Thousands of vehicles, mostly motorbikes, seized in HCM City for traffic violations or crimes are left exposed to the elements for years. — Photo tienphong.vn

HCM CITY — The HCM City Police plans to auction nearly 13,000 vehicles that were seized following traffic violations or as evidence in criminal cases in a bid to free up space as a rising number of vehicles are being left out in the elements.

Colonel Lê Mạnh Hà, deputy chief of the HCM City Public Security Office, said in a recent conference that of this number, 3,955 have already been auctioned while 8,890 are waiting to be auctioned under the regulations. 

According to the current regulations, a year after the date of seizure the police get ownership of a vehicle if its owner does not show up to claim it. A committee then evaluates the price of the vehicle to auction it, among other procedures.

The entire procedure for auctioning could take up to two years, while more than 300 new vehicles are seized in the city every month.

“The procedures for which seized vehicles remain with the police have caused overloading at the parking lots, damage to the vehicles, and waste to the society,” according to Colonel Lê Mạnh Hà.

With limited storage for the seized vehicles, which is also running out of space, a number of vehicles are left out in the elements, he said.

Many of the vehicles’ owners never come to get them back because it is not even worth the fine, he said.

The cost of renting lots for seized vehicles is huge, which will be paid for by the auctioned vehicles, he added.

As of February 28, the HCM City Traffic Police Department (PC08) seized 31,511 vehicles, including cars, motorbikes and bicycles, according to statistics from the HCM City Police.

The department aims to reduce the number of the vehicles by 30-40 per cent this year. 

Currently thousands of vehicles, mostly motorbikes, seized in HCM City for traffic violations or crimes are left exposed to the elements for years, many of which have been seriously damaged. 

The vehicles are also facing a risk of bursting into flames under hot weather conditions, experts have warned.

More than 90,000 vehicles are currently seized by the city police following traffic violations or as evidence in criminal cases in the city.

Storage areas for seized evidence must comply with safety standards, including firefighting systems and protective fences. They must have roofs to protect the stored items from the elements.

However, most of the storage areas have failed to meet these requirements.

Experts have called for reducing the time for finding the owner of a vehicle from a year to three months to speed up the auction process and free up space.

They also recommended issuing new regulations to discourage owners from leaving behind their seized vehicles, for instance, to make it impossible for them to register a new vehicle.

Meanwhile, the city police have proposed limiting seizing vehicles as a punishment for violations. Instead, driving licences or vehicle ownership certificates should be temporarily seized. — VNS