News

Old vehicles clutter stations

By WANDEKA GAYLE, Staff Reporter

POLICE STATIONS IN the Corporate Area and St. Catherine are fast becoming a dumping ground for stolen, mangled or abandoned motor vehicles, a recent WEEKEND STAR survey has uncovered.

The pile-up breeds rodents, attracts mongrels and gives limited parking space to police and visitors.

A check at four major police divisions within Kingston, St. Andrew and Spanish Town, revealed just over 350 vehicles cluttering these stations, some for the past six years. Several are rotting, others are overgrown with vegetation while others are filled with debris.

Police say many of the vehicles have impending court cases, some are involved in accidents and some were stolen and recovered.

Sergeant Alvin Jones, of the Traffic Headquarters at Elletson Road, say the reason many accident and stolen vehicles are kept at police stations is they do not incur a storage fee. "The station is free so there is no hurry to move them," he said.

Approximately 100 motor vehicles, and 100 bicycles were seen on the Traffic Headquarters compound. Officials say they are prone to thieves, rats and dogs.

"We have problems with rats and roaches because of the build up of vehicles here," Sergeant Michaelangelo Llewelyn said, pointing to rusting vehicles stacked on top of each other. "For instance, that truck is here for more than five years and nobody has come to claim it. They just make the place so untidy."

"After three months, the Commissioner has power under the Road Traffic Act to set it for auction for government revenue," Senior Superintendent Gladston Grant of the Caribbean Search Centre recently told THE WEEKEND STAR. However, officers at the St. Andrew North Division Headquarters say the process is a long, tedious, time-consuming one. "A lot of paperwork is involved," Corporal Curtis Ashman said. "And the cars cannot be auctioned before this is done." More than 40 seized cars and approximately 12 motorbikes are presently on that compound.

On the Flying Squad, East Queen Street compound, more than 80 seized cars and several car parts were seen.

New trend

"We have been making representation day in and day out but the problem is the process (the auction), is taking too long and the vehicles are cluttering our compounds," an officer at the Flying Squad said. "The new trend is that they are cutting up vehicles so they are not easily traced. By the time we do track down the complainant, that person has already been compensated by their insurance company and so has no further interest in the vehicle so it just stays here and rot."

Acting Commissioner Lucius Thomas, explained the procedure for an auction. "The Police Stations submit documentation to the Deputy Superintendent of Administration, who sends it to the Ministry of Finance, asking that an auction be conducted," he said adding that if owners have not received insurance payment, these could not be auctioned.

In the meantime, wrecking companies, complain that they do not get paid for hauling mangled, accident or abandoned vehicles as no owner is available to foot the bill. "As long as the owner does not come back we cannot get paid," the operator of an islandwide wrecking company said.

"For instance if I move 10 vehicles, I will only collect for six out of those and we are supposed to get like $3,500 to $4,000 for those round town."

Police officers are presently lobbying for a central place to put vehicles that have been cluttering their police stations for years.