Tuesday morning (Dec 29), many of whom were there to buy school uniforms for their children before school starts next week.
Many parents had arrived at the Jeep Sing Fashion store around 8am, two hours before its opening, for a queue ticket.
By around 10am, more than 100 people had formed a snaking queue to get into the shop located at Block 4012, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, with some ignoring the one metre safe distancing requirement.
Six police officers were then spotted outside the uniform shop urging parents to stand further apart, and to encourage some to leave.
Around 70 people who had queue tickets were left in the line.
On its website, the shop advised customers not to turn up as all queue tickets for the day had been issued.
Mr Shio Kumar, 46, who works in the marine industry, waited two hours before he finally got his three-year-old daughter her kindergarten uniform.
Schools reopen on Jan 4.
He had waited in line for three hours on Monday, but was told to return another day because of the size of the crowd.
Madam Sharon Yee, 33, could not get a queue ticket to buy uniforms for her son, who will be starting secondary school, even though she was at the store at 8.30am.
“My son can’t wear his primary school uniform, for the first few days of secondary one, because he has outgrown it.
“He might feel embarrassed that he doesn’t have a uniform when his friends have theirs,” said the civil servant.
She left the shop without getting the uniforms at around 10am.
Jeep Sing Fashion declined comment when contacted. The Straits Times has also contacted the police for comment.
