Police arrest taxi driver who dodged 166 warrants worth over R200,000

Cape Town’s number one warrant dodger – among the worst taxi traffic offenders in the city – has run out of road to evade the law.

Traffic officers arrested the 53-year-old man from Delft‚ who amassed a grand total of 166 outstanding warrants with a monetary value of R202,500‚ on Monday.

“He appeared in the Cape Town central municipal court after his arrest and was released on bail of R24,000. He will appear in court again in January 2018‚” said the city’s MayCo member for safety‚ security and social services JP Smith.

The warrant dodger featured on a list of the city’s “top 100 taxi scofflaws”.

“Repeat offenders cause the daily erosion of the culture of law and order as other road users witness them committing one traffic offense after the other. Over time they act as moving billboards for bad road behaviour‚” Smith said on Tuesday.

Traffic authorities in the city have three categories of “top 100” offenders: taxis‚ private vehicles and proxies (for fleet vehicles).

As at Tuesday the top 100 taxi offenders collectively accounted for 2,376 fines with a value of R3,043,310. The top 100 private vehicle offenders accounted for 3,944 fines valued at R4,028,610 and the top 100 proxies accounted for 7,881 fines‚ with a value of R3,415,910. Combined‚ these fines alone are worth R10.4-million.

Hot on their heels is a newly formed “warrant task team”‚ who have already arrested 55 people on the top 100 lists. Smith said that repeat offenders were “often caught and fined” but because they evaded paying the fines‚ continued with their bad driving habits.

“These scofflaws are therefore the traffic offenders which the city is most keen to pursue and bring to book‚” he added.