Ekurhuleni urges owners of impounded vehicles to come forward
Owners have until 11 December to claim their vehicles with proof of ownership before the city disposes of them.
The CoE calls on the owners of over 700 impounded vehicles to claim their vehicles or lose them.
The city embarked on a 30-day process that began on November 10 to call on the owners to claim the 735 vehicles before it auctions them.
The vehicles include 582 motor vehicles, 80 motorcycles, 53 trailers, 14 caravans, and six containers.
“These vehicles were removed from the roads across the city by the EMPD for various transgressions in line with Regulation 319 (1) (2) of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996,” explained metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.
Regulation 320 of this Act allows a traffic officer to remove any vehicle parked in contravention of any of the city’s by-laws or abandoned in such a way that it obstructs the traffic and is dangerous to other road users.
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These vehicles are removed to a safer place, mainly metro police pounds, by the police officer in question.
The law is clear that a vehicle left in the same place on a public road outside an urban area for 24 hours can be classified as abandoned.
A traffic officer can also impound a vehicle that has no license number affixed to it or has a false license number affixed.
“After impounding a vehicle, the officer shall take the necessary steps to trace its owner. During that time, these vehicles are kept at the registered pounds in the city,” Dlamini said.
“Unless the vehicle was reported stolen, this Act states that the vehicle owner shall be liable for the expenses incurred in its removal and storage”.
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Regulation 320(3) (a) and (b) of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) 93 of 1996 states that if the vehicle was impounded and the owner fails to claim it within 120 days and also fails to respond to the notice sent out notifying them to come and release said vehicle, the council may suitably dispose of that vehicle.
To claim these vehicles, owners must visit the nearest EMPD pound.
They must bring the original proof of ownership (registration papers) and the owner’s identity document. The owners must claim their vehicles on or before December 11, 2023, after which the city will auction them.
As such, the city has issued direct communications to the owners of the vehicles listed to come and claim their vehicles within 30 days, starting from November 10.
If the city fails to sell the vehicles concerned, it may dispose of them in any manner it deems fit, and the money received from such disposal is forfeited to the city.
