A joke ting dis - Taxi man furious after third failed attempt to pay traffic fines

A St Andrew taxi man was left fuming yesterday after making his third unsuccessful attempt to pay the fines for 17 traffic offences which amount to $50,000.

"Imagine me come a di Traffic Court inna December and dem gi me a date fi January 26. Me come that same day at 5 p.m., and never leave till 10 inna di night because dem never find my documents dem. Me come back again di Friday (January 27) and dat again a waste a time because di court lock. Me come today (January 30), from 5 a.m., me out yah and dem a tell me again say dem can't find my tings," said the taxi driver, who plies the Papine to Maryland route.

If court administrators cannot locate the file with the tickets he received, he cannot be seen by a judge. The problems are further compounded as a manual search has to be done.

"So call it say me waste my day being here because dem nuh find the file and dem say me nuh fi come back until somebody call me. A joke ting dis man, dis system here nuh make nuh sense," he lamented.

The irate transport operator amassed tickets for various offences such as driving without a seatbelt, not having a public passenger vehicle badge and obstructing traffic, dating back to 2018. At 4:30 p.m. yesterday, when the news team visited the Melbourne Road location of the Traffic Court, people were still waiting to be processed to see the judge, before the night court sitting began at 5 p.m.

"We are trying our best to assist the public," one court clerk could be heard saying on the compound. But this did not quell the taxi driver's anger.

"The pain me have, me have it inna me from last week Thursday. Me a try get this ting here out a my way, enuh. Me walk wid me money fi pay the fine, me never come fi owe di judge, me want pay up the fine, but dis nah work out. Me deh here whole day and me nuh get through. A betta me go look a lawyer weh ago make me walk in and get through cause this a joke ting," he told THE STAR.

- T.T.