Car registration must be up to date, warn police

Dubai: Police are calling on motorists whose car registration is more than five years out of date to come forward and pay their fines, which can be settled through instalments.

Motorists have until the end of March to take up the offer. Failure to renew expired registrations will lead to the cancellation of the vehicle's registration. Unregistered vehicles make up 10 per cent of the total number of vehicles registered at Dubai Traffic Department, with around 70,000 vehicles having expired registrations.

"For those whose only obstacle for not renewing the registration of their vehicles is their fines, we will allow them to pay in installments," Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of the General Traffic Department of Dubai Police, told Gulf News yesterday.

"Vehicles whose registrations expired four or five years ago could be faulty and pose a danger not only to the owner but to other motorists and we want to protect other motorists on the roads," Brigadier Al Zafein said.

Brigadier Al Zafein said around 13,000 vehicles' registrations had expired at least five years ago. He said unless motorists renewed them police would revoke their vehicle registration.

"We do not want to cancel their vehicle registration, but we want them to help their situation. It is better to come to the traffic department instead of hiding," he added.

Brigadier Al Zafein said since the Road and Transport Authority was handling registration, the traffic police would cooperate with it in organising campaigns to clamp down on vehicle owners with expired registrations. Some 631,000 vehicles are registered at the Department.