DVLA IMPOUNDS ELONGATED VEHICLE (PAGE 30)

Officers of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Kumasi have impounded a Toyota Corolla Saloon car which has been elongated to enable it to accommodate three additional passengers and more load.
Instead of the five normal persons, including the driver, the vehicle, with additional length now takes eight persons.
It has two back seats - one at the extreme back, another in the middle-with additional seats, which accommodate the driver and the passenger at the front seat.
The vehicle with registration number WR 1301X was impounded last Tuesday when the officers detected anomalies while examining it for the issue of a roadworthy certificate.
The Ashanti Regional office of the DVLA is now waiting for directives from the Inspectorate and Regulatory Division of its head office in Accra to take their next line of action.
According to the Ashanti Regional Licensing Officer of the DVLA, Mr Noah Tetteh Matey, the elongation of the saloon car to accommodate additional passengers undermined road safety regulations " because in case of any accident, the vehicle easily break apart and cause massive injuries to passengers on board".
Mr Matey said with the elongation of the car, the integral compartment which enabled the chassis to hold the body together had been destroyed.
He said in that situation the frame of the vehicle was not strong enough to provide any safety for the passengers who would be on board, hence the need to impound it.
He said with the refusal of the DVLA to issue a roadworthy certificate to the owner, " there is no way that the vehicle could operate in any part of the country ".
The owner of the vehicle, Mr Moro Ibrahim, - a 45 year old store keeper, told the Daily Graphic that he elongated the vehicle to enable him to create additional space for his family " when we are travelling to the north".
He said the elongation was performed by some artisans at the Suame Magazine, who charged him GH¢1,500.
He said he enlongated the chassis of his vehicle because he had seen similar vehicles had had theirs elongated by the artisans, and that he would contact the artisans to reduce the additional space created.
" I appreciate the fact that I have done the wrong thing, so if the vehicle is released to me, I will contact the artisans to reduce the additional space created to enable me to use the vehicle".