XN000022-1997-04-09 — Page 62

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Disposal of abandoned vehicles in the streets

Following is a question by the Hon Zachary Wong and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport, Mr Paul Leung, at the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council;

(a)

of the number of vehicles abandoned in the streets and open spaces which were disposed of by the relevant authorities in the past three years, and of the methods used in disposing of these abandoned vehicles;

(b) whether the authorities would recover the expenses involved from the owners concerned after disposing of these abandoned vehicles; if so, whether any difficulties were encountered in recovering such expenses; and whether, in the past three years, there were any owners of these abandoned vehicles who were not approached for the recovery of the expenses involved and, if so, of the number of such owners and the reasons for not recovering the expenses from them;

(c)

(d)

of the total expenses incurred by the Government in the disposal of these abandoned vehicles, and the amount of expenses recovered from the owners concerned in the past three years; and

of the measures adopted to deter vehicle owners from abandoning their vehicles in the streets and open spaces?

Reply:

Mr President,

(a)

Where a vehicle is found abandoned on a road, as defined in Section 107 of the Road Traffic Ordinance (Cap. 374), or a vehicle is left on the road in such a way that it contravenes the Ordinance, the vehicle is liable to be removed. A notice will be issued to the owner to give a specified period for claiming the vehicle. If the vehicle is claimed, the owner is required to pay removal fee and storage charge. If the vehicle is not claimed when the specified period expires, it will be considered as property of Government and may then be disposed of either by auction or scrapping.