11,000 Driving Licences Still To Be Renewed

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30172, 2 July 1963, Page 11

11,000 Driving Licences Still To Be Renewed

About 11,000 drivers in Christchurch have not renewed their driving licences for the .current period, which started yesterday. Staff at the Christchurch City Council traffic counter was kept very busy on Friday, when 2083 licences, or about 260 an hour, were issued.

Yesterday was again very busy, with queues of up to 15 persons. ■About 27,000 driver’s licences were due for renewal this year, and by Friday only 14,744 had been renewed. Yesterday about 1500 licences were renewed in Christchurch. About 1000 have been renewed at Sumner and New Brighton.

The City Council’s traffic superintendent (Mr J. F. Thomas) said yesterday that motorists must realise that failure to renew licences could result in a prosecution, and might also have other far-reaching effects. Mr Thomas said that if a car was not licensed for the current year there was no third-party insurance, and if

’a driver failed te renew his driving licence it was possible the comprehensive insurance he might have on his vehicle would be void. Registration Labels It would seem that most motorists did not have registration labels for the current period fixed to their cars or fixed in the prescribed manner yesterday morning, said the district officer of the Transport Department (Mr D. L. Hogan) yesterday. From today motorists without labels or with two labels in position could expect to be stopped by tragic officers. Mr Hogan said. Yesterday many cars could be seen with no label for the current period and with the •expired red label still in place. Others had both the old and the current labels in position, which is against the regulations, and several had the current label in the wrong place. The correct position is in the middle of the windscreen at either the top or the bottom.

The only persons exempt from having the current sticker in position are those who have applied for registration by post but have not received the label for the current period. The exemption is for seven days only. Registration Figures A drift towards suburban offices is indicated by the motor registration figures for last month. Of 77,097 registrations, 35,659 were made in suburban offices, compared with 31,062 last year. Of the remainder, 12,976 were bulk registrations by business firms and Government departments and dealt with at the Chief Post Office. On Friday, 8248 registra-

tions were made at suburban offices and 3839 at the Chief Post Office. At the motor registration office in Hereford street on Saturday 361 vehicles were registered, compared with 417 on the final day last year. By post there were 6241 registrations, 2206 fewer than in June last year.