JEDDAH: Officials from the Jeddah municipality have impounded 1,536 vehicles in a 12-month drive to clear the city’s streets of abandoned vehicles.
Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, director of Municipal Dumping Sites and Recycling, said his department carried out the clearing with the help of the police and other official bodies.
“We have informed all municipal departments in Jeddah about our activities. While the municipality is responsible for the seizing and disposing of abandoned vehicles, the police are responsible for clearing roads of vehicles that cause traffic problems or are in violation of traffic regulations,” said Al-Ghamdi.
He added that government regulations stipulate that vehicles thought to be abandoned should have notices placed on them for 10 days prior to seizing them.
Al-Ghamdi pointed out that such vehicles are impounded at a location to the east of the Makkah-Madinah Expressway in Briman neighborhood.
Abandoned vehicles are usually reported by local residents or municipality officials out on inspection tours, said Al-Ghamdi, adding that vehicles with registration plates are only impounded once investigations are carried out to identify their owners.
Another official said the municipality seized 1,536 vehicles out of 3,155 vehicles thought to be abandoned but later returned 48 vehicles to their owners.
