Police arrest 200 drivers for abuse of trade licence plates
The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ashanti regional command of the Ghana Police Service has impounded more than 200 vehicles for abusing the special trade licence plates, popularly called DV plates, in a special operation.
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Those arrested with the special trade licence plates included soldiers, police officers, lawyers and immigration officers whose vehicles were seized during the special operation that lasted three days.
They were issued with police warning letters and their vehicles released to them. They were then asked to go strictly by the regulations that guided the use of such number plates or risk being prosecuted.
The operation, which was conducted between Good Friday and Easter Monday, was to bring sanity into the use of the trial number plates and also to stop its abuse in the metropolis; something the police say, “has been grossly abused by Kumasi residents.”
Addressing the media, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Nathan Kofi Boakye, said the police had observed with concern the flagrant abuse of the special trade licence and decided to mount the operation as part of its outreach programme to educate the public on its use.
He said the exercise was not directed at a specific person or group of people but the general public as those who were affected during the operation included poeple from various professions.
According to him, anyone caught using trade licence beyond business hours would be arrested and presented.
He said the command had observed that over the years, most people used the special trade licence plates contrary to the guidelines that governed it.
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Mr Boakye said some used vehicles with such number plates for weddings, funerals and carrying their children to and from schools, “a sharp contradiction of section 3 of the guidelines.”
He said the command had observed that car snatchers and armed robbers had been using such vehicles to commit crimes, and advised the public to desist from using such vehicles beyond the prescribed hours.
Mr Boakye said the action was not to punish the users of such number plates but to ensure their own safety and that of the public.
He said though their action was in violation of Act 683 of 2004, the command had decided to issue the offenders with warning letters and educate them on the guidelines that dictated the use of such number plates before enforcing the law.
He was hopeful that after the exercise, a lot more people would become aware of the existence of the law and abide by it.
Some of the drivers who were arrested claimed that they did not know that they could not use the number plates beyond certain hours and on weekends.
They expressed their appreciation to the regional commander for not prosecuting them and releasing their vehicles to them, and promised to abide by the guidelines.