Trouble For Roadside Car Dealers As Lagos Threatens To Prosecute Operators Of Unapproved Car Lots

The Lagos State Taskforce has threatened to prosecute operators of unapproved and illegal car lots in the state.

The agency decried the spate and manner in which car dealers have converted road setbacks, walkways, lay-bys, gardens, and other unapproved spaces into car lots that are not in the original Master-Plan of the state government.

Chairman of the agency, CSP Shola Jejeloye, disclosed this on Monday at the headquarters of the agency at Bolade Oshodi.

He described the action of some car dealers and transport operators as inconsiderate for jeopardizing the safety, serenity, beautification exercise, and greener Lagos initiative of the state government for their selfish gains.

“It is high time we put a stop to this unruly behavior and environmental impunity of converting every available public space to personal use by some car dealers. Walkways, road setbacks, and lay-bys were meant and created to cater for pedestrians’ movement and other public use, but nowadays you see cars parked on them with kegs placed on top indicating they are for sale. This is totally wrong and we are here to put a final stop to it. Cars for sale should be parked at an approved car lots and not by the road side or walkways” Jejeloye stated.

The Chairman also decried the practice of some car dealers who use one registered number plate for private use simply to evade other vehicle particulars.

“We have it on good authority that car dealers are now fond of using one registered number plate for private use simply to evade other vehicle particulars. Some unscrupulous elements in the society use car dealer number plates to perpetrate criminal acts in the State which they believe would not be traced to them as the vehicle used during the criminal act could be different from the vehicle its placed on the following day,” Jejeloye said.

The Chairman warned car dealers who are still in the habit of parking their vehicles for sale on the walkways to either move them to proper car lots or have them impounded and their owners made to face the full wrath of the law.

Jejeloye, while urging well meaning residents of the state to report any infractions by car dealers to the agency through the dedicated lines or social media handles for prompt actions, noted that “The quest to maintain sanity, serenity and habitability in our environment must be the collective effort of all.”