The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

VEHICLES without the proper tags will be targeted and ticketed, this after Transport and Local Government Minister Frankie Campbell on Friday denied claims the Road Traffic Department had run out of new licence plates.

Mr Campbell, responding to questions from reporters at the Office of the Prime Minister, said he had recently instructed officials to identify and issue citations to any driver operating a vehicle without the proper licencing.

Mr Campbell said there was no truth to the claim the Road Traffic Department was unable to meet its demand for new plates, insisting the mass production of plates at the Department of Correctional Services ensured an adequate supply.

“…They have all right to give citation to persons who either don’t have plates or are using old plates because for quite sometime now, plates have been available,” Mr Campbell told reporters.

He added: “Plates are being produced locally by the Department of Correctional (Services). There is no shortage of plates. So any vehicle found out there with an outdated old plate or found without a plate, they can go ahead and book them, and let them prove otherwise.”

Last March, Mr Campbell’s predecessor, former Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin, announced a joint venture between the Ministry of National Security, the Road Traffic Department and the Ministry of Finance, which would see the manufacturing of plates at the Fox Hill prison.

At the time, she said several inamtes at the Fox Hill Road facility had already been identified as suitable candidates to take part and be paid for participating in the programme, with 15 to 20 inmates expected to take part in the operation in its initial stages.

The 20 inmates involved were projected to receive $6,240 each annually. Mrs Hanna Martin did also acknowledge that some delays could arise, as the Fox Hill Road compound did not yet have all the necessary equipment to start the manufacturing process.

As a result, she said US company John R Wald Inc, which has 92 years experience in the business, was to continue producing plates on a temporary basis until such time as the Department of Correctional Services could manage full production.

That move did lead to a shortage in the early phases of the programme, however, Mr Campbell on Friday said those problems were long gone and production schedules were being met.

With respect to Family Island supplies, Mr Campbell also denied claims of a shortage.

He stated: “There is no shortage of the licence plates in the Family Islands, the difficulty has been getting connectivity through BTC to have the automated system working in those Family Islands.”

He continued: “We don’t want to issue the new plates because they are part and parcel to the new automated system, and so those areas where we are still handwriting, they are being allowed to utilise the old plates. But there is no question of availability of plates because as I would have indicated earlier, plates are being produced locally. They are available.”

The government spent an estimated $750,000 to start the plate system, with an additional $75,000 expected to be allocated annually to maintain it.