STOMPer Adrian says the volume from speakers just outside Yio Chu Kang MRT station was so loud that no one could hear this old man selling tissue paper.

In an email to STOMP today (Oct 22), the STOMPer says:

“Spotted this at YCK MRT upon returning home last night

“It was ‘unusually’ loud as I neared the MRT station exit around 7 pm.

“I spotted this red banner together with a guy handing out pamphlets, accompanied by a loud speaker blasting out in Mandarin promoting a Chinese restaurant in Sembawang ‘No GST! No Service Charge!’

“The speaker volume was so loud that I could hear it before even exiting the MRT gantries.

“What was rather sad about this was that the ‘noise’ from this, which was looping the same promo over and over again, was drowning out the blind man who usually sells tissue paper at that spot out.

“There is no way the voice of an old man can compete with a portable speaker at full volume.

“The poor old man had no choice. He just had to sit there, calling out as usual, hoping that passers-by can hear him over the loudspeaker.

“Location of the speaker was just down the steps from the MRT station entrance so guess it's out of the MRT's jurisdiction.”