Galway Gardaí seize up to 40 cars a week
Gardaí across the city and county are seizing up to 40 cars a week mainly for insurance, tax and NCT offences, the Galway City Tribune has learned.
Any vehicle being driven without insurance can be seized on the spot by Gardaí, while if the tax has expired for over two months, the vehicle can also be taken from the owner.
A growing number of vehicles are also being seized where NCT tests have lapsed for some time and where no appointment has been made for a re-test.
Gardaí have the power to seize a vehicle on the spot, if the NCT is out of date – a large number of the overall seizures have been made in the city area.
According to a Galway Garda spokesman, motorists needed to ‘do their homework’ and ensure that all their paperwork for their vehicles was in order.
“Motorists should also realise that if their tax and NCT certs have expired for some time, that their vehicles can also be seized, and it can be quite an expensive business to recover them,” said the Garda spokesman.
A fee of €125 is charged for recovery of the vehicle – subject to all ‘paperwork’ being in order – if this is done within 24 hours of the seizure.
After that, there is a ‘B&B’ charge of €35 per night for the storage costs of the vehicle. A motorist leaving a vehicle for the maximum 21 days before collection would be facing a charge of €860.
For more on this story, see this week's Galway City Tribune