It is possible for drivers with more than 20 demerit points under the Ministry of Works and Transport Demerit Points System to continue driving for months until the Transport Division catches up with them.
Last week, Guardian Media was informed that a 61-year-old businessman was driving for several months despite having 37 demerit points on his record.
Guardian Media called the businessman’s phone number on several occasions to find out how he was still able to drive despite having 37 demerit points on his license—nearly double the 20 points required for a two-year license suspension.
However, the person who answered the phone, in a suspicious tone, claimed that he was an employee of the businessman and not the businessman himself.
Despite leaving messages for the businessman to get his responses to claims against him, Guardian Media never received a callback.
Last Thursday, however, the 61-year-old Sangre Chiquito resident reported to the Caroni Licensing Division Office.
Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said: “You will find one or two people with that amount of demerit points on the road, and it really allows that window to have that opportunity, because remember there’s no judge involved in that process, and you don’t want to breach people’s constitutional rights. So, you give them the opportunity to show cause as to whether they committed the offence or not.”
Clarke said, however, refused to comment specifically on the businessman’s case.
According to a senior source at the Licensing Office, the 61-year-old driver, who is permitted to drive heavy and light motor vehicles, received numerous tickets since the demerit system came into effect in May 2020.
The tickets included driving on the Priority Bus Route without a permit—which results in six demerit points, as well as speeding tickets—an offence which carries four demerit points.
Despite reporting to the licensing authority, however, the driver will not be suspended from driving at least not yet.
According to the demerit point system, an accused driver must first receive a letter from the authority, via TTPost, notifying them that he has a certain quantity of demerit points.
Then the driver will have 14 days to query or give cause for their alleged offences.
The businessman only received his letter after reporting to the Licensing Division Office last Thursday.
Three previous attempts by the division to serve him the letter failed after a TTPost postal worker was unable to deliver the notification successfully.
“Some persons attempt to evade the process. So if TTPost comes to deliver a letter, because you have to sign for it, they may not take the letter. However, TTPost records that in their system.
“Sometimes, if the person is a businessman, they will tell their employees to not accept the letter from TTPost when the postal worker seeks to get the letter signed,” a senior licensing authority source said.
“The accused in this case lives at the exact address that we had for him. So somebody there would have evaded the correspondence…He is claiming that it was one of his workmen. When he came in today, we served him with his first letter, and the process will start from there.”
Normally, according to licensing division sources, the authority will attempt to locate drivers evading their driver’s license disqualification notification letter by sending officers to find them on the roads.
However, in some cases, as with the 61-year-old businessman, they said, they are unable to find them as easily as they would find a PH driver on the Bus Route, for example.
Twice annually, the authority also publishes a list of drivers who can’t be located in the major newspapers.
According to Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke, while some may get away with it for a while, a person who fails to report to letters or notices issued by the licensing division will not be able to conduct any transactions at licensing offices.
“You will have no choice but to pay for your ticket. So that’s how it works. Before they would have taken you and sent you to jail. Now, we apply administrative sanctions. But the important thing is that you must be able to reach the person through some means,” he said.
Clarke said under the Demerit System due process must be followed.
He said while someone may reach a certain amount of demerit points—that may leave them liable to face disqualification—the driver is entitled to challenge disqualification.
“If you haven’t paid your ticket, what happens is that the system will inform us of that, then the commissioner has to write to you and say Mr John, we recognise you have not paid your ticket, you have 14 days to show cause. When you show cause, the commissioner then decides whether he will apply sanctions or not,” Clarke said.
He added: “When somebody reaches the threshold for demerit points, what the commissioner does—as the law requires—is for you to write the person.
“So, I write to you, informing you, you have now reached 10 or 11 demerit points and, therefore, you have to provide cause as to why you shouldn’t be disqualified.”
He said there have been instances where people made successful challenges because they were able to show that their licenses were fraudulently duplicated by someone else.
According to the Ministry of Works and Transport, the disqualification process for drivers consists of seven steps.
Step 1—If you accumulate or exceed the threshold of demerit points and are subject to disqualification, the Licensing Authority will notify you in writing prior to disqualification.
Step 2—Once you receive this notification of impending disqualification, you can explain in writing to the Licensing Authority, why your driving permit should not be suspended.
Step 3—Where you fail to show good reasons, the Licensing Authority will inform you of the disqualification. The disqualification will take effect fourteen (14) days after the date of the notice.
Step 4—You will then be required to surrender your driving permit to the Licensing Authority, according to the instructions given in the notification letter [Step 1].
Step 5—Failure to surrender your driving permit to the Licensing Authority is an offence that carries a fine of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) and further disqualification for an additional period of one (1) year.
Step 6—A driving permit disqualified by the Licensing Authority during the period of suspension, will be invalid. You are committing an offence if you drive while your driving permit has been suspended
Step 7—When the disqualification period expires, all demerit points recorded against your driving permit record will be expunged or removed.