Dirty vehicles: Wash them or lose them

Dubai: If you're going out of town on holiday or business, don't forget to wash your car, warn residents whose dusty rides were taken away by authorities.

When a Briton, who did not wish to be named, returned from a business trip to Uganda, his grey BMW 3-series had vanished from the parking spot. "I panicked, naturally, and rang my friend who had promised to take care of my car in my absence," said B.P., 34. "He said the municipality had towed it away as it had collected too much dust.

"But of course it's going to get dusty - we're in a desert country!," he said.

Officials routinely remove cars from the road which they view as a health risk and an eyesore.

Let go

The British trader said, "The traffic fines would've been more than I would need in repairs. Plus, I wouldn't have been able to sell it for a profit. I just wrote it off," he added. He said the car was auctioned after some months.

Pakistani S.H. said he was ‘stunned' after he returned from vacation only to find his car missing - even though he had parked it right next to his flat. "At first I thought the bank took it. But I had kept up my car loan payments," the 35-year-old said.

"A neighbour said he had seen an official put an orange sticker on it and a few weeks later it was gone.

"It turns out the car was taken away because it was ‘too gritty'."