LOSSES OF PETROL COUPONS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 118, 12 February 1941, Page 9

LOSSES OF PETROL COUPONS

Fees For Replacement

Dominion Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, February 11

Fewer cases of lost or stolen petrol coupons are now being reported to the authorities. Motorists, they state, are apparently taking greater care with their coupons, but, on present indications, they will have to guard them even more closely iu the future. Inquiries at the car registration department at the Post Office, which controls the issue of petrol coupons, revealed tliat a number of motorists in the past have lost their coupons or had them stolen, and, after a full investigation into the circumstances, have been issued with a duplicate set upon payment of the prescribed fees. These fees include 3/- for a statutory declaration, and 5/- for the duplicate set. In cases where the coupons have been stolen police evidence is necessary before tlie loss is made good. In most cases, state officials, the loss of petrol coupons is due to negligence, and motorists could hardly expect their losses to be made good under such circumstances.. Stricter Regulations. As the regulations governing the reissue of coupons are to be tightened up considerably in the future, motorists will have to take even greater care with their coupon issue. The suggestion is made that only current coupons should be carried about either in a car or by the driver himself, and that the remainder of the issue should be lodged in safe keeping till they become current, thus ensuring that the entire series could not be lost at the one time.

Officials also point out that if the monthly petrol allowances were to be reduced in the future, it. was only logical to assume that the coupons themselves would become more valuable and that in the event of their being lost duplicate sets would be more difficult to obtain. It was up to the motorists to take every care, of the set with which they had been issued.