Warrants aplenty

THE POLICE Traffic Division has revealed that it now has more than 60,000 arrest warrants for persons with outstanding traffic tickets.

Most of the warrants, according to head of the division, Senior Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis, are for tickets issued before the September 20, 2010, the cut-off date for the amnesty. The rest are for tickets issued subsequently.

Lewis said the police would stay the execution of the warrants for two weeks, but warned that the grace period would only apply to persons with tickets that were issued over the amnesty period.

Grace Period

During the two-week grace period, he promised that the police would not arrest or prosecute persons with outstanding tickets.

But he warned that at the end of the grace period, the police would embark on a drive to execute the arrest warrants.

"Persons (with tickets) from September 21, 2010 to now are not covered by the amnesty, so when they are caught they will be arrested," the head of the Police Traffic Division stressed.

He said bus drivers and conductors as well as taxi and 'robot' taxi operators are among some of the main offenders.

The six-month amnesty, which ended on December 31 last year, brought $340 million into the Government's coffers. This is less than 20 per cent of the $2 billion owed in outstanding tickets.