As the mad rush to have vehicles inspected and certified continues, Minority Leader Watson Duke is calling on the Government to “be reasonable” in enforcing the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act as two of three working authorised vehicle inspection stations, service the entire of Tobago
Both are located on the western end of the island—the Licensing Department on Shirvan Road, Buccoo and Sylvester Auto World, Sherwood Park, Carnbee.
The end-of-year rush to meet the legal requirement after Government extended the period for inspection by five months last year, exacerbated the problem, Acting Assistant Transport Commissioner Michael Looby said.
He said the Licensing Department in Tobago experienced problems meeting the increased demand.
“It’s an overload of the system so we will get some needling problems but we are dealing with them as they come.”
Asked if the Government station ran out of inspection stickers as was reported on social media, Looby said the station “does not have sticker problem, as yet.”
“We are trying to keep abreast of what is happening. We had some little hiccups...with the certified copy paper as it ran out and we had to send an SOS to Caroni to replace it,” he said.
He added: “We also had an issue with the printing machine for permits. We had a problem with the spindle so we sent for that also.”
At Sylvester Auto World, Sherwood Park, Carnbe, traffic backed up, for miles, on the Auchenskeoch Buccoo Bay Road, one of the main thoroughfares on that end of the island. Meanwhile, Minority Leader Watson Duke highlighted the plight of one of his constituents in Tobago East by posting the video with the man’s complaints in a media WhatsApp chat group.
“I went on three occasions to pay cash for my vehicle as I am self-employed and I could not get anyone to take the money, hundreds of people were in front of me,” the constituent Stephen O’Neil told Duke.
O’Neil added: “We lined up for three days, the whole day and when we reached up, one of the attendants said there is no none to take the money as the office is closed and we have to wait.”
The self-employed man said not having the inspection sticker, on his vehicle, is preventing him from earning a living as he now has to take a regular taxi to Scarborough.
Duke, in calling on the Government to show restraint said: “I want to ask Minister Sinanan that he be reasonable in his approach in enforcing the law. These are law-abiding citizens who wish to obey the law but due to the fact, there are limited stations that certify vehicles they are without luck.