The Teide National Park got a fresh covering of snow over the weekend and thousands of tourists and residents ignored police pleas to stay away. Hundreds of cars rushed the mountain to see the snow, get a photo of Teide, and spend the day with a snowball fight.
However, the volume of cars and lack of parking, meant there were huge traffic jams and cars just ‘dumped’ on the side of the road as residents took children up, many of which were seeing snow for the first time, and tourists wanted photos of the contrast from the beach, on what is normally a sunny island.
The Guardia Civil, who are there to enforce the rules so that the National Park remains unspoilt and maintains its World Heritage status that was declared in 2007, warned that vehicles can be ticketed at any time for being double-parked, blocking the road, or parking in unauthorised places.
During the weekend, the Guardia Civil patrolled the area while recording images of cars and vans blocking the road, or parked on the side of the road, meaning that many protected species of plants and bushes got crushed by vehicles or people walking on them.
Unfortunately, it is situations and scenes like these that will give more credence to many groups demands, that access to Teide be limited and park and ride be implemented to visit the National Park and further protect the area.
In the meantime, there are many people that will receive a fine through the post to accompany their selfie for not parking in authorised spaces.
