Toyota Spacio hire cars…Owners should not be punished for administrative mistake – Nagamootoo

May 15, 2014 News

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“A mistake was made and we would think this is an administrative mistake and the State must be big enough to say so and not blame and punish the owners of these vehicles.”

This is the contention of Alliance for Change (AFC) Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo, as he spoke to the concerns of the Toyota Spacio taxi drivers whose vehicles were impounded because of an irregularity within the system.
Nagamootoo said he was contacted by some of the hire car drivers concerning the detention of their vehicles at the Wales and Vreed-en- Hoop Police Stations, on the West Bank of Demerara.
He outlined that “while the police may have reason to do the detention, there is an economic factor that is at work: the people who bought these vehicles and turned them into hire cars had an expectation that they were buying them because they have a capacity to carry seven.”
Nagamootoo added that the drivers therefore went ahead and licensed their vehicles to carry seven persons. “Their registration as owner gave them that right; they paid the fee that was required of them to pay to operate that vehicle.”
“Some of them secured those vehicles by hire purchase agreements. If they don’t work to pay, the vehicles will be ceased or forfeited. They will suffer an economic loss and loss of livelihood,” he noted.
According to Nagamootoo, the AFC is not against the regularization of practice between what takes place in GRA and the police traffic department, but outlined “the two arms of the State or if you may want the two legs of the State… must know how to move in tandem.”
“One cannot tell you it is alright to operate a vehicle and the other one tell you it is wrong to operate the vehicle. This is a recipe for mayhem and chaos in a country,” said Nagamootoo.
Nagamootoo called for “amnesty to be given while the regularization process is taking place…while their licences are being recalled for them to be given the rectification of five instead of seven seats, we are asking that they give these drivers and holders at least six months within which to have the rectification done to allow them to be on the road to earn and maintain themselves and the money they have to pay to the hire purchase dealers, and not to come down with one sledge hammer and take them off the road.”
Some two dozen taxi drivers and approximately 30 vehicles were recently impounded by the police. They were told by the ranks that their registration licences which were issued by the GRA had to be discarded since a mistake was made by the Authority in granting them the ability to seat seven passengers.
Commenting on the situation, Acting Commander of Police for D-Division, Ian Amsterdam had said that there is some problem with the seating capacity and it can be dangerous for passengers sitting at the back.
Amsterdam said that ranks examined the Spacios and found that they are too small to carry seven persons. In the case of an accident, the passengers at the back will be trapped, he said.

The Commander added that GRA may have erred somewhere in registering the vehicles as seven seaters.
In response, Commissioner General, of Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur had said that no error was made on his agency’s part.
He explained that GRA followed the established Standard Operating Procedures when registering these vehicles, which require, among other things, that reference must be made to the motor vehicle information stated on the Certificate of Registration or Title received from the country of origin, which includes the seating capacity.
Sattaur added that only recently the Traffic Headquarters of the Guyana Police Force informed the GRA that motor cars with a seating capacity of more than five seats may not be in conformity with the country’s Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02, especially those used for hire purposes.
“We’ve worked together on resolving the problem in compliance with the Road Traffic Act. The Act is their (police’s) jurisdiction; we register vehicles and issue licences,” he stressed.
With immediate effect, motor cars with a seating capacity of in excess of five seats having already registered and conducting any transaction with regards to their motor vehicles would be issued letters by the GRA to have the seating capacity certified by the Traffic Headquarters before transactions are completed.
With regards to vehicles already registered with more than five seats, including the Toyota Spacio, Toyota Ipsum and Toyota Sienta, they will be subjected to certification of their seating capacity by the Traffic Department.
Owners can have their vehicles examined by the Police Certifying Office within their district and this certification must have the final approval of the Traffic Headquarters before submission to the GRA, Sattaur outlined.

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