All this week the Belize City Traffic Department has dispatched traffic officers to the streets with their screwdrivers. They're not there to do a tune up on your car, they're taking off illegal license plates right there on the street.
After years of authorizing the use of customized plates, the Department has changed its position on the practice and what was once style is now bad-style, in fact it's illegal. Today we went to the streets to see the crackdown and found one dissenter who would not be moved.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
It's a popular fashion accessory, customized licensed plates that are elongated to give Japanese and American cars that customized European look. This morning, after a two week public awareness campaign on the radio, the Traffic Department was taking them off on the streets. But one vehicle they couldn't take it from was this BMW.
Lascelle Arnold,
"I told the guys if you touch my vehicle I will sue you, don't come and touch my vehicle and take off my plate in the middle of Albert Street in front of everybody like I am some criminal or something. I said don't do that."
Arnold says he got authority to put European plates on his European BMW X5.
Lascelle Arnold,
"I found out about it and then I went to the licensing authority and they gave us permission to change it and we went ahead and changed it."
Jules Vasquez,
So you received the authority from the Traffic Department?
Lascelle Arnold,
"Yes and a lot of people got permission to use the long plates."
But even if that authority has been rescinded, he says there's a right and a wrong way to do things.
Lascelle Arnold,
"There's a right way to do this thing. Just like how they gave me permission to put it on, I think the licensing authority should write a letter to the people they gave permission to and tell them that there is a new law that you can't use those plates and you have to use the plate that the licensing authority provides and then we go from there. But don't come in the middle of the street taking off people's license plates. That doesn't make any sense. I think there is a right and a wrong way to do something. I think its good for the country to have one standard plate because its kind of chaos with all these people having these fancy kind of license plates-it shows that there isn't law and order anyway. So I think it's a good thing if it's the law but I don't think we should rescind it on the street."
Arnold says he will change his plate once he can re-fit his European style plate holder.
