CRAVING a hot meal of macaroni and corn beef, a Diego Martin couple who came into Port of Spain on Saturday, hoping to purchase a stove, was stranded when the 10 am curfew hit.

The couple, Pepie Gonzales, 62, and Alicia Gonzales, 42, said they left their Unity Road, Richplain, Diego Martin home to get a stove just after 9 am, not knowing that the city would be a virtual ghost town.

Gonzales said he was waiting in the capital for about half an hour. Newsday saw the couple just after 10 am trying to flag down every vehicle they saw in a desperate attempt to get home.

[caption id="attachment_896008" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police spoke to Pepie Gonzales before assisting hm and his wife, who were stranded in Port of Spain on Saturday morning during the curfew. - Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]

After speaking with the couple, Newsday saw a police patrol and asked them to help the couple get home. The officers, corporals McMillan and Nelson of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), after some coaxing, gave them a drop home.

[caption id="attachment_896007" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Police assisted a couple who were stranded in Port of Spain on Saturday morning during the curfew. - Photo by Marvin Hamilton[/caption]

Legal Notice 180 changed this weekend's curfew hours from 7 pm-5 am the following day to a 19-hour lockdown beginning at 10 am and ending at 5 am the following day.

The extended hours were first implemented on May 31 for the Indian Arrival Day celebration and then repeated days later on June 3 for Corpus Christi. With Saturday being Labour Day, the holiday curfew hours were imposed.

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith in his curfew restrictions, went a step further and extended the 19-hour lockdown to Sunday as well, saying the police had information of planned Father’s Day gatherings.

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