The minister could not say when exactly this would happen. He is scheduled to meet with the Advisory Council next week.

 

Minister Tuitt received wide-spread praise a few months ago by stating that the vehicle licence plates currently in use would be the last the driving public would have to purchase. He does not see why this would have to be delayed past 2013, considering that the new law would only make things easier for the public and government.

The central change would be simple, said Tuitt, "Formerly, when you paid road tax it was based on the fact that you were using the road. Now it will be because you own a car. You will get a bill to pay your road tax. The amounts will stay the same and the law will facilitate a process that allows you to pay at the bank, the Receiver or even from your home."

 

However, in confirming that the separate licence plate fee would be eliminated, leaving only the road tax for motorists to pay, the minister could not elaborate on how the Receiver's Office would handle early payments. In other words, if a person pays his or her road tax as early as January, as many people do, prior to the law being passed, Tuitt could not say how the Receiver would bill for a fee that already had been paid and collect for an item (a licence plate) that would not be issued.

 

"I would have to take that up with the Receiver," he said. He added that government would never prevent early payment, "so we will find some way to park up the money."

 

Another aspect with which government and the Receiver might have to contend is people not paying the road tax that comes with the licence plate fee until Parliament indeed passes the new law.

 

The minister acknowledged that several aspects still had to be worked out, including but not limited to the inspection of vehicles. Tuitt said one of the "ideas" was to give more than one company "or garages" on the island the authority to inspect cars.

 

"Those garages would have to make investments to be able to carry out those tasks. During the year we will also build up a file where the individual will be associated with the number plate.

 

"Now there are people who might say we're giving the police more work, but all over the world this system is being used, so if it gives the [Police] Force more work, so be it. We have to move to the modern way of doing things," Minister Tuitt said, adding that someday soon the police would be equipped with computers in their cars to pull up information about a car and driver quickly on the spot.

 

(The Daily Herald)