Police start 2008
road-tax controls
PHILIPSBURG--Police started their traffic controls for unpaid vehicle (road) tax Wednesday, stopping a number of vehicles on Walter Nisbeth Road for not having the 2008 licence plates, the police reported.
Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten VKS and police control unit officers spent much of the day halting motorists outside L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium on the Pondfill and fining the drivers primarily for not paying the vehicle tax.
“There are still a lot of people driving around with the old licence plates,” police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson told The Daily Herald. “It’s unacceptable, since they had so much time [to pay].” Vehicle owners with other infractions were also dealt with during the police’s controls.
The official deadline to have paid the annual vehicle tax and acquire the light blue 2008 licence plates was March 1. Controls are the last resort of officers after discussion with the Island Receiver’s Office, which is responsible for collecting the fees, and the local chief of police.
Motorists were warned of the approaching controls last week, although it is widely known that officers begin checking for unpaid taxes near the end of March and early April.
Vehicle owners were fined for not paying the tax and had their cars towed on the spot, police said, advising motorists that it would be easier to simply pay the tax and save themselves the hassle and money. “We will fine you … and if you leave your car too long, you will face storage charges [from the towing company that has your vehicle],” insisted Henson, noting that drivers must pay a fee to get their vehicles back, in addition to paying the tax on which they had defaulted.
Although it was not the police’s intention to pick out other violations, many vehicles were stopped and a few people were taken in for different violations. “If we stumble on other violations, you have to deal with them; we can’t let them go by,” Henson said.
Bus drivers in particular were fearful of the controls, disembarking passengers “without papers” far ahead of the control area. Henson said there would be no consequences to the driver as long as his or her taxes, insurance and other things, including permits, were up to date. According to him, “It is not the bus driver’s responsibility to check to see if people using his bus are illegal.”
“A few persons” were brought in for different infractions because the police had been looking for them, Henson said.
Police were also spotted yesterday controlling motorists in Cole Bay near Tropicana Casino.
