LINCOLN EVANS, town clerk for the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), discloses that the corporation has an arrangement with a number of wrecker services. But, he points out that every wrecker operating on the corporation's behalf does so under the supervision of a traffic warden.
"The wrecker services that are used by the KSAC can only move a motor vehicle on the instruction of the traffic warden; a wrecker cannot go out there by himself and pick up a vehicle," Evans explains.
He says if this happens, an improper procedure would have been followed and the vehicle would be returned to the affected motorist without any charges being proffered. He points out that if a motorist is present when a vehicle is about to be towed, he/she should be ticketed and the vehicle should not be towed.
Procedure
Mayor of Montego Bay, Charles Sinclair, also notes that the seizure of vehicles must be done in accordance with the rules of the St James Parish Council.
"When the wreckers go out on the council's behalf, they must be accompanied by a municipal police officer. Under no circumstance should they be operating on their own," states Sinclair.
While admitting there are a few wrecker operators with whom the council has had "an ongoing contractual arrangement", Mayor Sinclair says other wrecker operators are engaged according to the magnitude of the task that needs to be done.
Evans discloses that when a motor vehicle is towed by the KSAC it attracts a fee of $4,000; $2,100 of which goes to the wrecker operator. There is also an additional charge of $200 for each night that the vehicle is kept impounded. The remaining $1,900 goes toward administrative charges.
With only about two per cent of the KSAC's total revenue coming from the operation of the municipal pound, the town clerk says the facility is not considered a money making venture.
"It is not a money making exercise for us, we might just be breaking even. Security for the facility alone is about $300,000 per month, so whatever we get in, is paid out."
"The day it becomes a money making exercise, I think chaos is going to rule; our primary interest is regulating the traffic flow."
