Motorists job to ensure vehicle is licensed timeously
"The onus rests with the owner of a motor vehicle to ensure that the vehicle is licensed timeously, even in the event of the licence renewal notice not being received."
A PINETOWN resident sent a letter of complaint about how the Department of Transport had no courtesy to inform registered motor vehicle owners that due to a problem in Pretoria, no licence renewal forms had been received by the KZN department since August.
“First of all, if we were aware that there was a problem we would have checked our licence discs and thus avoided having to pay penalties on late payments,” she said.
She highlighted that as the fees increase annually, motorists did not know how much they needed to pay.
“It was so much easier in the past: you received your renewal notice and you paid it via cheque, thus avoiding spending the whole day at the Transport Department to pay it,” she said.
Another resident advised residents to mark the calendar as to when the renewal of one’s license is due, “I was informed to fill in the green form and was charged 10 per cent of the license fee because the payment was late, this of course escalates the longer it is overdue,” he wrote.
The KZN Department of Transport said the Pinetown Registering Authority office being referred to by the complainant has, however, confirmed that the office has sufficient blank applications to licence a motor vehicle (ALV) forms.
“In the event of not receiving a pre-printed licence renewal, it must be pointed out that the responsibility of generating and distributing licence reminders as a courtesy throughout the country is a function of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and not the KZN Department of Transport, which has no control over the printing and distribution of licence renewals,” said Kwanele Ncwalane, KZN Department of Transport’s communications officer.
Ncwalane said it is also important to highlight that the onus rests with the owner of a motor vehicle to ensure that the vehicle is licensed timeously, even in the event of the licence renewal notice not being received.
“An alternative method for the owner to renew the licence of a vehicle is to complete and submit the attached ALV form, together with acceptable ID, to the appropriate registering authority. In this regard it must be noted that as of 1 November, road traffic legislation has been amended, compelling a person or body of persons to provide documentary proof of their full names, identity numbers and residential and postal addresses,” explained Ncwalane.
Ncwalane said they apologise for any inconvenienced caused while the residents were in their offices.
